Bonding an elderly boy into a trio - pointers

Hello all,

We very sadly lost one of our bonded pair of boys last week and we are looking to get some companionship for his partner who is very sad without his husbun.

Philip is an older boy (10) with some mobility issues due to having spondylosis (he is on Loxicom long term for this), he can get about alright but can be bit wobbly on his feet and does occasionally fall over (usually when scratching his face/ears with his back feet). Due to Philips age I am leaning towards getting a pair to bond him with.

I've been in touch with a rescue who have suggested an older pair (6yr old female, 8yr old male). According to the rescue the pair are pretty easy going, and Philip is also. With Philips age and mobility I really want to do everything I possibly can to try and make things go as smoothly and stress free as possible. I'll be following the RWAF bonding advice. I've only bonded 2 pairs of buns, the first was proper love at first site and the second wasn't far off.

So anyway, really just looking for any hints/tips/pointers/things you wish you'd known, for helping form a successful trio. I think its going to be a couple of weeks anyway before we are able to collect any potential new partners so plenty time to prepare. I also have the second week in march off work so that would be a good time for any proper introductions.

Thanks in advance

Gayle

I'm so sorry you lost your bun. I apologise in advance about peeing on your trio plans bonfire, but as someone with experience of bonding a trio & having an elder bun with mobility issues I'd worry about Phillips ability to cope with the bond itself. Longer term, assuming they did bond it sounds like Phillip would likely be the submisive bun of the group (temprement, age, disability) so he'd likely be chased / moved on sometimes. Whilst this is ok & normal for healthy rabbits I think it might be a bit much as he gets older & its likely his mobility may deteriorate more - so the plan prob wouldn't have longevity. One partner if you can match them well would prob be best IMO.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I think I’m probably underselling Philip a bit, he’s actually a really confident and outgoing little guy. And while he’s a bit wobbly sometimes he normally spends a lot of time running about all over the place and following us about like a dog, he’s very active for his age (Actually we had thought Philip would be ok as a solo bun because he is so confident (not that we’d leave him without a friend) but actually MJs loss has hit him very hard)

When I say he’s easy going it’s because when we adopted him for MJ it was a pretty easy bond, a little bit of humping from both and that was as dramatic as it got.

joey&boo said:

I'm so sorry you lost your bun. I apologise in advance about peeing on your trio plans bonfire, but as someone with experience of bonding a trio & having an elder bun with mobility issues I'd worry about Phillips ability to cope with the bond itself. Longer term, assuming they did bond it sounds like Phillip would likely be the submisive bun of the group (temprement, age, disability) so he'd likely be chased / moved on sometimes. Whilst this is ok & normal for healthy rabbits I think it might be a bit much as he gets older & its likely his mobility may deteriorate more - so the plan prob wouldn't have longevity. One partner if you can match them well would prob be best IMO.

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I am inclined to agree with this. Also we find that in a trio there is quite often 1 Rabbit which tends to be "left out". Obviously you know your Bunny best but if it were me I would be looking for a middle-aged or older female to keep him company.

I recently adopted a single older doe for my 8 year old bereved buck.

I had thought of bonding him with my young m/f pair but with advice on here and using my knowledge of my rabbits I decided that a 1 to 1 bond would be easier for him.

It has been a dream partnership. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Thanks for input all, definitely food for thought.

I have msg'd the rescue asking if we could bring Philip to the rescue to meet face to face first. I'll also see if they have any older single buns available.

I would be inclined to leave Bunny at home as it might be too stressful for him. If it were me I would go and choose a friend for him. Good luck and I hope they have the perfect Bunny.