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bonding a widow from a previous female/female pairing

Talle

New Kit
I have a question about how to go about bonding rabbits that were previously bonded to a rabbit of the same sex after one of them has died.

I had two unspayed, unrelated females bonded together. Were they an impulse buy? Yes. Why didn’t I get them spayed? One of my parents was dying at the time and took a huge and unexpected turn for the worse. It just wasn’t on the cards. I’m not really sure how I went about bonding them? I know I took steps, but honestly it happened so effortlessly that I can’t even remember what I did, and I never got around to spaying them in the end.

They were together for three years with absolutely no issues. Best friends for life. Unfortunately one of those lives was cut short and now I’m unsure of where to go.

I know my rabbit needs a new companion. What I don’t know is whether I should try and bond her with another female or a neutered male. The later is meant to be easier, yeah, but I wonder how her having only been bonded to a female would effect that?

Has anyone had experience with this? Bonding previously female/female pairs to males or male/male pairs to females? If so, would you mind sharing how it worked out? Thank you!

(Before anyone advices: I know it would make it easier, but I can’t get her spayed, either. Not for a while, anyway. Turns out my dog also has cancer. I have too many vet bills as it is.)
 
Welcome to the forum :) I'm sorry you've lost one of your rabbits, and about your dog.

I've not bonded any unspayed females before but I don't think her having only been bonded to another female will make a difference, I would go for an already neutered male. He'd need to have been neutered for at least 8 weeks to be sure they can't breed. I have recently bonded a trio which has two females in (spayed) and they're very close but one was only very recently spayed before I started bonded and she displayed lots of hormonal behaviour to begin with. Best of luck!
 
I have a question about how to go about bonding rabbits that were previously bonded to a rabbit of the same sex after one of them has died.

I had two unspayed, unrelated females bonded together. Were they an impulse buy? Yes. Why didn’t I get them spayed? One of my parents was dying at the time and took a huge and unexpected turn for the worse. It just wasn’t on the cards. I’m not really sure how I went about bonding them? I know I took steps, but honestly it happened so effortlessly that I can’t even remember what I did, and I never got around to spaying them in the end.

They were together for three years with absolutely no issues. Best friends for life. Unfortunately one of those lives was cut short and now I’m unsure of where to go.

I know my rabbit needs a new companion. What I don’t know is whether I should try and bond her with another female or a neutered male. The later is meant to be easier, yeah, but I wonder how her having only been bonded to a female would effect that?

Has anyone had experience with this? Bonding previously female/female pairs to males or male/male pairs to females? If so, would you mind sharing how it worked out? Thank you!

(Before anyone advices: I know it would make it easier, but I can’t get her spayed, either. Not for a while, anyway. Turns out my dog also has cancer. I have too many vet bills as it is.)

Maybe I'm going to sound harsh here, but if you've got too many vet bills as is and a very sick pet (sorry to hear about that), I would advise against taking in another rabbit and starting a bonding process now. What if your new bunny (or the one you've got now) needs vet care? What if the rabbits fight when you introduce them and injure each other? (it happened to me just a few days ago : my newly bonded rabbits have been getting along swimmingly, they had never fought and were all living with other bunnies previously with no issue... then my neighbour decided to have part of her house torn down and rebuilt... the rabbits freaked out at the noise, and suddenly I had fur and blood everywhere). You got really lucky with your previous pairing but pairing an intact female with any rabbit is unadvisable. It generally doesn't go well and there is a good chance it might not work out at all. Besides, bonding is often hard even under the best conditions. With an intact doe, chances are it will be a very long, stressful, frustrating process with a real chance of unsuccesful outcome. I wouldn't want to put myself through that while dealing with my dog having cancer. You probably have it rough enough as is. Besides, spaying is mainly a health issue, as you are probably aware. My advice would be save money, spay your current bunny as soon as you can and then try to find a match. Waiting a bit will do less harm than rushing into things and putting yourself in what could become a very difficult situation.
That's my opinion, of course, but I think it's worth thinking through - if you take in a new bunny, that they don't get along with your current rabbit and that the later ends up getting cancer in a year or two because you haven't spayed her, you are going to feel horrible. I know I would.
 
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