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Bonding - How Long After Spay?

Sarah3075

Young Bun
Hey everyone, just looking for some general advice on how long I should wait before introducing a newly spayed female to our already neutered male?

We recently lost our lovely Len's wifebun, Piglet and have been looking every day for a new companion for him, but we're drawing blanks at every turn. We've tried the RSPCA and other rescues in our area and beyond, but there's a dearth of lady buns at the moment. We've been looking for 3 weeks now but with no luck and it's getting frustrating.

We wanted to find a spayed bun so that we could get on with the bond straight away, but are now widening our search to private owners who are looking for new homes for their unspayed buns. My question is, if we found a suitable lady, could we get her spayed and then keep them side by side in separate crates until she's healed or do we have to keep them completely separate (I.e in separate rooms)?

Any advice greatly appreciated!
 
I asked something similar a few weeks ago, so no experience, but the advice I got from the lovely people on here :D was 6 weeks post neuter for a recently neutered buck. We also struggled to find a spayed female, but we did manage to find one in the end, so fingers crossed you may still find a suitable bunny. I think the advice was also to keep them completely separate until bonding day, although some sources I have read have said you can keep them separated but in the same room so they can see/smell each other. (And I know ours can hear each other, even currently with a door between them, and I would think would be able to smell each other from us).

Good luck in your search! I'm sorry about Piglet, I hope Len can find another lovely bunny to live with.
 
Hey Monty's Human (love the name Btw! ) and thanks for replying. We've spotted a lovely girl on the Pets 4 Homes website, but she's not spayed yet. The problem we have is that Len currently has free range over our dining room, and we don't really have anywhere else in the rest of the house we could keep a new lady bun while she healed. We're thinking of possibly asking a friend if they would be willing to look after her following her spay until she and Len are okay to meet (Len's been neutered for 3 years now). I was hoping that we might be able to keep them in the same room, but separate while she was healing so that they could start to get to know each other, but if that's not advised then we'll have to look at more inventive options!

How did your bond go?
 
Hey Monty's Human (love the name Btw! ) and thanks for replying. We've spotted a lovely girl on the Pets 4 Homes website, but she's not spayed yet. The problem we have is that Len currently has free range over our dining room, and we don't really have anywhere else in the rest of the house we could keep a new lady bun while she healed. We're thinking of possibly asking a friend if they would be willing to look after her following her spay until she and Len are okay to meet (Len's been neutered for 3 years now). I was hoping that we might be able to keep them in the same room, but separate while she was healing so that they could start to get to know each other, but if that's not advised then we'll have to look at more inventive options!

How did your bond go?

Thanks! :D We haven't tried to bond yet - we are hoping to start this weekend, though I planned to start a thread nearer the time with my own questions. We've been letting Monty free range the back of the house and keeping the new bunny in our hutch (which feels really cruel, but is only temporary!) Could you temporarily bunny-proof a room, even if it's on the small side? I don't know if you could live with it, but you could just pile non-bunny things (eg books on lower shelves) up on tables and let her loose in a room with furniture you're not too attached to, as a temporary measure?

I also wonder if, with the right owner, you might be able to find someone who would be prepared to keep their rabbit post-spay until she's safe to start bonding, if you offered to include the cost of the spay in what you pay for her? I think someone who's looking to make sure their rabbit goes to a good home - rather than people just trying to get rid of an unwanted rabbit - might be open to something like that. (Obviously not much use if you have lost your heart to the P4H bunny!)

Do you know what you'll do about neutral territory for bonding? We had a real headache with ours - we settled on the bathroom in the end, but that's a nightmare in itself. Just something to bear in mind if you're trying to work out spaces for everyone!

Good luck, whatever you decide to do :) Keep us update on how you get on!
 
Thanks 😊 We bonded Len with Piggy in the kitchen, as he never goes in there (he just hangs around the door when he hears the fridge door open!) and that worked really well. You'll have to keep us updated as to how your bond gets on, and post lots of pics. We're going to wait until the weekend and see of any ladies come up in the local rescues and if not we're going to have to bite the bullet and look and unspayed buns
 
I asked the same question the other day about keeping an unspayed female and neutered male in the same room but separate if the plan is to bond them in future. I think it depends on the rabbits so we decided to try it and see how they react. It's early days but as of last night they've been in that new set up. So far so good, Larry is curious and keeps flopping against the side close to Poppy (there is a gap in between them so they can't actually touch) and Poppy seems oblivious entirely to Larry. It's also the first time Poppy has seen another rabbit we think so we're keeping a close eye on her reaction especially. Having a camera in the room helps us to monitor them. I'm in no way an expert though but thought I'd let you know what's going on with me as your situation sounds similar to mine.


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