bonding entire buck

R

redmal

Warren Scout
I have 2 male rabbits. Prince is neutered . Long story short, I took on Charlie, 7 year old entire buck who had never eaten hay, thinking to put him in the shed we use for the winter, because he was very frail and unlikely to live more that a month or so. He gradually got better and now seems to love his life, though his diet isn't great. He needed a dental desperately and last October our vet advised that though an anaesthetic risk it was dental or PTS. The senior vet who did the op phoned us to ask for permission to PTS while he was under because Xrays showed his teeth and jaws were so poor she couldnt correct his teeth and he would never eat well enough to have a healthy life.
Fast forward to today and he is still with us, having a ball, living "next door" to Prince for the winter and they seem to be great friends. Charlie grooms Prince through the bars and looks astounded when he watches Prince enthusiastic about eating hay and veg - but he now eats some veg, forage and even a strand or 2 of hay, though not fresh grass!
Sorry for the length but I wonder if there is any hope they could be bonded? Charlie is unlikely to survive an op so it would be 2 males, one neutered and one entire. Is there any hope?
 
Well first of all well done with Charlie ❤️ You have literally given him a new lease of life. I think it also demonstrates that sometimes you could have a sample of say 6 identifal rabbits all with the same observed issues and diagnostics results, but they might all cope with those issues in remarkably different ways. I think what might be key with Charlie though is your statement that he loves his life. And he has a bunny friend next door.

Regarding bonding, I would say give it a go. As long as you observe them very very carefully, so that you can split them up quickly if necessary, I do think it would be worth trying. Usual advice is that two males would both need to be neutered for a successful bond, but Charlie has already shown you that he doesn't believe in following usual advice.

Do let us know how it goes if you do decide to try.
 
I think it could be risky but there is only one way to find out. It would mean extensive monitoring for a few days but you could separate them overnight. Good luck!
 
OH is just finishing off their new run for the summer, which is wider than the old one but a bit shorter for each rabbit because divided into 2 halves, one for each rabbit, Well, I thought of a way to start, by putting them both in one side of their new run for the day, under close supervision and moving them back to winter shed for the night. They haven't been near the new run yet so it'll be a neutral space. Then Charlie decided to get a major dose of Spring Fever and is merrily spraying, humping the floorbrush and my foot and generally bouncing around and poor Prince doesn't know what's going on. Thing is, I'm worried Charles will be more likely to attack Prince. So, do I wait until summer when Charlie calms down a bit? But then won't easily have a smallish neutral space to try in. Or delay moving them from the winter shed? But Prince doesn't have an outside run there. Or just leave them as next door neighbours?
 
Charlie does sound a bit over the top! I think being neighbours sounds the safest way. Has Charlie always lived alone?
 
Oh Charlie, that's not what we want! I don't think there is one right answer here. As tonibun says quite rightly, leaving them as neighbours would be the safest way. However, with Charlie being entire, this never was the ideal situation. And with the run set-up with the neutral space, it is a good opportunity to give it a try. Perhaps also Charlie will calm down in a few days.

The main issue you would have is that if putting them together in the next little while results in a fight, you would be in a worse situation than now as they would remember the fight.

Leaving them as neighbours is probably something you could resort to if putting them together failed. In your position I might be persuaded to see how it goes.

If you tried them now, you would have to make absolutely sure that you got yourself kitted out with gardening gloves or similar and were in a position to split them up very quickly. And obviously never leaving them alone.
 
Yes, tonibun, as far as I know Charlie hasn't seen another rabbit since he left the litter. He was so excited when Prince moved in next door! But, then, he seems to spend most of his time super excited unless sleeping :sneaky:. I don't know how he has been in previous Springtimes, as we only had him in August. Maybe he hasn't felt well enough to get excited? So maybe it's a positive ;).

Anyway, OH and I have been thinking hard about this and have decided that even if they are friendly when they are together, we wouldn't be completely confident in case they suddenly started a fight. Once they have the tunnels connected to the new run they will be able to have another area each, separate but close together. If they were bonded and the bond broke down and they fought there it would take at least a minute or so to get to them. That's if we were watching them. Also, if they fought and couldn't live close together any more they would be unhappy, I think. So, all in all, bonded would be great, but they are happy enough (I think) as neighbours. Thank you all for your thoughts, they helped us to think it through and make the decision. And thanks for the comments and good wishes.
 
Your decision makes a lot of sense. I smiled at your comment that Charlie seems to spend most of his time super excited unless sleeping. His life has certainly improved so much.
 
Thank you Omi for that. It makes me so proud of rabbity people, never just one right answer, always another way to go. Just like rabbits, really!
 
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