RogerRabbit999
Mama Doe
I thought it might be nice to post a really lovely bonding tale here. I have a 'special needs' bunny with neurological problems called Dipsy who is 8 months old and neutered, and a blind dutchy, terrible cruelty case, being spayed on the 21st of this month. Pippa is 11 months and not spayed as yet, as when she was found the vet said that if it had been a couple of hours later she would have starved to death by then. For the first 2 weeks Pippa was syringe fed as too weak to stand, feed herself, but is eating well now and putting weight on, although is still a very diddy little bunny. I have had to wait to spay her to give us time to build her up, get some weight on her, and also my vet who is a bunny specialist said we need to have a bit of time with her to get some history, and make sure there are no underlying problems, before she has an anaesethic. Have had her 3 months now with no problems and Simon is happy to go ahead, but will give her another full health check on the day. Dipsy and Pippa were in indoor cages next to each other, and let out separately to free range around the house. They constantly lay against the sides closest to the other to sleep, and licked, sniffed as best as they could through their cages. Over a couple of weeks though it then started to be heartbreaking watching Dipsy, as he stopped going off to run about at all, and all he would do was sit outside Pippa's cage, with his front legs up at the side of her cage, and he looked such a sad little man, because he couldn't be with her properly, and everytime he made me think of that song from Grease, 'Hopelessly Devoted To You'. Pippa then started to do the same, although she did have a mad dash about first. Because they then both seemed so sad, even though I was terrified about the bonding thing and was planning on getting someone to do it for me, I decided to just let them out together to see what happened, and I would be right by them and able to split them if necessary. Well, can you believe actually nothing really happened at all, except they were frantically licking each others faces, and then they started running about together, but no nastiness, fighting nothing, just looking totally happy that they were together and partners in crime at last lol. And that's all they did for the rest of the day. Grooming each other, running about together and then sleeping together. I put them in their own cages at night, but was finding in the morning all they did was hump each other, and my friend said that was because I was splitting them up at night. That night and for another couple afterwards, I slept on the settee, and left them together in a cage, and all the humping stopped then. Well it's been about 6 weeks now, not one fall out or anything, and together all the time. I was giving them their own food bowls but they ate out of one together and then the other, so now they just have one bigger bowl which they share and they are absolutely adorable. At night Pippa spends much, much longer grooming Dipsy as though getting him ready for bed, and then in the morning Dipsy spends ages getting Pippa ready for the day. When they have things like carrots they always eat the same one together, one end each, and I have noticed the past few nights and am going to take a picture tonight, that when they settle to sleep, Pippa literally falls onto Dipsy and has one tiny leg around his neck. Does this tend to happen very often, or might there still be problems? It has been 6 weeks now and no fall outs at all, just getting closer if anything. When Pippa goes in to be spayed next week, my vet said that it would be best for Dipsy to go in with her. Knowing that Dipsy is going to be with her when she wakes up actually makes me feel better. He is very, very gentle with her.
What a lovely story! Bless them.Can we have pics of the lovely couple please :wave:
