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Poor Gus - a harsh lesson

This morning I am feeling like a terrible bunny owner.

Gus & Lola are my semi-bonded pair. They sometimes get on great but Lola is very terratorial over food and as she weighs more than twice as much as Gus, they dont live together. Instead they are seperated by a baby-gate and socialise under supervision.

On Tuesay night I put a barrier up in the living room to do the hoovering. I heard a bang and when I went into the living room found Lola & Gus fighting. Lola must have cleared the settee to get to Gus and his spring greens. I split them up and checked them over and found nothing. I then found a piece of Gus' fur behind the settee with a small piece of skin on it.

By this point I was panicking so I checked Gus again and found what I thought was the injury (a sore spot on his tummy). I cleaned this with salt water and checked him again at bed time.

On Wednesay morning whilst checking him again I found what was the real injury, which was a mark about the size of 20p piece next to his tail. It didnt look too bad so I cleaned it and went to work. When I came home it was looking quite sore so I cleaned it again and decided to get the vet to check it in the morning when she burred his teeth. Big mistake - he should have gone to the vets there and then.

Yesterday morning the vet checked Gus -she shaved some of his fur as the wound was infected and the infection was spreading. He ended up needed 8 stitches poor bunny and is on antibiotics. I feel awful, I thought it wasnt too bad and I could keep it clean. I have learned 2 lessons though, that I will never leave them unsupervised even with a barrier and I will always go straight to the vets if something like this happens again.

The worst thing is that I'm going to Greece for a week on Sat and I'm dreading leaving him. But the lady he boards with is taking him indoors and I know she will take good care of him.

Our vet was great as ever, not only did she do a great job of cleaning up the wound, she also managed to get me a discount as he was having two ops in the same day.

Gus incidentally has taken it all in his stride as usual. This morning he's been skipping about, throwing his seagrass mat around the bedroom and when I left he was fast asleep in his tunnel.

Sorry about the length of this post, I just feel so bad about letting my poor bunster down.
 
Awww, don't worry chick, this has happened to me too - although I was lucky that Sophie didn't get Rudy too badly and the wound healed fine as it was a small tooth mark :cry: I felt horrid for days, bless him, lil Rudy was still grooming Sophie through the bars half hour after she did that to him :roll: Bless him.
 
I didn't know Sophie bit Rudy? How are they now?
Sorry to hear about Gus, hope he is doing okay.
 
raine said:
I didn't know Sophie bit Rudy? How are they now?
Sorry to hear about Gus, hope he is doing okay.

Yup, she is a madam. Like Gus and Lola they have supervised play as Rudy really loves Sophie but Sophie is naughty and can be aggressive but other times can be fine and she actually enjoys Rudy grooming her!

He is fine now, it never really bothered him tbh, it made me more upset then him!
 
Aw poor Gus what a worry for you :( i'm sure he'll be fine.


Just an aside- Loppylop and Sarah, do you not find it is actually making attacking behaviour worse by splitting them all the time?
Surely they should be together permenantely, or not at all? Im just thinking of bonding advice- they're supposed to calm down after a few days together.
 
mandy said:
Aw poor Gus what a worry for you :( i'm sure he'll be fine.


Just an aside- Loppylop and Sarah, do you not find it is actually making attacking behaviour worse by splitting them all the time?
Surely they should be together permenantely, or not at all? Im just thinking of bonding advice- they're supposed to calm down after a few days together.

It's a long story but mine are definiatly happy the way they are :D Also Kayj knows this (who I had Rudy from) and she too is happy with how Sophie and Rudy are living :D Each bun is an individual and my two are happy this way! Sure I could probably go out and get them another bun each that they might bond better with- but I haven't got the space for that and don't feel they need it when they are happy as they are :D :D
 
loopylop said:
mandy said:
Aw poor Gus what a worry for you :( i'm sure he'll be fine.


Just an aside- Loppylop and Sarah, do you not find it is actually making attacking behaviour worse by splitting them all the time?
Surely they should be together permenantely, or not at all? Im just thinking of bonding advice- they're supposed to calm down after a few days together.

It's a long story but mine are definiatly happy the way they are :D Also Kayj knows this (who I had Rudy from) and she too is happy with how Sophie and Rudy are living :D Each bun is an individual and my two are happy this way! Sure I could probably go out and get them another bun each that they might bond better with- but I haven't got the space for that and don't feel they need it when they are happy as they are :D :D

Sorry, I hope i haven't offended you- im hardly a rabbit expert, was just musing really on advice given on here. They certainly always lo0ok very happy in their photos :)
 
mandy said:
loopylop said:
mandy said:
Aw poor Gus what a worry for you :( i'm sure he'll be fine.


Just an aside- Loppylop and Sarah, do you not find it is actually making attacking behaviour worse by splitting them all the time?
Surely they should be together permenantely, or not at all? Im just thinking of bonding advice- they're supposed to calm down after a few days together.

It's a long story but mine are definiatly happy the way they are :D Also Kayj knows this (who I had Rudy from) and she too is happy with how Sophie and Rudy are living :D Each bun is an individual and my two are happy this way! Sure I could probably go out and get them another bun each that they might bond better with- but I haven't got the space for that and don't feel they need it when they are happy as they are :D :D

Sorry, I hope i haven't offended you- im hardly a rabbit expert, was just musing really on advice given on here. They certainly always lo0ok very happy in their photos :)

No, don't worry!!!! Lol, I'm sure other people were wondering the same thing too!!! :lol: :lol:
 
I'm with loopylop on this one - It's just the way Gus & Lola are. I wouldn't feel safe leaving Gus with Lola as she weighs over a stone and she is a powerful bunny but at the same time she's the only rabbit he's ever really got on with. I wouldn't want to split them up permanently as I think they would miss each other.

Most of the time they get on very well but when they fight it can be dangerous (as seen this week).

I have tried every method of bonding with both of them over 7 months now but sadly Lola hasn't grown out of the food "issue" so for me the baby gate compromise is the best thing to do.

Incidentally this morning & last night both Gus & Lola were washing each other through the baby gate so peace has been restored.
 
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