Bonding a bunny with another one after he/she has lost their loved one?

An old friend of mine has 2 bonded bunnies butone of them is only 3 years old(the female) and the otherisalmost 8 years old (the male). My friend wasasking what to do when the terrible day comes that the buck hops overthe rainbow bridge - unfortunately my friend is having to face this andconsider that it might happen although his buck seems fairly healthy atthe moment we just ahve no idea how long he might have left.The bunnies are inseperable and love each other so much and my friendis worried about the doe being lonely after the buck is gone, he wasasking me whether I suggested trying to bond the doe with a new buckimmediately after the death of her current partner or whether he shouldleave it a while before introducing her to another bunny.Does anyone have experience of re-bonding a bunny after their bondedpartner has died and is it likely that the bunny will be responsive toa new partner?

Any help or suggestions you could provide would be great!

While I don't have much advise on the bonding here is something to think about.

I think it is so important to give the little one time togrieve.Apollo mourned his mate Athena and Stormy mourned her sister. Ithink they need that time just as we do.

She will let your freind know if and when she is ready for anew freind. You certainly don't want to rush her into a stressfulsituation on top of an already stressful one.

I hope the day is far off for your freinds and his bunnies.

Tina

I've read that when one of a bonded pair passes,the other one should be left with the body to say goodbye.That way the remaining bunny "accepts" the passing of his/her mate andisn't confused about being suddenly alone.

Awesome point. I didn't to that forApollo and he spent days on end looking for Athena. I did give Stormytime with Misty and I think it did help.

Tina

I read that, too, S.T.A.B.

I can't remember where I got it, but I copied it into my rabbit file:

Should one of the bonded pair die, be sure to let the survivor sit withthe body for awhile. Some rabbits need longer than others, but a halfhour to an hour should be sufficient for most. This allows the survivorto know that death took his/her friend, and they haven't just beenabandoned.
Different rabbits will do different things as they say goodbye to theirfriend. Some clean their pal one last time, some just stretch out nextto their pal and rest for a time, some dance circles around their pal'sbody (they must know something about death that we humans haven'tlearned yet!). Whatever your rabbit does, you will be able to tell whenthey are done saying goodbye.

After the death of one member of a pair, give the survivor a few weeks before introducing a new friend.



Laura

I read that too. I think it was on the House Rabbit Society's webpage.

--Dawn