bonding & urine smells

Hi
I have made a few posts earlier about the difficulties I was having bonding my existing rabbit Deedee with a new rabbit Fredo after her previous male partner died.
Things did seem to be getting better, but we had a big set back on Monday. We came into the room and there had been a massive fight, and Deedee had to go to the vets because she had wrenched her shoulder, presumably either chasing him or being chased. We didn't actually see the fight, just all the fur every where and two shaking buns! She is now on anti inflammatories and not in the mood for contact and Fredo has now started biting her whenever he comes near her. We discussed this with the rescue centre, and we happened to mention that they had been sharing a bowl of Nature's Salad which we got from Pet Hut. The rescue centre said that there are different herbs in this, and the rabbits will obviously only choose to eat the ones they like. They said that if one of the rabbits has been eating something strongly flavoured e.g. mint and the other didn't, it can cause a fight because the other rabbit's urine will smell different to how it normally does. They say they had come across exactly the same thing with another bonded pair who had been eating this stuff.
I just thought I would pass this on (although most of you will probably already know!) as it might help. We were struggling to think of what may have kicked it off. We will obviously chuck out the stuff and try and again, so it remains to be seen if things improve!

Never heard of that! I am a bit sceptical too but sorry they fell out.

Yeah, it is frustrating. At first he seemed to be making an effort to make contact, washing her etc and she was not giving him anything in return. Then for a while they seemed fine, washing each other etc. Now, he seems more agressive, he's been chasing her and biting her. She looks really unhappy, and we are beginning to regret having started with this, as we now have two unhappy buns!

Well, we have thrown the stuff away and they seem better together today, although I think DeeDee is still nervous of him. So maybe there is something in this 'smelly urine' thing after all?

I haven't looked back at your previous thread, but did you do the bonding in neutral territory, keep them in the same area for a while to make sure they had bonded, get rid of smells so where they were going to live was no-one's territory and didn't smell of either of them, etc?

Babsie said:

I haven't looked back at your previous thread, but did you do the bonding in neutral territory, keep them in the same area for a while to make sure they had bonded, get rid of smells so where they were going to live was no-one's territory and didn't smell of either of them, etc?

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Hi, they were bonded at the rescue centre, and we kept them in a small area when they came back. They seemed fine together until they had a big fight after about a week. They were miserable and suspicious of each other for days after but since we have stopped them eating the Nature's Salad they have been fine. They spent yesterday cuddled up and washing each other, so I have to agree with the rescue centre and say that it must have been the different smelling urine that kicked them off which each other. No more treats for these buns!

How odd! I hope they start to settle down with one another now.

Very strange - hope all continues well now.