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Should I split up my quad?

tigerlilyb84

Young Bun
Hi all,

I currently have four bonded house buns. Three are boys, Dexter, Thumper and Freddie, who are all around 2 years old. The fourth is an 8 year old girl. Daisey.

Recently Daisey has been losing weight and her breathing has become laboured. The vet is unsure what's wrong with her. They can't hear any crackling on her lungs so think it might be cancer but don't want to anaesthetise her for an xray.

Daisey tires a lot more quickly now but still eats lots. I now feed her separately so I can ensure that she gets enough. Thumper clearly senses her weakness and he now regularly growls and chases her. He does groom her sometimes too but I worry that it may be stressing her out.

Also, Freddie is a little bit of an outsider as Thumper and Dexter are like best buddies and Fred's never been that interested in attention from the other buns or from me.

So, I don't know what to do for the best. I could leave them together or keep her with Freddie and have the two boys together. And if Daisey doesn't make it I would then seek to adopt a friend for him.

Has anyone had similar experiences with a poorly bun in a group and what did you do?

I look forward to hearing your stories :)
 
No experience of this but I am sure you are right to keep a close eye on how Daisy is doing in the group and to separate if you feel she is not happy. Its great that you have a back up plan in place should this be necessary.
 
Daisey's symptoms sound a lot like Rupert here (weight loss, laboured breathing, tiring easily), which the vet thinks is a heart problem. Has your vet mentioned that?

It's really hard to advise without seeing how they are together, but I know if Rupert had the extra stress of a bun chasing him I would split them. As long as Daisey and Freddie get on well I think they'd all be happy in pairs.

There are others with more experience of groups than me though. Sending lots of vibes for Daisey xx
 
Hi Helen,

Sorry to hear Rupert bun is poorly too. I took Daisey back to the vet today for a conscious chest xray and he said he couldn't see any masses in the lungs or swelling of the ehart. He thinks she might have had pneumonia which then compromised the capacity of her lungs. While her breathing will never get better, she's still sprightly so hopefully we'll have her in our lives a while longer.

Unfortunately Thumper is still chasing and growling at Daisey and I forgot to mention before but Dexter also chases Freddie a lot too! I am still considering splitting into pairs but will need to sort out another set up first.

Fingers crossed!
 
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