Bonding a neutered male and young unspayed female – advice please

[jo-pop]

Hi, I have a 3 year old neutered male who I am planning to bond with a 9 week old female. The problem is obviously with her being young she is unspayed. It will be about 4 months till she is old enough to spay.
Does anybody have any experience of doing this? Is it likely to work or is it a definate no no. I dont really want to have to keep them seperate for 4 months. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[GrahamL]

I would keep them close, but not together seperated by bars/mesh etc.

You could bond them now, but when she becomes hormonal, they may fight and cause massive injuries to each other.

Once they fight, there is no guarantees that you could bond again, it could go either way.

That is why its advisable to wait.

 

[chance]

Hi I have succesfully bonded males with un spayed girlys, but as G says once she reaches age get her done asap.

 

[Rhianna]

I bonded Faye (former BARC bun) with Furby (Lymington bun) before she was spayed. He is deaf and seemed fed-up and was starting to pick at his food and Faye was clearly lonely after being separated from her siblings. Neither were happy alone so I bonded them more or less as soon as I rehomed Faye.

She was spayed as soon as she was old enough and Furby went with her to the vet and remained with her while she was recuperating. I had no problems at all with hormones and, for my buns, bonding early was the right decision. They were both much, much happier together and their consumption of food and hay increased enormously.

 

[nessar]

Before you make a decision I would ring around your vets and see how early they will neuter. If they will neuter at 4 months then its a lot more likely to work out, as she wont be hormonal for as long.

Also think about the risks, if it doesnt work out because the doe got hormonal and they fought and wont be rebonded, can you afford to take on another 2 bunnies so they both have friends? If not then I wouldnt risk it.

 

[jo-pop]

The earliest I can get her done is at 5 months old which will be on 21st September, so 3 months away.
I don't know what to do now.....

 

[Lops]

I've bonded a pair two times, both were neutered males and un-spayed girls,
no problems what-so-ever

Then I bonded all four together, which means I have two un-spayed girls together - alls well :wave:

That said, I know my girls well and both are very laid back bunnies

 

[halfpenny]

Up until a couple of years ago all my pairs were a castrated male with an unspayed female- never had any issues, even when they girls went to be speyed after I learned about uterine cancer and they had to be rebonded.

 

[elis-mum]

i have introduced 3 young girls (9 weeks old) to a neutered male and it worked out fine but Buddy is very, very gentle and laid back!

as soon as the girls were old enough they were speyed and sent straight back to him without any problems.