A little bit of a setback I think, I do hope that I'm not messing everything up
Caramel and Mr Muffles have had a few more times together and as long as they are ignoring each other, it's okay, but as soon as they face off, it doesn't seem to go well. At one of their recent meetings when they were face to face, Mr Muffles seemed excited to say hello, but Caramel wasn't having any of it and kind of nose butted him away, not massively aggressively, but not friendly either. This happened a couple of times, then Mr Muffles got the message and backed off. After that Caramel enjoyed hopping about and exploring Mr Muffles' room, while Mr Muffles was content to just sit with me and be stroked. And then after a little while, Caramel hopped back through the gate into her room. So not a bad meet and greet, plus I actually managed to let them sort themselves out without interfering.
This mornings' meet and greet however, did NOT go well
It all got very chase and scuffly, mostly Caramel chasing Mr Muffles, and she even managed to pull out a clump of Mr Muffles' fur
I wasn't a bit happy with the way things were going, and tbh it did seem to be erring on the aggressive side, so I stopped it, and removed Caramel from the situation.
Both rabbits are fine, no injuries that I can see, and both have since been fed and have eaten really well. So no lasting detrimental effects - except perhaps to my nerves :? I'm just feeling such a failure right now. I'll give the two rabbits a bit of a break from the meets and greets for a few days and let the dust settle.
I think if it had just been chasing without the scuffles, I would have coped with it okay, but the scuffles, as if a fight was about to break out, I just didn't feel that I could let that play out as I was so worried that one, or both, of them would get hurt.
I'm thinking of checking with our vets as to whether they might have any links to local bunny bonding experts to see if we might be able to get someone round who might be able to observe a meet and greet or two and help get us back on track.
Any words of advice and encouragement would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks - Natalie