Rabbits fighting help please-update been to vets :(

[kcbunny]

omg please can anyone help

frank and bitsy are 12 weeks now brothers from the same litter and have so far been great even snuggling up together at night

this morning I opened the hutch and poor franks eye is bleeding-i am assuming by the amount of fur in the cage that they have been having a fight

on closer examination bitsy has a bite on his leg too

have got them both an appointment at the vets

let them out of the hutch and they have both been hopping about but every time bitsy goes near frank he runs away

am i going to have to separate them?? cant afford another happy hutch huge thing

will they be better when they are castrated?? and how early can this be done? is it 5 months??

my daughters are traumatised by franks injury and havent stopped crying I could really do with some advice please



UPDATE:

Thanks for all the replies and advice
Have been to to the vets and poor frank has to have an operation to repair his eyelid poor baby he also has a bite on his bottom

the vet says he will castrate them both on thursday and fix franks eye at the same time so hopefully they will get on better then

I have bought another hutch for bitsy-the naughty hutch-as he wouldnt leave frank alone

 

[Tracey8581]

As the male rabbits get older they will fight, so you will need to have them neutered to prevent a repeat of the fightening. I had my male rabbit done at 1 year old but I am sure you can have them done younger than that. The vet can tell you when you see them later on today.

I hope they are both ok

 

[Kipper]

If you can feel their testicles in their scrotum then you can get them castrated now. The sooner ther better if you want to rebond them

 

[Jessica Rabbit]

Hello
I was in exactly the same situation as yourself.

I had 2 brothers from the same litter which I had at 8 weeks old.
They too were perfect together until about 10 weeks old when they had their first fight.
I kept them together until they were 14 weeks old when they had 3 bad fights in 1 night and had to seperate them unfortunatley.

We had to buy another run and another hutch too. It was expensive, but I coldn't risk them damaging each other any further.

The runs are next to each other, so they can see/sniff each other.
I have to let one out for a run around and then put him away and let the other one out. So it is time consuming.

Every now and then they will touch noses through the wire of the run and if it gets too much, one will nip the other on the nose!!!!

It is really a shame to seperate them but it is for the best.

They have both gone into be neutered TODAY, so I am waiting for a call to say they can come home.

I am hoping we can try and re-bond in a month or 2s time, as I loved the days when they groomed and cuddled each other, but apparently it is harder to bond 2 males.

Please don't give up on them both, they will still be lovely, just be prepared for extra work and expense.

Good Luck and I'll let you know how it works out with the bonding of my 2 Eric and Ernie (see below)

Ernie

AND ERIC

 

[bunny-lover]

im the same!

:wave:i bought cookie and milly from a local pet shop and found they were not females! they are both boys but not from the same litter...they had been fine but recently things changed...cookie has become aggressive and tries to "mate"with milly...which i know is not possible as it is a way of cookie asserting himself as the dominant male. My rabbits are booked in on wednesday to be neuterd so hopefully things will change in the mean time..i had to separate them :s your rabbits will calm down after neutering...if not separate them and supervise the times when they are together! xx

MIlly-moozer and Cookie-crumbles = my babies
milly= 2 month old grey/blue lop (male)
Cookie=2 month old gold+white dutch dwarf (male)

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[bunny-lover]

MIlly-moozer and Cookie-crumbles = my babies
milly= 2 month old grey/blue lop (male)
Cookie=2 month old gold+white dutch dwarf (male)

xxxxxxxxxxxxx[/QUOTE] i thought it was unfair to change milly's name even thoughit is a boy lol it would only confuse him haha:lol:

 

[touie]

I had 2 litter mate brothers who I had to separate at around 12 weeks (although i let them play together for short periods supervised with thick gloves :shock, had them castrated at 16 weeks and as soon as their wounds were heeled they moved back in together and were fine My 2 were monsters but neutering them made an immediate difference!!!

 

[Jessica Rabbit]

That's great news Touie

I have just this minute got my 2 boys back from their neuter and hoping to re-bond them in a month or sos time.
It gives me hope to hear your story!

 

[chloaster]

I had four brothers from the same litter, Harry, Mac, Lenny and Starr and we managed to keep them together and take them in for their ops together and they are still together (except we lost Starr) - they did have a few scraps before we took them in and Mac has a small nick in his ear but they remained friends

 

[Kipper]

Wow Ernie is amazing, what a hairdo

 

[missy&snowball]

We had 2 brothers from the same litter.

They were so loving at first, at around 5/6 months old they started fighting, we were advised to get them neutered which we did.

Unfortunately we tried everything to re-bond them:-

Car rides, a neutral place, small sessions together

Nothing worked and even in the runs next to each other they would go for each other through the bars and ended up scratching each others noses.

GOOD LUCK....

 

[Jessica Rabbit]

Hi
What a shame about the Eye -
I hope everything goes well for them at the vets.

Eric was not only neuterd today, but had an eye flushed and some teeth filed, so he is feeling under the weather still.

I do hope you can re-bond later.
I am the same, I just hope I can, but as you see above, it doesn't always work, so we'll have to do the best we can for them.

Good Luck on thursday - sending early vibes for you.