Bonding woes

[DazyDaizee]

I've been trying to bond my dutch bunny, Toot with my "foster" bunny, Wally, who we've decided to keep. Toot is terrible with new bunnies and I don't even remember the point that her and my last bunny, Pete, started to get along. They had a few scuffles between them, but after several months they were great friends.

-So the situation is that Wally has a head tilt and though he started off very comfortable with Toot when they first met face to face, she went after him and he totally freaked out since he couldn't really see her coming at him due to the position his head is in. There was no real damage, just a scratch on him and a tuft of hair missing from her. We separated them very quickly.
-I kept a gate separating them, Wally in the bedroom, Toot in the living room. Toot repeatedly would "attack" the gate when he came over. So I blocked it off with a solid gate and put her in a cage with his blanket for a day or so.
-Next we went outside "neutral territory" for both. I kept Toot at a reasonable distance. She did get within a foot and a half of Wally several times without incident, though I could tell from her body language that she WOULD fight again if she got the chance. We ended this on good terms, no incidents.
-I have swapped out bedding between them since, and I bring Toot into the bedroom, put her on the floor and pet her while she's close to Wally. I do not let her get close enough to hurt him. This seems to work out just fine. He can sniff her without being aggressive, but she will try to bite him if she has the chance.

We've now had Wally for a week and a half.

-Today. My boyfriend got home before me, moved the gate to come into the bedroom and closed it when he went back out, not realizing Toot had slipped in. So I get home about 10 minutes later, look in the bedroom to check on Wally and see tufts of hair everywhere. Wally had a gash under his nose and a scrape on his ear. Toot has a gash on her side. Fortunately it didn't look like it lasted too long and they were separate when I came in. Walter didn't seem too stressed and let me pet him and clean his wounds out. Toot did the same. I put Toot in a cage.

I guess I'm just not sure where to go from here. Wally has to have surgery on Friday because he has an abscess from PenG injections that he received before I got him. I just feel terrible as he gets so stressed if she gets aggressive with him. I don't want him to get hurt, and I'm scared to try the car ride technique since she's gotten aggressive even on neutral territory with Wally. I don't want there to be a fight in the car and I feel that I can't risk that until he's completely healed from surgery. I've tried the bathtub with her in the past (with the other bun) and it doesn't help, she gets aggressive there, too. Also Toot has had GI stasis twice and I don't want her to get sick from stressing her too much.

What is a reasonable next step for them? I know this will take time, but I'm not sure what the best way to pursue would be, especially considering the complications from the upcoming surgery and Wally's head tilt making it more difficult for him to interpret Toot's intentions.

 

[Maureen Las]

I think for now you should keep them separate but you could leave some of each others belongs in each others areas.
if Wally has surgery on fri now is not the time to start bonding them. he is already going through enough.
I'm not saying to give up on it but only to hold off until Wally is in recovery.
Make sure that the bites and scrapes are kept clean as another abscess could form from bites.
Good Luck with Wally (poor little guy)
There is no reason to give up yet but you do have to realize that it is possible that a bond will never form. between them,; I have had that happen many times at my home trying to bond the singles that I have adopted.

 

[Flashy]

I would keep them completely separate for now. When Wally has healed from the surgery, then I would start again.

I would start by swapping the cage contents over (bowls, bottles, toys, etc), so that they get used to the other bunnies smell being in their territory. I would then swap the bunnies over into the oppsoing cage/area (if possible), so that they get used to being in the other bunnies territories. I would keep going with this.

Some bunnies seem to reject other bunnies but once they recognise their smell they can be better.

I would suggest trying to car journey technique. I don't think a fight would be likely, but your problem may come with Wally not coping with the journey and being disorientated (This is what happens to my Tilly in the car-she has head tilt too).

What you can do in the car is take two carriers, someone can drive and the other person can sit on the backseat with a carrier on either side. When the car starts I would then move Toot into Wally's carry case. They should huddle together. I've had buns who fight hell for leather when on neutral territory but in a car they may groom each other, or sit huddled together, or just ignore each other. The fact that you are there will mean that if they fight you can easily separate them.

It's also really important for you to be calm and not anxious or stressed about what may happen when they meet. That should help the buns to remain calm too.

 

[JadeIcing]

I would hold off till he is better. The stress could be bad for his health.

 

[DazyDaizee]

Thanks guys. And yeah, I didn't plan to have them meet face to face and risk a fight while he's recovering from surgery, I just wasn't sure if I should try other techniques or just completely break from it for a while.

I'll have to establish some part of the living room to set up cages so that when it comes time they can be caged next to each other. I guess this is the disadvantage to Toot never being kept in a cage... she thinks the whole apartment is hers.

I would be okay with it if they never bonded, and I would keep Wally anyway, but I feel that the initial interaction between Toot and my last bunny, Pete was worse. And he was difficult to bond her with because he was a nipper. If something upset him, he'd nip whatever was around, usually Toot. Nothing serious, he didn't break skin, but she even learned to tolerate this without fighting. She was so much happier with a bunny friend that I'd love for her to be able to have that again.

Oh, also, the cut under Wally's nose looks a lot better today and I will have the vet check on Friday and keep a close eye on it. I shaved the area around Toot's cut so I can watch it, but it's not very deep.. it just looks terrible. I cleaned them both out with Chlorhexi Flush right after it happened, and I'll continue to clean and watch both.