rachylou
Warren Veteran
Our Bonding Journey
I wanted to share with all of you our journey to bond Jimby and Cookie, when we were looking for advise as to what needed to be done etc we had a lot of conflicting advice, a lot of it good but some of it confusing and to be quite honest quite discouraging so we thought it may help those of you who are bonding currently or thinking of bonding in the future that there is not only ONE way do bond, you could find a way which is right for your bunnies like we did.
This is our body Jimby...
Firstly to explain how we started it all off...
We adopted Cookie on the 17th July and kept her in our bedroom for a few days to let her settle in, we moved her in to the lounge on the 21st July but at the opposite end of the room to Jimby just so they would get used to each other ‘being near’ to one another.
We left them like this for a couple of days and around the 27th we moved their cages next to one another so they could sniff through the bars, bare in mind a lot of damage *can* be done through the bars so make sure they cannot actively ‘get at’ each other by leaving a gap between them or use a smaller grate.
Whilst they were at this stage we continued to allow Jimby free range around the lounge etc only blocking off access to the kitchen which became Cookies’ area of free range whilst linking it up to her cage so she could still get in to ‘her’ space and feel safe, which also allowed them to sniff each other properly whilst being supervised.
We also made sure we fed them together one on each side of the bars so that feeding time became a social occasion.
On the 28th we started swapping contents of their cages to the other, for example, for 15mins each night before cleaning their potties we would swap them so they got used to having each others ‘smell’ in their house.
We also swapped toys and hay boxes over each night.
On the 15th August we started to swap them over to each other’s house each night so they got used to sleeping in a different environment with different smells etc.
Then on the 22nd August we bit the bullet and started the ‘Actual’ Bonding and in all honesty it did not go very well at all, as we live in a top floor flat we were quite limited on what we could really do when it comes to neutralising EVERYTHING, a few people mentioned that we needed to remove all the furniture and clean everything including having the carpet cleaned, then the room to bond in needed to remain bunny free for about 3 weeks before trying to bond, well as you can imagine this was really not practical so we had to do our best, we were advised to bond in the hall as it was the only part of the flat which Jims did not have full and free access to so we blocked off access for a week before bonding, cleaning the carpet and walls with the vinegar solution and made sure it was all as neutral as possible, we used a very small area about 1m x 1m as recommended and well to say the least it did not go very well at all, there was a full on attack and fur flying everywhere... take a look at the video and see for yourself at one point Cookie jumped so high and flew over the baby gate in to my arms...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HLjPUyBiU
Well to be completely honest with you the reaction we got from the video and the fact that they escaped in to the ‘unnatural’ lounge was far from positive and we were feeling very deflated and thought it would never work between them which is what we were led to believe, so on the Monday I went to talk to one of the nurses at our vet practice, (they know me very well there!
) She gave me the number of a friend of hers who breeds/bonds and boards rabbits, she gave up some personal free time on the Bank holiday to come and meet our babies and see how we were getting on and to advise us best she could, we were told that just because it started off badly not to think too negatively that there was still hope and also that the space was too small and too restricting for bonding so advised to use a larger area, so on the Tuesday we set up a play pen in the lounge, (This is the one we used)http://ukpetsonline.com/detail.aspx?ID=563we cleaned the carpet of the area we were to use and made sure it was as neutral as possible and then we tried again and it started off pretty much the same to be honest but the one difference was that Jimby was not in ‘Attack mode’ with his ears pinned back and lunging forward he was simply chasing Cookie and fur pulling which to a certain extent is normal, so we persevered with this and prolonged their sessions each day, then when they were starting to improve we decided that we would simply put some panels down the middle of the pen and let them each have one side and that is where they stayed for the night so they got used to being close to one another, it took Cookie longer than it did Jimby to relax but eventually she did, so each night the divider went in and each day it came out for their ‘dates’ , I devoted my time completely to them which I think really helped but understandably is not easy if you do work but I slept out in the lounge with them and talked softly to them and gave them food and treats side by side as such to get them used to seeing the other as a friend not a threat.
We were advised on the forum that bonding should be as hands off as possible but were advised by another source that if stroking them and talking softly to them helps that it is fine to do so, so I occasionally actually got in to the pen with them and snuggled with them so they could both relax and become comfortable with the other.
We continued like this until the 4th September when we decided it was now time to leave them in the pen 24/7, we came to this conclusion by reading them individually, the chasing was still happening but less frequently and Cookie had also relaxed enough to eat, drink and poop when in the pen so we knew she would not starve herself etc, Jimby surprisingly was relaxed from day one with her!
They had two litter trays, hay scattered all over the floor and two water bowls so there would hopefully not be any arguments.
I stayed with them constantly for the first 120 hours only sleeping when they slept etc which was by no means easy but was worth it, I used the time to get lots of RU’ing done and watch films that my hubby does not like! :lol:
By the end of 36 hours I would say that I noticed continuous improvement, we tried putting in the hay box but Jimby grunted and bullied Cookie out of it so that got removed again and continued to scatter the hay on the floor, we started to see some grooming after a short amount of time and they were lying together showing more improvement and by the 6th day I braved it and left them alone for an hour and when I returned they were quite happily looking at each other lovingly.
After a day or so we decided to extend the pen so they had more room which went down very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj65CgtXLSY
Thursday the 2nd September I put in a large under bed storage box full of hay and they both dove in sharing the hay, by this point I knew we were well on the way to a happy marriage.
Then on Friday 10th September they moved in together officially, we had to use the cage that Jimby was in before the bonding started but it had been vacant for almost 2 weeks and I cleaned it with a solution of white vinegar, Pet Wizard and some water, we also built a second level so it was ‘different’ enough to hopefully fool Jimby in to not being all territorial.
And... Touch wood we have a very happy couple on our hands, we left them in the cage with a temporary extension or run on the front so they still had a bit more room for 2 days then tonight they had their first joint run around the lounge together and all was very good! They had fun running around together, jumping over the sofas etc, it was lovely to see.
So for those of you who think it is not going to happen please do not feel defeated; it can still work when it looks like all hope is lost!
Now I have ran out of my allowed photos so I will stop now, but start a new post with the most recent pictures.
