Rescue Bunnies

Hi all, today I went to my local rescue centre with the aim of getting a girl friend for my recently neutered male bunny. I work in a pet store but felt that instead of buying one I'd do a good deed and rehome a needy one!They had lots of bunnies needing homes, all living together in big aviary type cages. A few of them had bald patches and I could see tufts of fur lying around. I spoke to a member of staff and was told that I couldn't just take a female to introduce to my boy slowly over a period of weeks, they wanted me to give them my bunny to keep there and they'd just put the rabbits straight in together and let them fight it out!!! :roll: Well I told her I wouldn't be happy for this, one reason being the stress to my boy, and also what if they started fighting when no one was there??? :? She said that if bunnies are going ot fight they'll do it straight away, but I don't agree... What are your thoughts? Is this common amongst rescue centres?

(the bunny they showed me was a rex, she was beautiful, but had burnt feet because they keep them on concrete, I pointed this out but they said it was just something rex's got?? :evil: hmm, not sure about that either??)

Buttonmoon
xx

Some rescues do have a service where your rabbit goes for a holiday. This can be quite handy as you go home with two virtually bonded bunnies and don't have to go through the bonding process at home.

Usually you can get a pretty good idea of how bonding will go within the first little while and actual fighting does tend to happen straight aware. I wouldn't let that continue though.

Chasing, mounting etc. which is sometimes mistaken for fighting is part of bonding and they need to go through it.

She might have meant letting them get on with it rather than leaving them to literally fight.

Tufts of fur are pretty normal during bonding especially this time or year when they all seem to be moulting. The mounting/chasing and occational fur plucking does go on.

If you're not happy to let your bunny stay over then see if you can find a different rescue. There is no reason you can't visit during bonding to check how your bun is getting on

Tam

i totally agree with tamsin, personally i have never gone to a rescue to let my rabbits bond but i dont have to really because if they decided they did not like each other i have room for them, but

in you case where you only want/need a specific bun, i think they are a good idea, but i would not go to a rescue whom said they will let them fight it out!, if a fight (a really fight acurred) the chances are they will not go together, a bit of nipping and mainly ingnorance and mounting is ok! so personally i would take the rabbit to a rescue you felt comfortable with and try it there!

where are you based maybe we could sugguest somewhere for you to take your bun!

eve x

I used to volunteer at a refuge and we'd invite people with rabbits to bring theirs in so we could help the introduction process along by placing their rabbit and their chosen rescue in a neutral place, also happened with dogs and cats but we never offered to keep them over a period of time to see if they'd get on, the pets always went home on the same day.
The member of staff at the rescue you talk about is right and wrong Right to offer your rabbit to meet another rabbit on neutral territory, I assume they have a large-ish enclosure where neither rabbit has been before, this would be helpful especially for people living in small flats where maybe a house rabbit has the run of the whole flat and they don't have a neutral area to do introductions. Wrong because I agree with you, the rabbits wouldn't just fight once on first meeting, thats why when you're introducing one animal to another you do it over a period of time in different situations, you allow each animal to get used to each other's presence because often they don't become best of friends in just one visit. (I say animals as its true for rabbits, rats, guineas etc).
If you aren't comfortable with the set-up the lady at the rescue centre suggested, maybe you could suggest to her that you bring your rabbit and allow your bun to meet a few different rabbits on neutral territory at the centre where they'll have more space. Then maybe your rabbit will show a liking, and show immediate dislikings, to some rabbits and your bun might end up chosing his friend, not you chosing it! Then you could take your two rabbits home and begin your own introduction process. If you aren't comfortable with the rescue centre, try another one, thats all I can suggest.
By burnt feet do you mean hock burns/bumblefoot? Like sores on the bottom of their feet? My rabbits live on the patio so thats as hard as concrete, my rex did have sores on her feet but that was because she was overweight (which is common in rexes I've heard). Shes since been on a diet and her feet have healed themselves although I do keep a close eye on them, rexes have thinner or sparser fur on their feet so they can be more prone to bumblefoot than other rabbits.

Thanks for your replies!!

I'm actually quite interested in watching the bonding process myself, as a learning curve so to speak, watching the body language and stuff. I may ring the rescue centre tmw and try and speak to the manager, see if I can get qany further that way, I can't see the difference in the bonding taking place at my house or the rescue to be honest, one of the bunnies will have to moved!

The burns on the rex's feet looked like little ulcers on the ends of her toes, looked sore, the girl said it's because of the sparse fur that rex's have, surely she'd be better off on some nice soft straw or something instead of concrete??

