Pepper's at the vets

Hoping you and Pepper had a good night Mike, and hope things look brighter today. Sending vibes for Pepper, Lillian and you too xx

Popping on to top up the vibes for Pepper. Xx

Hope you got some sleep and Pepper did some eating and pooing And Tulip's done some calming down

well, mixed news.
Pepper seems more or less himself again - in a way. He was in the house last night & no evidence of any poops but he is eating a little.
Unfortunately there is an ongoing situation in his interaction with Tulip. I've spent all day either letting Pepper out on his own or Tulip on her own. Whenever they are out together it's very strange - as soon as Tulip gets close Pepper legs it and she then chases him. I thought it was her initiating it but she is fine until Pepper runs, then she chases him. I have been trying to resolve it all day with no success.
I've never seen behaviour like this before or even heard of it. She's ever actually caught up with him as I either chase her off or spray water at her (from a hose pipe). I am kinda tempted to let it go a bit further, ready to separate them if needed, but I don't want him to get exhausted as he is looking a bit underweight atm.
I'm sure it would be ok if he didn't run away but i'm sure it's that that's making Tulip chase him rather than her being aggressive.
There was onpoint when I thought it was gonna be OK. I was lying on the grass close to him, giving him reassurance and he allowed her to come up to him. There was a very brief nose touching moment but then he bolted and the chasing started again.

Anyone ever experienced this? any ideas on resolving it?

No real experience of this behaviour, but as a suggestion, have you thought about putting them together in a smaller area and thus forcing them to interact?
Richard

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No advice, but if bunnies have been separated at the vets or if one bun is under the weather, the other bun can act aggressively towards them. I guess you might have to go back to a bonding stage again? Hopefully someone will be along with more experience soon x

mikek said:

well, mixed news.
Pepper seems more or less himself again - in a way. He was in the house last night & no evidence of any poops but he is eating a little.
Unfortunately there is an ongoing situation in his interaction with Tulip. I've spent all day either letting Pepper out on his own or Tulip on her own. Whenever they are out together it's very strange - as soon as Tulip gets close Pepper legs it and she then chases him. I thought it was her initiating it but she is fine until Pepper runs, then she chases him. I have been trying to resolve it all day with no success.
I've never seen behaviour like this before or even heard of it. She's ever actually caught up with him as I either chase her off or spray water at her (from a hose pipe). I am kinda tempted to let it go a bit further, ready to separate them if needed, but I don't want him to get exhausted as he is looking a bit underweight atm.
I'm sure it would be ok if he didn't run away but i'm sure it's that that's making Tulip chase him rather than her being aggressive.
There was onpoint when I thought it was gonna be OK. I was lying on the grass close to him, giving him reassurance and he allowed her to come up to him. There was a very brief nose touching moment but then he bolted and the chasing started again.

Anyone ever experienced this? any ideas on resolving it?

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Hi Mike.

I'm glad Pepper is eating, let's hope you gets some poops soon.

I have had this behaviour before, if ive had to take them to the vets separately. Generally it calms down overnight. I think they can sense the other bunny is ill and smells funny.

I've tried stroking both of them with one hand, so their scent is swapped over. No idea if this helps. I also sit with them and try to get them to come together for some tasty treats to distract them.

I'm sure someone will have better advice, but just wanted you to know I've seen this behaviour before.

Good luck

I'm sorry to read this. It might be that she detects some weakness in Pepper so she is bullying him a bit. You could try re-bonding them in a small neutral space or wait until Pepper is fully back to normal then re-bond them.. Did the Vet weigh Pepper? I wouldn't leave them together overnight at the moment.

Has he produced any poops during today? Have you got oral medication to continue with now that he's home? If he's eating again now, he should really be pooping as well.

My guess is that when he arrived home yesterday he smelled of vets, which made Tulip unfriendly towards him. He probably smells OK now, but has become wary of Tulip and so is running away from her. He also possibly still feels slightly unwell and so feels vulnerable.

I would separate them again tonight and tomorrow, if you feel Pepper is up to it, I would try them in a restricted space. Otherwise I would leave it a couple of days until he's 100% again. I feel it's better to wait rather than have a full blown falling out occur.

Omi said:

Has he produced any poops during today? Have you got oral medication to continue with now that he's home? If he's eating again now, he should really be pooping as well.

