Bonding service within commuting distance of Cardiff or advice.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a boarding/bonding service within a sensible distance of Cardiff?
Covid permitting, of course!

My 7yo girl recently lost her 6yo partner to an aggressive cancer. She was left with the body overnight (he died late in the evening) so I did everything as best as I could.

She barely ate for about a week, was extremely depressed and would sit in one corner of her house and hardly move or interact even when I fed her (very unlike her as she was always the first over).

I made the decision to take on a new boy about a week later. My only requests were that I wanted a friendly, neutered boy. Didn't care about age or breed.

I found a young 8 month old nearby. Lovely lady but was getting rid as the rabbit was desperately trying to make friends with the dog and the dog was going for him.

I've had him about a week. My girl is outside in her walk in run. He is inside in a pen made out of modular mesh storage cubes.

The issue isn't that anything is going wrong as such but after only a week, the little boy is bored to pieces, being stuck in the pen and I literally have nowhere else to put him and I suspect the bonding is going to be a fairly drawn out process. I let him hop around the garden or lounge but I also have dogs and if he's in the garden, my other rabbit obviously has to be locked away.

I was hoping that sending them away to a professional, on neutral territory, may speed up the process - especially as my house is a teeny tiny bed terrace and the downstairs is all open plan so hard to section off areas longterm.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your bunny

I am also in South Wales and don't know of any bunny bonding/boarding in this area. I'm sure that lots of people on here can give you advice for doing the bonding yourself, though.

So I presume you haven't attempted bonding yet - before you do so, is he neutered? He will need to be neutered before they are bonded. If he isn't neutered then you will also need to factor in recovery time before you start bonding them. If possible, I would section off a space downstairs for bonding, so it is neutral territory and you cn keep an eye on them. If the bond goes well then you should be able to move them into your outdoor accomodation within a week or so.

Someone at Wind Whistle Warren Rescue told me that they know someone who bonds bunnies for people in Bristol, but with Cardiff in a local lockdown I don't suppose that is much help.

Hello,

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, he was neutered not long before I got him (so I believe about 4 weeks).
My female is obviously spayed but want to wait until the hormones have completely calmed down before properly introducing them without barriers.

I've been swapping litter trays and toys and blankets around for about 5 days now. They've been next to each other but with bars inbetween.
Had a couple of bar pushing/boxing episodes from the female and her sort of putting him in his place but she's also ignored him, they've groomed themselves next to each other and also happily eaten side by side (again in their own space with bars between) but I'm not convinced they are happy enough in each other's company yet, to be put together with no barriers, in a neutral space. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious!

The only neutral territory would be the upstairs bedrooms for the actual face to face bonding, given the setup of the lounge and the fact he's currently in one corner and they've both hopped around the place.

I think because he's so bored in his pen, the sooner they can hopefully happily live together, the better.

Thank you for letting me know about Bristol but yes, sadly at the moment, not sure I can do much about it.

Sorry for the loss of your Bunny. It's worth giving it a go! I have bonded many older Bunnies to younger ones without too much trouble. For all you know, they might bond really quickly, say over a day or two, but they must be in a neutral area.

Just a little update. Thought I'd take the plunge, armed with a soft sweeping brush, some gloves and a towel and just introduced them briefly on the bed, despite my insides churning like no tomorrow.

Went surprisingly well at first. Hopped around each other and sniffed with no aggression.

But little Mr definitely hasn't settled yet from a hormone POV as we just had sexual mounting (with his bits out), rather than behavioural so I separated them but my little girl didn't react or act aggressively. Me thinks I won't try proper reintroductions until he's definitely settled down but hey, could've been worse. No aggression from either.

That sounds really good. Have you seen the thread "Mounting V Mating". The person is in a similar situation as yourself. It is quite rare but does happen from time to time.

I'm bonding four bunnies together myself at the moment (three girls with one boy), my buck Hamilton was humping/mounting the girls a lot for the first 24 hours but has stopped now. I find this is quite normal behaviour, even for a long-term neutered male. But you're right that the hormones can take a while to wear off to a normal level - I believe after 8 weeks is safe