Deciding when to bond after loss

After writing and re-writing this quite a few times, I'm going to try go for the most objective overview of our sad situation.

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Rosie. Her sibling from the same litter, Paul (4 yr old mini lop), although a little subdued, is carrying out most of his usual activities (eating, drinking, pooping, destroying cardboard at an average rate, sticking his head through the stair gate in the morning).

After seeing how devoted he and his sister were, our instinct is that he would most likely prefer a new friend than to be alone for the rest of his (hopefully) years. I feel the information I've seen online and the information from the vet has been contradictory, so I'm looking for advice on how we choose to move forward. I figure this would be a better place to ask help as I don't want to feel pressured into re-bonding him from a rescue center if it's not right.

How long do we wait? What signs do we look for in Paul? What can I do in the mean time to help?


Writing this whilst sat on the floor, trying to show him I'm spending time with him and that I'm here if he needs me.

We waited three months between losing one partner and getting another from a rescue. This was partly because we delayed contacting the rescue, then we went on holiday.
Our surviving bun, was pining, she ate and drank okay, but tended to sit in the corner of her pen for long periods. During this time she became more friendly towards us.
She returned to her usual self once she had a new friend. Next time I would try to get a new partner much sooner

Animals seem to make it clear when they are not coping on their own when the lose their partner.
They seem to carry out daily tasks as normal (eating, exercising etc) but they just simply seem depressed. The things they used to love seem to have less energy to them.
No one knows how long to wait, if he's coping okay I'd say wait until you're ready to accept another rabbit.

Personally, I'd recommend a rescue in a sense that often they can help with bonding, and if bonding is unsuccessful there is a back up plan for where bun can go back to.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

To Horace:

Thank you, that is really helpful. What you describes does sound like Paul but I appreciate it has only been a few days since it happened, so maybe he'll turn a corner soon.

Hopefully we won't have any barriers to reaching out to a rescue center, I just want to make sure it's right for him.

To Daphnephoebe:
Thank you - also really helpful and reassuring. Also, I realise my original post is a bit misleading - I will 100% go to a rescue as I can see it has many benefits (re-homing a bunny in need, potential for similar age, expertise in bonding which I have no experience with!).


Do either of you have recommendations of what we can do in the mean time to try coax him out of his shell? Each time I rustle the hay (not intentionally doing this!) he perks up as if I'm Rosie, sees me and curls back up in his house. It's heart breaking.

Quick update on Paul:

He'd spend most of yesterday uninterested in us, which is unusual for him, but understandable in the situation. My partner made a valid point that Rosie was always there to back him up - he's quite timid and relied on her for reassurance. As the vets said, she was a sassy rabbit (goodness knows what she was doing for them to say that - I can only begin to imagine!)

By yesterday evening, we started to see sparks of the old Paul - he did a half binky after I changed my desk (he lives in the living room with us. Rosie & Paul used to love when we changed the furniture round - it sparked a serious binky session followed by some flopped out chill time). He did lots of hopping about and re-exploring which made us feel a lot better as it looks like he's feeling a bit better too.

I did notice that he'd sat in poop which is most likely our fault for not correctly adjusting the amount of food from two to one bun - we've done this now and I'm hoping he'll clean himself. Now that he's hopping about more I think this will help too.

I'm still interested to hear how others in this situation helped their bunny cope with change, this is new to us and anything we can to do help him we'll try,

Thank you