To separate or not?

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Aushi

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Ok so! I have two unspayed female rabbits that have been together since birth. All their lives they have been a good pair, obviously because they weren't hormonal. They are now 4 months old (5 on Sept 13th).

Before getting them, I had decided on a vet to be "my vet" and he had told me he does the spaying/neuter at 4 months old. But now that he has seen them, he refuses to do it until they are around 6-9 months old, because they are way too small for his comfort and in fact, if they remain small, he won't do it at all, he's afraid of the effect of the anesthesia on them, most doses require at least a pound and though Elsa weighs 2lbs, Anna doesn't get to the pound (and he says she isn't underweight or anything, she is healthy just not big).

Recently I took Elsa alone to the vet because she had an abscess. She got a surgery and came home the same day, I kept them separate for two days because the vet suggest I keep Elsa VERY still, so she was basically in a carrier.

They are now together for three days and today I noticed Anna has been chasing Elsa and mounting her. I have also noticed a bit of fur in random places, I don't know if Elsa's shedding or getting bit. But I checked her and she doesn't seem to have bites anywhere. In the days they were separate they were stressed out, and though this chasing and mounting only happened once in these three days (and didn't even last 5 minutes), I'm curious if I should take it as a bad sign and separate them or wait to see if they were just showing off dominance and let it go. Whenever they are apart, they get stressed, so I have no idea what to do x.x;

What would you do?

(Edit: And I'm pretty sure they are starting to get hormonal because they are have turned from nice rabbits to feral creatures who won't dare let me get anywhere NEAR them, mind you, I was away for two months so they could have also just forgotten me :\, they only saw me when I cleaned their cage and fed them daily, but were mostly alone in their cage outside for those two months.)

OH And only one is doing the chasing.mounting, the other one is very submissing and just ignores her o-o
 
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Oh and I'm also very reserved about spaying them with the only rabbit savvy vet around... He admitted to having to sleep Elsa multiple times because in the middle of the surgery she would wake up :\ I'm VERY nervous he doesn't know what he's doing as well as he says, the surgery was an abscess removal from her cheek, spaying is much more serious! If he didn't even know how much anesthesia to give her, how can I trust him to spay her? :(

Will I just have to home the apart for the rest of their lives? They SEEM bonded now (except that mini chase/mount), groom each other, lay next to each other, etc, but I know that can change as they get older.
 
It's much too early to tell yet whether they'll continue to get along or whether you'll need to house them separately. In most cases, you will either have to get them spayed or keep them separately permanently. It seems awful splitting them up, but if it's better for their safety, it's the best thing to do. Unfortunately that's the major downside with adopting/buying two young rabbits.

I'm wondering if you could find a rabbit savvy clinic elsewhere that would be willing to recommend anesthetic doses etc and discuss the surgery with your vet to ensure he has a good grasp on it. It's not good that she was waking up, but at least he erred on the side of too little, rather than too much. Too little will wake them up a little, but they probably still don't feel anything, whereas too much, they simply won't wake up from.

At the moment, I would continue to house them together, but probably be very watchful. The chasing/mounting etc may also have been because they were separated for a few days and it was a case of re-establishing dominance. Just keep an eye out and if it persists or gets any worse, then you will probably have to separate them.
 
in my personal experience as a rescuer and breeder.... once they start to chase each other and mount the following will happen.

Either one will become dominate and the other submissive which means dominate eats first, submissive eats last. Submissive will be repeatedly "put in her place" and will develop scratch marks and small scars from biting, which people may or may not notice. Submissive will also be thinner than the other.

OR
The currently less dominant one will get fed up and attack at which point you'll end up with damaged rabbits.

your question to answer...
Do you want to deal with skirmishes?
Do you want to end up with a potentially hurt rabbit?

I would be separating them....even if all you do is divide their living area in half and allow them to share a wire.

I don't like having one dominant doe with a submissive one.. I've rescued way too many where submissive was thinner than she should be and scratches on her back that have gone unnoticed.
 
Oki so I've made some calls and have found some vets willing to talk to my vet about the dosing and such, my vet didn't mind at all. I can't go to the vets I mentioned because they are ridiculously far (3+ hours), I can't afford the operations + gas. I can afford the spaying as long as I don't go too far though :3

My vet is willing to wait at least until Elsa's abscess heals (which doesn't seem like it will be any time soon x.x; Her abscess got removed and then quickly returned just two days after surgery, medication and draining isn't doing much).

I will also keep a very close watch on them, today is my day off so today is judgement day. If I see ONE more chase/mount I will be making Anna a second cage (I bought a LOT of panels for this very reason xD!)
 
That's fantastic that you've found another vet that will correspond with yours regarding the surgery.

I just thought I would add, that even once spayed, there is no guarantee that they will get along. I should think they most likely will, but I thought I'd better mention it, just in case.

Sending bunny healing vibes your way.
 
Thank you! And UPDATE! I just realized they are FIVE (5) months old not four! They were born on March not April! So hopefully by the time Elsa heals, the spaying can be done.

And yeah I've read all about that Azerane, thank you :) Some bunnies just don't have the personality to stick together, I don't mind. I'll make Anna a second home and see if they don't mind being neighbors and they can just see each other through the cage, if not I have plenty of space to keep them safely apart :)
 

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