Friend for a house rabbit?

Hi

New here and looking for some advice on getting a companion for my house rabbit. He is an uneutered male. He is very feisty and quite dominant but not aggressive.

Originally we were going to get a neutered female as a play mate and my vet thought this was a good idea. But the lady at the refuge wouldn't let us have one without Harvey being neutered.

I didn't want to get a male as I thought that there would be more chance that they would fight. Is this likely to be so if I got a neutered male?

Alternatively would a guinea pig or a kitten be possible?

Harvey is on his own a lot as my partner and I work full time and we do believe he would be better with a companion but just don't know what to get for the best.

Any help greatly appreciated.

DO NOT put 2 males together as you will have a huge fight on your hands.A kitten or g-pig is not good idea either.Castrate your bunny and then get a neutred female.

Hi Leelou

I believe neutered male / neutered female is the best combination, although all bunnies are different. Could you not have Harvey neutered, and then bond with a neutered female from the rescue ? This might also calm him down a bit if he is feisty and dominant.

I don't believe bunnies and guinea pigs are recommended - bunnies back legs are very strong, and have been known to cause great harm to guineas.

Hiya,

I'll start with the not's

Definately not a guinea pig (especially with a unneutered male!) both the RSPCA and Rabbit Welfare Association are against keeping the two different animals together. Guinea pigs require a different diet, have different ways of communicating and a rabbit can cause a piggy serious injury.

Definately not another male rabbit. Unneutered male rabbits will fight and can inflict nasty injuries on each other.


The rescue would have turned you done because although the female being neutered would have prevented pregnancy this wouldn't have stopped your lad trying to get het pregnant. He would have been constantly pestering her which isn't nice for her and would making bonding them very difficult.

A kitten and a rabbit can get on but as with the guinea pig these are two very different animals, they do not speak the same language and are unlikely to sleep together and groom each other like two rabbits would.

Is there a particular reason why you don't want to have your lad neutered?

Tam

Thanks for your replies.

Harvey is now 2 1/2 (assuming the refuge place was right and he was 1 when we got him in Jan 2003) and I had understood it was a bit late to neuter.

Plus he has had a few anaesthetics for teeth problems in the last year and given he has no problems I just felt that putting him through the neutering operation would be an unnecessary risk. If something happened to him I would just be devastated as he is very much part of the family.

Is it particularly risky?

The aneathetic is the same as for a teeth op though he would probably be under for a shorter time as its a very quick for males. Rescue centres routinely neuter a lot of bunnies and generally the only problems with aneathetics are when there is an underlying problem that makes it more risky. Your vet can do a pre op check to make sure he's in tip top condition first, 2.5 yr isn't really 'old' for a bunny.

If its likely he will need another teeth op then you could always wait and have the neuter done at the same time.

Tam

Our Snowflake was 7 years old when he got neutered (cos he was pestering his missus), and he was and still is fine. He has various problems like a deformed spine and a turned in foot too. In my opinion, so long as you have an experienced 'rabbit vet' there shouldn't be any problem in having him neutered.

If your worried about additional Ga's then have him neutered the next time he has his teeth done.
We always have the two done together cuts down on costs aswell.

Thank you for all your replies.

I have spoken to our vets about having Harvey neutered and they don't seem to think it will be too bad. He is unlikely to need teeth work for a while as the last time he had a dental they discovered he had had an infection and some of his teeth fell out. This hasn't slowed him down eating at all and if anything is probably a blessing as those teeth were growing into his gum causing him discomfort sometimes.

Thanks again for all your advice
Love Louisa xx

I can only agree with the others, 2 1/2 is not too old to have him neutered at all. It really is the best option if you want to get a second rabbit - and I fully agree that a rabbit should not have to be on their own.

Vera

hey leelou i got a neutured girlfriend from the rspca for my 3 year old neutured boy brad. See my avatar.It took me a month to bond them but it was the best thing I have ever done for him. They are soo happy.
I used the Marinell Harman 'House Rabbit Handbook' to help me and she has two statements which really helped me. They are roughly this..

.Assume from the start they WILL hate each other
.But know they WILL eventually become best friends

Louisa hello, can you perhaps find a Vet who uses good old fashionned Gas rather than modern drugs, we find it is much safer and has no side affects, ideal for older bunnies or those requiring regular surgery , eg, for teeth problems.
You may have to phone around a few Veterinary surgerys, but we are so glad we discovered a local Vet who uses Gas, we have not had any problems with any bunnies going through surgery for castrations etc this way :wink: