Bereaved Bun

[hpd]

A little background on our bun situation. We adopted Raki, a single male, around 4 years ago. We noticed that he seemed bored and would be occasionally destructive, even with plenty of toys and space (he is free roaming). We decided to get a second bun and went through a long and difficult bunny dating process, where he eventually landed on a loving, half flemish giant we named Juniper. They had a tough bond but became very good friends and spent a lot of time together getting into mischief and cuddling.

Unfortunately, the shelter told us Juniper was much younger than she actually was and our sweet girl passed away two days ago. She passed in the night in the same x-pen as Raki. Before we took her away we gave him some time to see her body, but I am worried it was not long enough. I'm looking for some advice/people's experiences with bereaved bunnies. We are unsure if he understands that she is gone (in our panic I don't think we gave him enough time to process). We recently moved so he may be curious of his surroundings but he has been periscoping more than usual and has been grooming and flopping with a stuffed animal.

LONG story short, I am a bit worried he will fall into depression, or not want another mate because he is waiting for her. I am also unsure of how long to wait before putting him through a stressful bonding process again. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!!! <3

 

[Imbrium]

He will look for her for a while despite being given time with her body. That's normal. Give him a little extra love and attention and talk to him about what happened (making sure to mention Juniper by name pretty often) - he'll recognize her name and pick up on both sadness and reassurance from your tone of voice and body language. That can help him understand that something happened, you know?

Nala (just over 7 years old) has lost a bonded companion twice. She and Gazzles were a few months shy of turning 2 when Gaz died of GI stasis complications (blood clot in her intestines) shortly after we finished bonding them into a trio (they were a bonded pair from the beginning; we added a 3rd bunny). I feel like Nala didn't grieve as noticeably back then because she still had a second rabbit, but she definitely looked for and missed Gazzles for a good while. Last January, Nala's bonded companion Layne died from GI stasis at 3 1/2. She really looked for him for about a month but after that it seemed like she got her head around the idea that he wasn't coming back. We moved at the very end of Feb, so that major life change may have helped distract her from losing him.

We've been trying to bond Nala with our new bonded pair of rabbits and/or with Alice (another solo bunny), but without much luck. She seems to enjoy the bonding sessions at first, but after an hour or two she gets fed up with other rabbits and seems to be ready to go back to her condo and loaf in front of the TV without them being there to bug her. I'm honestly not sure she wants another bonded companion at this point in her life.

As long as he's eating, drinking, pooping and behaving pretty normally and getting lots of love and attention from you guys, he should be fine. I wouldn't worry about rushing to get him a new friend right away - wait until you're ready and he seems to not be looking for her constantly, then try bunny dates if you feel like he wants the company of another rabbit again.