Kiwi & Papaya

[Mariah]

Ok, I know a lot of you have been following my threads on Kiwi & Papaya. I decided to start a new one with both of there issues in it.

Kiwi- 1.5 spayed holland lop doe.

Papaya- 6 month old neutered fuzzy holland lop buck.

Info about both: 1/3 cup of oxbow Timothy pellets morning and night. Unlimited Timothy hay and grass hay. I stopped giving the grass hay to papaya today.

Kiwi is lethargic. Her fecal output has decreased tremendously over the past 2 days. She is eating and drinking but not a lot. She will not eat the digestive supplement from oxbow. Startin last night I have her critical care which she eats on her own. She is on cisapride and metacam.

Papaya has a poopy bum. A ton of extra cecotrophs today. I am taking a sample to work with me tomorrow to have it checked again for parasties. I've decreased Papaya pellets hoping he will eat more hay.

I am so stressed.

 

[Mariah]

Ok so I brought Papayas poop to the clinic with me and we found 1 egg that could either be pollen or a roundworm egg. I used all the poop I brought with me today so I have to bring more tomorrow and we are going to send it to the lab for confirmation.

Papaya is happy and bright. Other then the wet poop you wouldn't know anything was wrong with him.

 

[JBun]

How are your buns doing?

 

[Mariah]

Hello!

Well, since that one day that Papaya had a poopy bum, he hasent had it again! So I haven't been able to get more poop to the clinic to send out to the lab for verification. I suppose I could bring normal stool with me but I really wanted the yucky stuff checked too. I've decreased his pellets so maybe I was feeding him too much? He was only getting 1/3 cup and now it's just slightly under that so maybe 1/4 cup.

Kiwi is up and down everyday. Sometimes she's happy to come out and play, other days dosent want too. She finishes her pellets everynight and is eating a bit more hay so very happy about that.

I've started putting them together again for more bonding. I've been doing this for a couple days now and so far no fighting! Lots of grooming by Kiwi to Papaya. Papaya still dosent get the whole grooming thing to kiwi though. He just chews her whiskers off...

Ill just be so happy if they become friends.

I've done a revamp to their x pens so they both get to stay out all day. They have access to their cages so they have the option to be in or out. They only go back in their cages at night.

 

[JBun]

Mariah wrote:

Papaya still dosent get the whole grooming thing to kiwi though. He just chews her whiskers off...

LOL, that's really nice of Kiwi to put up with him doing that

I'm so glad to hear the bonding thing is starting to work out. I'm sure Kiwi will cheer up more and more as they are getting along and get to spend more time together.

Maybe Papaya just had an upset tummy. That's great he's doing better. You must feel relieved to have things settling down a little.

 

[Imbrium]

I'm glad things are improving for your bunns - I know it was very stressful/worrisome for a while there! hopefully as his hormones die down more and more, they'll continue to bond

 

[Mariah]

I'm still stressed about Kiwi although I'm glad she and Papaya seem to be getting along better.

She's still not eager to eat. She does, but slowly and she's not excited about it at all.

I'm still giving her cisapride everynight just to help with gastric motility as she's still not pooping as much...

I've also started giving her 1/4 tab of papaya tablets every night in case she has a hairball...

 

[Mariah]

Ok, so I may have just had a breakthrough with bonding my two buns. I let them out together like I've been doing every night this week. Papaya went over to Kiwi in her x pen. She groomed him for a bit and layed down with her legs stretched out. Papaya was just sitting and more so bugging kiwi to groom him. When he saw that she was snoozing, he layed down beside her with his bunny legs stretched out!!

They layed there together for about 15 minutes!!!!!!

After that, they were running and playing in the living room for an hour and a half!!!!

I've been waiting for this moment for 5 months!!!!!

I know it's too early to really say that they are friends/ bonded but this is a HUGE step for my bunnies and me!!!!!

 

[JBun]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!! :yahoo:arty0002::clapping:inkbouce:inkelepht::dancingorig:

That's so great!!! Oh, I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy for Kiwi to have a buddy again.

Wow, 5 months, really? Talk about perseverance. Good job! Your buns are lucky to have such a great mom.

 

[Mariah]

Awww thank you! I started trying to bond before Papaya was neutered and it didn't go so well. So now it's been 6 weeks since his neuter and bam! Success last night!

I'm so very happy for them!

 

[agnesthelion]

Omg Mariah that is huge!!! Congrats!!!!

I dream of the day I see Archie and Agnes do that. So far to go.....

But I think that is a really good breakthrough and you are well on your way to s bond. What a long road for you I'm glad this is finally happening!!!

 

[Imbrium]

see, I told you not to get too discouraged and just give him time for those nasty little hormones to be gone

I'm so glad to hear you're making such great progress! hopefully it continues to go that well

 

[Mariah]

Thank you guys! I am thrilled! Tonight, they are together again. Kiwi is ignoring Papaya and Papaya is running around happliey in Kiwis x pen.

Kiwi actually just did a dead bunny flop and is sleeping. I'm not sure how happy she is. Her x pen is wide open and she has the living room and my bedroom to play is and she's not.

I just don't know what's wrong with her. Is it entirely possible that she still misses Citrus? How long can this go on for?

 

[Mariah]

I am happy to report, that Kiwi & Papaya are still friends! They haven't layed together again but have sat together. They haven't fought!! Kiwi is allowing Papaya in her cage too!

I have been watching them like a hawk and all seems to be going well!!

I am so happy for my bunnies

 

[Imbrium]

arty0002:

 

[Mariah]

So bad news to report. After a couple of great days- laying together, snuggling and grooming... We had a fight tonight... It wasent that bad, just nipping, no hair pulling or hair loss at all.

I caught it right in the beginning of the fight, but I did not see who started it as I was starting to trust them... I had left the room and was folding laundry but i heard the scuffle of feet so ran in and found them...

Why did this happen? When I had left the room kiwi was laying down and Papaya was grooming her.

I'm at a loss... It was going so well...

 

[JBun]

Don't get too discouraged. Just cause a pair is bonded doesn't mean that they always get along. I have a bonded pair and my female is a big grumpy pants. She'll nip, box, and lunge at him and he just puts up with it cause he loves her. After doing all that they'll groom each other and lay down next to each other. He's bigger than her so if he gets really annoyed with her behavior, he'll do a little lunge towards her and she'll get all freaked out and go hide. But despite all that he won't be separated from her. It's a very disfuntional relationship .

 

[Mariah]

Ahhh! Should I be keeping them apart again? Or can I let them be together with me right there?

 

[JBun]

You could try again and see if someone was just being grumpy last time. My rabbit will do little lunges and nips, but it's not like an all out attack or anything like that. It's more like 'I'm grumpy and leave me alone' kind of behavior. A break for a day or two might help as well. These kind of things tend to be so complicated that you just have to go with what you feel, expect to make mistakes and have setbacks, and be ready for anything from your buns. If you try again right away and they get along, great. If they don't get along. I would give them a good break before you try again. Just because they have seemed to be getting along so well, makes me think that it was probably more that someone just felt grumpy or got bothered by what the other bun was doing.

 

[Mariah]

Well before the fight, Kiwi was laying down. So I want to say that Papaya was bugging Kiwi and she niped at him and he didn't back down. I had them together again today for a brief period before I went to work. All was fine so maybe they just need breaks from each other? Ill keep everyone posted!