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Finding a new friend for a widower

Z

Zurkio

New Kit
Hey Everyone,

I hope that this is the correct group for this question :)

After a sad week and a short battle with urethral cancer our 3 year old Satin Lop mix Lana has sadly been put down. We are absolutely heart broken and she leaves behind her 3 year old Lionhead husbunny Coin. Coin is a very nervous bunny who was very dependent on Lana, he doesnt really like humans that much, and we are scared, that he might fall into depression.

Now obviously we are already looking to adopt a new bunny, just to give our Coin a new friend, eventhough it hurts so much. I just have a few questions on what we should watch out for and what we should or shouldn't do. We definitely want to adopt and now buy. As a small information we live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1) Coin is a neutered male, so is it smarter to get a neutered female for him or would another neutered male also work?

2) Do they have roughly the same age or can the new one be a baby (worst case) or 5 to 6 years old?

3) Would it work if we introduced a bonded pair to him or would we run the risk of breaking the bond up?

4) How long can we wait to introduce a new rabbit before he could get very sick? He is still waiting so far, which is good!

Thanks already for the help :)

Best
 
Hello. I'm so sorry to hear of Lana's passing. Male & female pairings tend to work best. a trio could work but they are not usually the easiest to bond (they are great fun though). Breed & age doesn't make much difference except perhaps energy levels - I wouldn't ideally bond a juvenile with an elderly for instance.

The rescue should help you find the perfect match for Coin. Good luck

Question 4) I wouldn't assume he will get sick but its likely he will get lonely & really appreciate your kind efforts to get him a buddy. All rabbits are different in how they grieve. I'd say the sooner the better but not at the expense of rushing in to anything if that makes sense
 
Zurkio said:
Hey Everyone,

I hope that this is the correct group for this question :)

After a sad week and a short battle with urethral cancer our 3 year old Satin Lop mix Lana has sadly been put down. We are absolutely heart broken and she leaves behind her 3 year old Lionhead husbunny Coin. Coin is a very nervous bunny who was very dependent on Lana, he doesnt really like humans that much, and we are scared, that he might fall into depression.

Now obviously we are already looking to adopt a new bunny, just to give our Coin a new friend, eventhough it hurts so much. I just have a few questions on what we should watch out for and what we should or shouldn't do. We definitely want to adopt and now buy. As a small information we live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1) Coin is a neutered male, so is it smarter to get a neutered female for him or would another neutered male also work?

2) Do they have roughly the same age or can the new one be a baby (worst case) or 5 to 6 years old?

3) Would it work if we introduced a bonded pair to him or would we run the risk of breaking the bond up?

4) How long can we wait to introduce a new rabbit before he could get very sick? He is still waiting so far, which is good!

Thanks already for the help :)

Best
Click to expand...

Hello, and welcome to the forum :wave: I’m sorry that you lost your bunny :cry:

1) a neutered female would likely be the best match, but 2 neutered males could make a pair, too.

2) age is not an issue imo.

3) a trio could work, but it could in some cases break the bond of the pair.

4) it depends how he reacts to the situation, you obviously care very much about him and if you can provide him plenty of enrichment to take his mind off being alone, then that will help him.

I would try the local rescues and see if they can help find a suitable companion for him, it’s great that you are wanting to adopt :love:
 
Thank you <3

If we decide to bond a bonded pair, what would be the most crucial thing to watch out for, because it would be unfair to the original bond to break them up.

Our Local rescue sadly has only bonded pairs but the nearest one in Glasgow has 'Singles' as well, but those are dominant male, with the occasional female, so it would be quite hard to find a male.

Thanks for your help so far :)
 
Also thank you to you too <3

As mentioned in the other reply, our local shelter has only bonded pairs, which is why we had that idea of introducing one to Coin but we are scared of breaking a couple apart, which wouldn't be fair at all.

The nearest shelter would be in Glasgow which offers a few Single males but very few single females. But we can have a chat with them :)

Thanks so much for your information so far!
 
If the existing pair are rock solid, bonded for a decent amount of time i think there is minimal chance of them breaking up - you hear of it as a warning lots but you don't actually hear of it happening hardly ever. I bonded a trio, new girl to existing boy / girl pair. The pair remained lovey dovey but the boy liked the new girl, our existing girl not so much. Because the new girl had been brought home to live with us, I would have felt terrible if I'd not been able to get them together as a trio as she bonded instantly to my boy. Trio bonding can be particularly challenging / daunting & generally takes a lot longer. I wonder if the rescues you looked at offer dates or help with bonding. It'd be worth registering your interest in person if you haven't already as they can bare you in mind for new & not yet registered arrivals.
 
Thanks again for all the information! We will give the shelter(s) a ring tomorrow during the day and have a look what they can offer/do. :)
 
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