Bonding Diary - Anna and Abby

Today I started bonding Annabella and Abby! To give a bit of background, Annabella is a 6 year old, spayed, black lionhead, who I have had for years, and Abby is an 8 year old, orange lionhead and is not spayed. Both are single due to the passing of their partners this year. Abby's owner offered her to us to see if she could bond with Annabella, rather than spend the winter alone outside.

To be clear, I would strongly recommend neutering before bonding, as this helps them get along with others and prevents uterine cancer. In Abby's case, the risk of neutering doesn't outweigh the benefits, due to her old age, but I don't feel that this should condemn her to a life alone. She is a timid bunny and doesn't seem hormonal, which is hopefully will help.

I've opted for a fairly large space of approx 160x160cm, with the aim to reduce it later. I'm hoping that this will allow aggression to be diffused by running away rather than escalating into fights. The room is neuteral, the pen has been used for both rabbits but has been neutralised with vinegar.

Optimistically, I laid out puppy pads on the floor very neatly and filled the pen with hay, and mixed in readigrass, spring greens, spinach, dried dandelion and a little rabbit royale, Abby's food, in the hopes they would eat rather than fight. This is what it looks like now, after 2 hours of bonding:



Initially, there was a lot of humping from both of them, and a lot of chasing and circling, and we had to break up 3 fights. Since then, Abby has been very avoidant and Annabella has been thumping and grunting every minute of so and has made it abundantly clear that she wants to be dominant. She has been washing, eating loads etc, but as soon as Abby dares move to wash or nibble some hay, Annabella is thumping, running over and generally being intimidating. About half of these confrontations end in Annabella humping or biting Abby, and Abby running off and Annabella chasing her around trying to hump her. We've had to remove the water bowl as Abby keeps running/jumping into it and I'm concerned she'll get injured.

I'm a little concerned that Abby hasn't eaten for a couple of hours now, as she's staying very still and close to the ground to appease Annabella, who is proving quite the bully, but we are making progress so I don't want to separate them.

Annabella has just laid down with her feet out, on the opposite side of the pen to Abby, which hopefully signals the start of her calming down and starting to accept Abby.

Anna is still being thumping and biting if Abby moves, but not every time now. We are reintroducing the water bowl now things have calmed down a little.

I thought we'd see more fire from Abby as she isn't spayed, but she just seems scared of Anna, who is clearly the aggressor.

Fingers crossed for this bond! You won't know for a few days how it's going to go. You have prepared the scene very well - would it be a good idea to put a small table or similar in the pen for if one wants to feel more secure?

tonibun said:

Fingers crossed for this bond! You won't know for a few days how it's going to go. You have prepared the scene very well - would it be a good idea to put a small table or similar in the pen for if one wants to feel more secure?

Click to expand...

Thank you, yes I'm really hoping it will work! I would but all the tables come from Anna's territory and I don't want to upset things. I do have a long cardboard box that I could introduce as a tunnel to allow them to hide from each other, but at the moment I'm scared of upsetting them by introducing anything new, so maybe later. Abby has been eating a little hay now so that's good, but hasn't drunk anything yet.

I hope the bond is going well. Not much sleep for you tonight i guess. ooooh i remember that well and i feel for you. Hopefully it will be worth it for them gorgeous buns to have some company.

Sending lots of calm bonding vibes for them. Fingers crossed they're over the worst now.

Thank you for your kind thoughts! It has calmed down a little and chases are happening less frequently, but Anna is still not allowing Abby to eat and wash in her sight.

We've put a box in so that Anna can't always see Abby, so that Abby can relax a bit. It seems to have helped and Abby is currently washing and has eaten some hay and carrot, you can see Anna as a black shape peeking round the corner of the box. As you can see the puppy pads are all pushed into the corners but we'll just have to wash the carpet after bonding, I think tidying up now would be asking for trouble!



If Anna doesn't calm down I'm considering stress bonding by walking up and down the street with them in a carrier for a while, but I don't want to stress out Abby more. Any thoughts on this?

