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I feel guilty

glitterdust

Warren Scout
Please someone put my mind at rest and tell me I am doing nothing wrong.
For people who don't know my situation, i currently have 3 separated rabbits, 2 bonded lops waiting to be neutered and one widow. I am sending them all away at the end of Jan for a whole month (devastated) for trio bonding, but right now I'm struggling with Guilt as one rabbit has to stay in a small space every other day and it's killing me.
Little ani who I think could be deaf, is extremely shy and timid, but the day she has the hutch and the garden she really comes out of her shell and gets used to me, but when it's her turn for the confined area my heart aches. The bonded duo are getting neutered in 3 weeks and then can be together (hallalujah) but until then please reasure me that what I'm doing is not cruel as it's a temporary measure. I really have no other option at all, Ive literally thought of everything. They all get switched around every day which I've been told helps bonding and I've seen a huge decrease in territorial behaviour from my widow dolly so i must be doing something right.. In 3 weeks the duo can be a proper duo again and both have the shed and run one day and then the hutch and garden the next up until end of Jan, when hopefully , and I'm really praying ,that all 3 of them can get along.

Oh and are all Dutch rabbits nutters? lops are pretty chilled but OMG dolly has more character than all the lops ive ever had put together. Never a dull moment.

Thank you

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What is the situation with the duo re age and previous bond? I have recently had two brother-sister littermate pairs that have stayed together from birth. The male being neutered at about 16 weeks (from memory!) before fertile, stayed with his sister who was done at 6 months old. I'm guessing if you have a male past that age though then the window of opportunity isn't available.. but if he is mature could he be neutered now?

There are different schools of thought re swapping and the person who does my bonding (ran a rescue for 25+ years) is strongly against swapping territories so I have never done it. It's difficult though when you are wanting to be fair regarding accommodation size.

Try not to punish yourself too much, you have a firm plan, it's not a permanent arrangement.
 
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What is the situation with the duo re age and previous bond? I have recently had two brother-sister littermate pairs that have stayed together from birth. The male being neutered at about 16 weeks (from memory!) before fertile, stayed with his sister who was done at 6 months old. I'm guessing if you have a male past that age though then the window of opportunity isn't available.. but if he is mature could he be neutered now?
They are brother and sister 12 weeks old ,getting neutered 3 weeks tomorrow.I got told to separate incase they mate , they were so close and ani seemed to rely on him for confidence, honestly It's painful X

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They are brother and sister 12 weeks old ,getting neutered 3 weeks tomorrow.I got told to separate incase they mate , they were so close and ani seemed to rely on him for confidence, honestly It's painful X

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I can imagine how sad that is. I used two different vets and they both recommended keeping they together. Joel started spraying so went for neutering a week earlier than planned. Jacob didn't show any hormonal behaviour at all. I admit to being surprised when the first vet said that they could stay together.
 
We're swapping a lot at the moment as we too have one smaller cage and it doesnt seem fair.

They have cage and free roaming on a regular rota, there has been a lot of territorial behaviour but that's settling now after a month.

We plan on sticking with this til we have some leave at xmas and then plan another bonding attempt.

Our were separated due to a bonding fight.

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We're swapping a lot at the moment as we too have one smaller cage and it doesnt seem fair.

They have cage and free roaming on a regular rota, there has been a lot of territorial behaviour but that's settling now after a month.

We plan on sticking with this til we have some leave at xmas and then plan another bonding attempt.

Our were separated due to a bonding fight.

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Ive been so lucky In the past with bonds, this has just been chaos from day one. I suppose if the best interests of the rabbits are at heart then it can't be a Bad thing temporarily.. I just feel horrific when i look at the one in the small enclosure.

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You are doing the best you can until such time as they can be together, I don't think you should feel guilty. Sometimes we can't always give our pets 100% but you have a plan and this isn't permanent. Separating the male and female early as a precaution is in my opinion better than ending up with an accidental litter. Plus they won't even remember this when it's all done and dusted!
 
You are doing the best you can until such time as they can be together, I don't think you should feel guilty. Sometimes we can't always give our pets 100% but you have a plan and this isn't permanent. Separating the male and female early as a precaution is in my opinion better than ending up with an accidental litter. Plus they won't even remember this when it's all done and dusted!
Thank you. So true x

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It's temporary and it's solving the immediate issues. Once they have been neutered and have healed from the ops, you can plan on reuniting them. Anything else right now risks a fight and their future bond, so isn't worth it for the sake of a few more weeks.
 
IIRC Dutches are mental. Like Netherland Dwarves but 'more rabbit' :) It's horrible isn't it, we looked after a rabbit for almost a week and it was more space than she'd known all her life but we STILL felt it was awful, only about 12' square: she was on her way to her forever home and spent 6 days with us :)
 
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