My guess is that when he arrived home yesterday he smelled of vets, which made Tulip unfriendly towards him. He probably smells OK now, but has become wary of Tulip and so is running away from her. He also possibly still feels slightly unwell and so feels vulnerable.

I would separate them again tonight and tomorrow, if you feel Pepper is up to it, I would try them in a restricted space. Otherwise I would leave it a couple of days until he's 100% again. I feel it's better to wait rather than have a full blown falling out occur.

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good advice ! I agree with all this. Nose bumps for your little man

Sorry, I should have said don't leave them together overnight if they are still chasing. I didn't mean it to sound like I do.[emoji51]
Generally I can get Archie and Pip back to being friends again before bedtime, so I'm comfortable leaving them together.

Pepper and Tulip have been apart for much longer though. I would go with others advice and get Pepper 100% and pooping!!!

Omi said:

Has he produced any poops during today? Have you got oral medication to continue with now that he's home? If he's eating again now, he should really be pooping as well.

My guess is that when he arrived home yesterday he smelled of vets, which made Tulip unfriendly towards him. He probably smells OK now, but has become wary of Tulip and so is running away from her. He also possibly still feels slightly unwell and so feels vulnerable.

I would separate them again tonight and tomorrow, if you feel Pepper is up to it, I would try them in a restricted space. Otherwise I would leave it a couple of days until he's 100% again. I feel it's better to wait rather than have a full blown falling out occur.

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I agree with this too :thumb: topping up the vibes xx

Adding lots of vibes from Bertieville! xx

Topping up the vibes and hope poop output is improving.

I am sooo tired.

Thanks for the advice everyone, but it was Monday evening when I read it & by then both Pepper & Tulip were in the house in the living room. I can't remember how they ended up in there (whether they went in individually or I chased them in) but I closed the door and kept them in so I could keep an eye on them.
Pepper was still avoiding Tulip but I was hoping that the close proximity & my presence might resolve things but I couldn't trust them alone together so I decided to stay with them overnight. Unfortunately I only had a 2 seater sofa to kip on so I had pretty much no sleep overnight.
Nothing too much happened over the night in aggression terms so in the morning I was hoping for the best & let them out in the garden. Unfortunately pretty much the same thing - as soon as Tulip gets close to Pepper he runs away & then she chases him. She doesn't seem to be showing any aggression but I can't understand why Pepper runs away. I guess she might be showing aggression in subtle bunny terms (????) or maybe not.
Anyway, as there is no actual fighting I more or less let them carry on during the day, making sure Pepper wasn't getting exhausted or too stressed.
Over the course of the day there were times when they were with a metre of each other for a few seconds but in general the running away/chasing was still going on.
By early evening I was feeling a little less tired from the lack of sleep and so I tried to calm Pepper down a bit by lying down on the lawn close to him and reassure him, especially when Tulip got close. This seemed to work somewhat. There was still some running away/chasing at times but slightly less than before.
Come bed time I decided to herd them both into their overnight shed & see how they were when in together. I put loads of food in there for them.
Over the next hour I checked what was going on every 5 mins or less & although Pepper was avoiding close contact with Tulip there was no aggression so I decided to leave them in together.
6 o'clock this morning I went out and checked - no fur or signs of anything untoward so I let them out into the garden.
Today the chasing is still going on but only about half the time.
Pepper is definitely avoiding Tulip most of the time still but there are times they are nearby without anything happening. It's a bit upsetting for me to see this as they did get on pretty well before, with Pepper following Tulip abound all day & now it's the total opposite.

rn I'm pretty fed up with it & combined with my tiredness i'm attempting to let them sort it out themselves, just keeping a close eye on things. i'm hopeful that things are slowly improving but it's hard to tell.


He seems physically much better now albiet not 100%

Oh bless you Mike, they are very lucky having you as such a dedicated carer. I've no suggestions or advice, but maybe it's the fact that, as you say, Pepper isn't a 100 % and Tulip knows this. Really hope they both settle down, and Pepper is soon back to his normal self, and you can get a decent sleep. You are doing a great job Mike, I'm sure Pepper knows that xxx

Hugs x

I hope Pepper is back to normal with his eating and hope things settle down between them.

Hopefully things will settle down soon, I suppose Pepper has to learn to trust Tulip again and Tulip has to forget that he smelt like the vets. I hope Pepper is soon completely back to normal:thumb: