bunny in mourning

My 6 1/2 year old lop has recently lost his partner to snuffles. Although he is eating he has gone from being an independant bunny to one that just sits on your lap and looks up at you with pitiful eyes. I am in two minds about whether to get him a new partner - as he is getting on i could be left with another rabbit that needs a new partner at some point. Its only a few days since his partner died - has anyone experienced this situation before? Do they get used to being on their own or if they have lived their whole life with a companion is it best to get them another one?

Solution - get an older bunny from a rescue centre. That way, you are less likely to experience the same problem again and your lonely bunny will have a friend! I would say that 6 1/2 years with a partner and such a character change would definitely indicate that you have a lonely bun.

AMETHYST

Bobby lost his partner nearly two weeks ago, and was a different bunny. Really listless, kept turnign his back on me. Now he's got Ruby he's back to his old self again. They're not quite best friends yet :? but Bobby is definitely looking happier.
I'd go with Amethyst's suggestion - there are a lot of older bunnies in rescue.

I would agree.. older buns in rescues usually get overlooked. And there could be loads of life in him yet... Molly (my rescue bun) is 11 and Toby, Emmas' bun is 12 (I think.. maybe older). At least at a rescue, you can take advantage of the dating service.... unfortunately Molly seems to like my company more than other rabbits so is destined to spend the rest of her life with moi :roll: rather than another bun

I highly recommend get a rescue rabbit at your earliest convenience.

I truly believe rabbits are affectionate being, in which when they lost their companion, is no different than one of us lost our companion, and the emotional and psychological stress can really hurt them.

Look at Shelley Long (the actress in Cheers), when she divorced her husband, she try to commit suicide.

I also had a mourning bunny(shes 2 years old) she lost her friend on sunday. I had a bunny that was on its own(shes 9 weeks old) so i put her and the lonely bun together and she seems alot happier,but as you say everytime one of mine dies i end up getting another partner for them.Ive got one bun thats happy living on her own as she doesnt seem to like other buns. i think a rescue bunny would be a good idea if you do want another one.

I have now tried freddie with 2 of my other rabbits not really expecting it to work as i tried to partner freddie up with one of them when he was younger. Its weird but both rabbits seemed to know that freddie needed love and within 2 minutes both were washing freddie. Within 10 minutes all three were laying down together. For the first time in a week freddie has actually started to wash himself so hopefully solution found. Thanks for your advice.

Harry (6) had a friend who was a sickly bunny. After Duke died he was quite upset.... Marmalade who was 1yr at the time was too giddy for him. So I went and got 2 more instead. Smudge was Harry's choice, Smudge was very placid with Harry and Treacle was a zany young thing who kept Marmalade on her toes.

I've got a good mix of ages, 6 1/2, 2, 18mnths, 9mnths.
I am planning on getting 2 more then Harry's posse will be complete, and I won't need to worry if one of them goes to the bridge as they will have each other to keep them company.

clairmissen said:

My 6 1/2 year old lop has recently lost his partner to snuffles. Although he is eating he has gone from being an independant bunny to one that just sits on your lap and looks up at you with pitiful eyes. I am in two minds about whether to get him a new partner - as he is getting on i could be left with another rabbit that needs a new partner at some point. Its only a few days since his partner died - has anyone experienced this situation before? Do they get used to being on their own or if they have lived their whole life with a companion is it best to get them another one?

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Hello, I had exactly the same decision earlier this year. Charlie is 6 and lost his life long partner called Fern at the end of Feb. Exactly as your little one he became v listless and looking ossry for himself. We were in two minds about getting another bunny for the same reason as you - we thought it might be best to break the cycle now, plus Charlie is v human friendly so we thought he may be Ok with just us. We spent much more time with him and bought him new toys, a cardboard castle, teddies, gave him the run of the whole flat so he could follwo us around etc, but it just didn't work. He was breaking my heart, so I decided I was being unfair to him. I looked aorund for an older female bun in a rescue but couldn't find one at the time (I also needed one that was confident enough to live in a noisy busy flat) so we went to a rescue to meet some young female buns. He chose Lavender, she was just 5 months old when she came to live with us.

The difference in Charlie is amazing, its taken years off him, he's started binkying again. I know the age difference means that Lavender will most likely be left on her own at that point but who knows what is going to happen, my partner always says that Charlie will live forever.

Btw, something else that went through my head was that I wouldn't take to another bunny when I lost Fern cos it hurt so so much when I lost her, but I now realise that was silly to think, cos I love her to bits.

Lots of luck with whatever you decide to do for your little one.