I'm based in Cambridge and would have no problem travelling with my boy for the day to meet some potential loves of his life!!! I'm just not happy leaving him over night.. i guess I'm just soft!!! hehe

xx

I totally agree. my bunnies went to a rescue centre and only needed to be matched for a matter of minutes bfore they were happy to go home with their new men!!

i certainly wouldnt let my bun away for longer. I have never heard of a rescue centre having them longer then a few mins to check bonding? That doesnt seem to make sense - alarm bells are ringing about that place? but doesnt mean you shouldnt have the bun you met xxx

Buttonmoon said:

Thanks for your replies!!


I'm based in Cambridge and would have no problem travelling with my boy for the day to meet some potential loves of his life!!! I'm just not happy leaving him over night.. i guess I'm just soft!!! hehe

xx

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If you are happy to travel maybe you should speak to Cheryl.. she's in Norwich.. altho im not sure if she has any single girls at the moment. Her nick on here is sgprescue

When someone wants a rabbit from me to pair up to theres i ask that they bring there rabbit with them so the first meeting is with me, it has been known for rabbits to take an instant dislike to each other so this cuts out that problem.If all is well then they can go to there new home with advise about whot cums next.like not putting a buck into a does cage,they would have to have a nuterel cage to go into or the doe may not be happy.A little bit of a scuffle usualy takes place sooner or later to see whoes gonna be the boss but as long as there is no proper fighting then u should let them get on with it.The do u mentioned should have been on very deep beeding to stop the wounds from ulcerating.It is a common problem with the rex as there is not a good depth of fur on the feet.I must say that i have had very few rabbits indeed come back because they diddnt get on. val

I spoke to a lot of rescues about bonding when I was looking for a girly for Zeus. Generally the policy seemed to be - take your rabbit in and try with different bunnies to see whether there is a particularly good match. Then either take both bunnies home and continue bonding yourself or leave your bunny at the rescue to do the bonding.

All the ones I spoke to said it wasn't compulsory to leave your bunny there for bonding if you have the time/space and bravery to do it yourself !

My rexes get sore hocks occasionally; their fur is much thinner. Usually they get small bald patches on their heels that can get a little red, if they have sores on the front it will need treatment at the vets.

To reduce the risk of sore hocks you must keep their nails short (rexes nails grow faster than normal bunnies), make sure they aren't overweight and try and keep them on soft surfaces. Grass is the best surface because their nails sink into the ground like they are supposed to and the foot rests flat keeping pressure evenly distributed. If they are kept on hard surfaces the posture is to lean back onto the heels, which puts extra pressure on them. Carpet can also be a bad surface as they get "carpet burns" from running around too much.

Caz

Surely it's not right for the rescue to have a load of rabbits living together in an aviary though? Unless they have all been bonded, wouldn't this just lead to all sorts of scuffles and fights? I wouldn't let any of my bunnies be put into a big group of rabbits like that! Am I too soft?

Jane

Buttonmoon said:

Thanks for your replies!!

I'm actually quite interested in watching the bonding process myself, as a learning curve so to speak, watching the body language and stuff.

xx

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It is stressful but rewarding. I would recommend it. b-m

I didn't know that about keeping rexes nails short to stop them leaning back on their heels, sorry can't quote it the quote thing isn't working lol. My rabbits are kept on the patio but they do get time on grass in the nice weather, not always every day though. The only trouble is with clipping my rex Honey's nails, last time I clipped them too short and it started to bleed, didn't stop so we went to the vets and they cauterised it with this stick it had some metal or chemicals on it :? anyway it was interesting and I'm babbling but yes, I'll need to be extra careful with Honey's feet! :lol:

neeshkabeesh said:

I didn't know that about keeping rexes nails short to stop them leaning back on their heels, sorry can't quote it the quote thing isn't working lol. My rabbits are kept on the patio but they do get time on grass in the nice weather, not always every day though. The only trouble is with clipping my rex Honey's nails, last time I clipped them too short and it started to bleed, didn't stop so we went to the vets and they cauterised it with this stick it had some metal or chemicals on it :? anyway it was interesting and I'm babbling but yes, I'll need to be extra careful with Honey's feet! :lol:

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have you tried woodgreen they are in cambridgeshire!

have you tried woodgreen they are in cambridgeshire![/quote]

I was at Woodgreen.... :?

I must say I was surprised.
I have since tried another local rescue centre, hopefully someone will call me tommorrow to arrange a time for me to take my bun to do some match making (love is in the air...)

I'm quite excited!!!

Buttonmoon