You've really got to give them a few days to get used to one another before stress bonding. Actually a few of us don't agree with it anyway. I always wait 3 days for male/female bonds before I can start to relax and feel happy about it.

nessar said:

Thank you for your kind thoughts! It has calmed down a little and chases are happening less frequently, but Anna is still not allowing Abby to eat and wash in her sight.

We've put a box in so that Anna can't always see Abby, so that Abby can relax a bit. It seems to have helped and Abby is currently washing and has eaten some hay and carrot, you can see Anna as a black shape peeking round the corner of the box. As you can see the puppy pads are all pushed into the corners but we'll just have to wash the carpet after bonding, I think tidying up now would be asking for trouble!

If Anna doesn't calm down I'm considering stress bonding by walking up and down the street with them in a carrier for a while, but I don't want to stress out Abby more. Any thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

Personally I do not agree with 'Stress Bonding'. But I know some do. It's really a decision that only you can make

Sending loads of calm bonding vibes

Thank you for your thoughts, yes I wouldn't use stress bonding unless necessary, I just want Anna to see Abby as an ally, not an intruder. Abby was leaving caecals and was not able to rest, which worried me, but now the chasing has calmed down to every 15 mins or so.

Abby has actually laid down properly 4 times now in the last hour , but keeps shifting like she can't get comfy. Anna did settle on the same side of the pen, in the opposite corner, but started chasing again 20 mins or so later. But still, I hope things are starting to improve.

Things have not improved and now Abby is visibly trembling and breathing heavy, mostly when Anna is nearby but also when at rest.

Anna is more confident than I have ever seen her, she is going up to Abby and eating food from right in front of her face, then lunging forwards if Abby moves. She is stamping and grunting a lot, she seems to be trying to goad Abby into moving so that she can bite and chase her.

With Abby so stressed I am now sitting in the pen next to her so she can rest a while. She has eaten and had water but is still breathing fast and is trembling sporadically.

I don't want to separate them as I don't want to drag it out or go back a step, but Abby is old and exhausted so if it doesn't let up I might have to.

I know no one is reading this at this time of night, but we now have 2 calm bunnies for the first time, albeit only because I'm sitting between them! Abby is eating lots of hay and seems fairly content for the first time.

Would maybe the slow approach work better with these two, by giving Abby more time to gradually get used to Anna? The trembling would worry me.

nessar said:

I know no one is reading this at this time of night, but we now have 2 calm bunnies for the first time, albeit only because I'm sitting between them! Abby is eating lots of hay and seems fairly content for the first time.

Click to expand...

I'm reading nessar :wave:

Glad you (and they) have a moment of peace between you all xx

Thank you both, Im surprised anyone is on here at this time! Unfortunately I need to avoid a slow bond if possible, as Abby usually lives outside and if the bond doesn't work out she may have to go back to her owners, so I need to make sure she doesn't shed her winter coat, so speed is key. This is also the reason we haven't put the heating on at all and I've been sitting in a 15-16 degree room all day, brrrr!

Im still sat in the pen but think I'm gonna take a break as my feet keep going numb and it all seems calm for the moment.

It's still early days Nessar. Rabbits don't trust other rabbits easily. Has Abby been on her own for a while?

Abby (orange, submissive unspayed 8 year old) has been alone 6 months, and Anna (black, dominant, spayed 6 yer old) has been alone 10 months.

My partner kindly did the night shift of bunny watching from 3.30 till 8.30 so I could get some sleep. Both seem tired and have been chasing but not at full speed like before. The hours I spent sat with Abby stopped her shaking and she seems calmer now.

Essentially where we are now, Abby is staying in one corner, with Anna mostly round the other end of the box out of sight. Abby then feels braver and takes some steps to forage or to the nearby water bowl (we have two now) and she'll be fine till she makes a little too much noise and Anna comes flying round the corner stamping and grunting, chases Abby around the pen and few times, until Abby cowers back in her corner. Anna then glares at her for a while to make sure she's not moving, and then goes back to the other side of the box. Then we repeat the whole thing again. We have moved the box about as don't want to create 'sides', but I think it will need to come out at some point today.

Picture showing the current resting areas of both bunnies