Hi everyone
Where do we start?! My nearly 8 year old lost his bunny wife late last September after illness. They'd been bonded for nearly all of his life and he even spent her last days with her in the vets, and was there when we said goodbye. Given their close bond, our vets strongly recommended finding him a new partner quickly to help him move on. Molly is a young neutered female who we rescued a month after losing our old girl. Unfortunately Molly is not without issues; she came home covered in cysts with a raging ear infection and our vets quickly diagnosed pasteurella for which shes on penicillin. Beyond her ongoing health issues (she's in much, much better shape now but will never be quite 100%), it's also become quite clear that she has no idea how to be a bunny. We understand from the rescue that she'd lived on her own in a hutch for all of her life - and as a result, she's completely terrified of Harry.
An initial date went badly. Harry put his chin on her back and she span round and attacked him. Her eyes were bulging and she was visibly very scared. Learning from this, we decided to take it really slowly and let her spend some time settling into her new home, building confidence and living near Harry (their cages are side by side so they can constanty see/ smell each other, but not close enough to reach each other) before trying again. That initial bad date shook my nerves so we booked a lady to come and help us with the bond - which we had to cancel because Harry's health took a bad turn.
After a rocky couple of months with Harry where he spent more time at the vets than at home, things are levelling out. Harry has spinal arthritis and is on metacam, tramadol and gapaentin twice a day along with regular laser therapy, which he's responding well to. A couple of weeks ago. I made the mistake of letting Harry out to exercise while hubby and I were in the garden. I decided to pop in and check on them, to find Harry had jumped on top of Molly's house and the roof had fallen through, leaving them trapped in her cage together. ARGHHHH!!!
No serious injuries (alhough it looked like armageddon at first) - just lots of fur pulling and both received a number of nips. When I found them, Molly had pinned herself to one side of the cage while Harry was sitting in the middle of the cage. Both were panting and looked stressed, but given by the behaviour (and judging by who received the most nips) I'd say that Harry won that round. Since then we've made sure they're totally seperated and given them time to calm down and heal. Mostly they seem ok with the other being around, but both get agressive when the other approaches their cage. This is making them a nightmare to excercise and neither are getting the quality of life that I'd like them to have.
Bonding lady is booked for this weekend and I'm feeling really anxious about it. I know that a tussle is often an essential part of bonding, but I feel awful putting them through it. So far we've not had a single successful meeting - although every 'date' they've had has been unsupervised by an expert. Our vets (Trinity, Maidstone) say to keep going. What do you reckon? Can this come good and have a happy ever after or should we admit defeat?
I'd be so grateful of your experience.
Where do we start?! My nearly 8 year old lost his bunny wife late last September after illness. They'd been bonded for nearly all of his life and he even spent her last days with her in the vets, and was there when we said goodbye. Given their close bond, our vets strongly recommended finding him a new partner quickly to help him move on. Molly is a young neutered female who we rescued a month after losing our old girl. Unfortunately Molly is not without issues; she came home covered in cysts with a raging ear infection and our vets quickly diagnosed pasteurella for which shes on penicillin. Beyond her ongoing health issues (she's in much, much better shape now but will never be quite 100%), it's also become quite clear that she has no idea how to be a bunny. We understand from the rescue that she'd lived on her own in a hutch for all of her life - and as a result, she's completely terrified of Harry.
An initial date went badly. Harry put his chin on her back and she span round and attacked him. Her eyes were bulging and she was visibly very scared. Learning from this, we decided to take it really slowly and let her spend some time settling into her new home, building confidence and living near Harry (their cages are side by side so they can constanty see/ smell each other, but not close enough to reach each other) before trying again. That initial bad date shook my nerves so we booked a lady to come and help us with the bond - which we had to cancel because Harry's health took a bad turn.
After a rocky couple of months with Harry where he spent more time at the vets than at home, things are levelling out. Harry has spinal arthritis and is on metacam, tramadol and gapaentin twice a day along with regular laser therapy, which he's responding well to. A couple of weeks ago. I made the mistake of letting Harry out to exercise while hubby and I were in the garden. I decided to pop in and check on them, to find Harry had jumped on top of Molly's house and the roof had fallen through, leaving them trapped in her cage together. ARGHHHH!!!
No serious injuries (alhough it looked like armageddon at first) - just lots of fur pulling and both received a number of nips. When I found them, Molly had pinned herself to one side of the cage while Harry was sitting in the middle of the cage. Both were panting and looked stressed, but given by the behaviour (and judging by who received the most nips) I'd say that Harry won that round. Since then we've made sure they're totally seperated and given them time to calm down and heal. Mostly they seem ok with the other being around, but both get agressive when the other approaches their cage. This is making them a nightmare to excercise and neither are getting the quality of life that I'd like them to have.
Bonding lady is booked for this weekend and I'm feeling really anxious about it. I know that a tussle is often an essential part of bonding, but I feel awful putting them through it. So far we've not had a single successful meeting - although every 'date' they've had has been unsupervised by an expert. Our vets (Trinity, Maidstone) say to keep going. What do you reckon? Can this come good and have a happy ever after or should we admit defeat?
I'd be so grateful of your experience.
Xx
