tehkeh
New Kit
Hi there everyone, please forgive me for posting a dilemma straight away before introducing myself! i've looked at the forum often in the past and you all seem like such friendly, knowledgeable people I thought you might be able to advise on my rabbit's situation.
I have a white, pink eyed Netherland Dwarf rabbit named Snow. We adopted her and her friend (a guinea pig called Pippin) two years ago from friends who could no longer keep them. Let me say straight off that I don't particulary think keeping guineas and bunnies together is a good idea, but these two had been together for over two years already so we weren't going to seperate them and were joined at the hip so I think they were an exception to the rule! I am also completely new at keeping bunnies, although I had one once before when I was very young.
Some background: Pippin was just over two when we got him and Snow was about four, she is now about six years old. They both live in a very large ourdoor hutch with large nest compartment with a very secure, large run attatched that they have access to all day. Pippin used to spend all day mowing the lawn.
Unfortunatly Pippin passed away a couple of days ago, and now I am unsure how to proceed. I don't think Snow has totally realised he's not coming back yet, but she will soon and has already started acting a little out of sorts (sitting out in the run the rain looking for him yesterday, I ended up bringing her inside the house for cuddles
I feel so sad for her, meanwhile can barely look at the hutch myself without bursting into tears.)
One solution would be to get Snow a new companion, obviously not a guinea pig because I believe their good relationship was exceptional, but I was thinking a rescue male netherland dwarf of a similar age would be good.
The main problem is that snow was never spayed by her previous owners and not by us, although I have been wanting to get it done for a while in order to help prevent health problems. I did some reading and discovered that 6 years might be a bit old for a rabbit to be spayed. But I have just spoken to our new vet who saw Pippin the other day (we are completely new to the area, we have just moved from Nottingham to Cambridge!) and she says that although it is old, and there is an increased risk she would be willing to do it depending on Snow's overall health (we will be popping her along for a check up soon).
The rescues I have looked at seem to (rightly) want to pair their lone neutered male buns with spayed female buns.
I was just wondering what you guys thought would be a good option, or if you had any advice? Also, any advice for a sad bun? I have looked through a few posts on here and will make sure she get's lots of snuggles and some new toys to distract her.
Unfortunatly making Snow into an indoor bun so she could have constant companionship from me (I am currently homebased) is not an option as we rent, and although our landlords are happy for us to keep outdoor animals I doubt they would like her inside. Especially as I would think she'd be very restless at first. I do bring her inside for me time during bad weather when I can sit with her in the run (I get in and sit on the grass with her : ) ) espeically in the last couple of days.
Sorry for the long post, the last couple of days have been very trying and difficult
- Kate x
I have a white, pink eyed Netherland Dwarf rabbit named Snow. We adopted her and her friend (a guinea pig called Pippin) two years ago from friends who could no longer keep them. Let me say straight off that I don't particulary think keeping guineas and bunnies together is a good idea, but these two had been together for over two years already so we weren't going to seperate them and were joined at the hip so I think they were an exception to the rule! I am also completely new at keeping bunnies, although I had one once before when I was very young.
Some background: Pippin was just over two when we got him and Snow was about four, she is now about six years old. They both live in a very large ourdoor hutch with large nest compartment with a very secure, large run attatched that they have access to all day. Pippin used to spend all day mowing the lawn.
Unfortunatly Pippin passed away a couple of days ago, and now I am unsure how to proceed. I don't think Snow has totally realised he's not coming back yet, but she will soon and has already started acting a little out of sorts (sitting out in the run the rain looking for him yesterday, I ended up bringing her inside the house for cuddles
I feel so sad for her, meanwhile can barely look at the hutch myself without bursting into tears.)One solution would be to get Snow a new companion, obviously not a guinea pig because I believe their good relationship was exceptional, but I was thinking a rescue male netherland dwarf of a similar age would be good.
The main problem is that snow was never spayed by her previous owners and not by us, although I have been wanting to get it done for a while in order to help prevent health problems. I did some reading and discovered that 6 years might be a bit old for a rabbit to be spayed. But I have just spoken to our new vet who saw Pippin the other day (we are completely new to the area, we have just moved from Nottingham to Cambridge!) and she says that although it is old, and there is an increased risk she would be willing to do it depending on Snow's overall health (we will be popping her along for a check up soon).
The rescues I have looked at seem to (rightly) want to pair their lone neutered male buns with spayed female buns.
I was just wondering what you guys thought would be a good option, or if you had any advice? Also, any advice for a sad bun? I have looked through a few posts on here and will make sure she get's lots of snuggles and some new toys to distract her.
Unfortunatly making Snow into an indoor bun so she could have constant companionship from me (I am currently homebased) is not an option as we rent, and although our landlords are happy for us to keep outdoor animals I doubt they would like her inside. Especially as I would think she'd be very restless at first. I do bring her inside for me time during bad weather when I can sit with her in the run (I get in and sit on the grass with her : ) ) espeically in the last couple of days.
Sorry for the long post, the last couple of days have been very trying and difficult
- Kate x
