Need A Supportive Shoulder

[cleverpony]

Hi all,

Can't remember if I posted here, but I adopted a little buck justbefore Christmas. He's now about 3.5 months old, vet would like to waituntil 6 months to neuter because he is so small (Holland Lop/?) butgave the go ahead to begin bonding, as my female Moxie is spayed. Theywere caged side by side for about a month over the Christmas holidays,and then I started the bonding process a few days ago - 2 sessions aday, one exploring the bathroom and one snuggling together with me infront of the TV at night. There seems to be a question of dominance - Iexpected my older bun, who is VERY assertive, to dominate the littleguy right away, based on their behaviour when caged close to each other- but he is FIESTY when they are out together! Things seemed to begoing well and she was even grooming him a little the night before last(though she is kind of rough and he jumps a bit when she gets him toohard), but last night they had a big fight - the kind where they bothlost their footing and fell over but wouldn't let go of each other,lots of growling but thankfully no injuries.

I made them quietly snuggle for as long as they could stand (about 3minutes afterwards) and then put them away - they growled at each otherquite a bit through the bars last night, but no attacking that I'maware of.

What do I do now?

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

The problem with bonding at that age is it'sentirely possible he is going through the 'teen stage'. Rabbits can bevery moody and territorial at this stage and fighting is very common.My best advice would be to continue doing forced bonding sessions whereyou put them on something or hold them in your lap side by side,normally if you put a rabbit on something unfamiliar (likeaslippery table if they are not used to slippery surfaces) then they aremore concerned with their surroundings than with the other rabbit.

If the fighting continues, it might be best to just settle for themliving side by side until he is neutered and older so his hormones calmdown. Oh and just a comment, neutering does not guarentee that the'teen stage' will end so you may sill have problems until he is overthat stage.

Oh and another thing I found useful was to switch cages every 3 days orso, this allowed them to get used to the other rabbits scent and markthe cage as their own, it seemed to help mine get over the wholeterritorial thing.

 

[naturestee]

I think you might need to wait until after he'sneutered. He's a fiesty little baby and his hormones areprobably influencing him a lot.

It's usually safe to neuter a boy after his testicles havedropped. Do you know if that's happened yet? Theconcern is not so much about the size as it is about their sexualmaturity and small breeds usually mature faster. My girlMocha was spayed at 4.5 months and just under 2 lbs (adult weight isbarely over 2 lbs). She did fine and the vet told me she hadperfectly formed mature organs. Not surprising consideringshe went crazy with hormones at 3 months. I've even heard of9 week old boys being neutered because their testicles had dropped andearly neutering meant they could still live in one cage with theirfamily at the rescue. But that was more out of necessity.

Till then, keep up with the cuddling sessions (as long as there's noaggression) and maybe switch their cages occasionally, or at leastswitch litter boxes.

 

[Haley]

Sorry things went so poorly last night. Ive seen a bunny fight (all out war) and its something you dont ever want to see again.

As was mentioned, I really think it would just be best to wait untilhe's neutered. That still doesnt guarantee anything, but I think itgives his hormones a chance to settle down. It also gives him time tolive next to her and get used to her without forced bonding.

Rabbits tend to remember these bad encounters, so you want to keepthese two on good terms if you can. Give each treats when the other isaround so they associate the other with good things.

But I would just hold off until he's neutered if I were you.

 

[cleverpony]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, this hasreally been weighing on me as Finn was sort of a spur-of-the-momentacquirement (Moxie didn't pick him out herself).

MBB - the forced snuggling that we do in front of the TV seems to workbetter thanplaytime, so I guess I will continue this path,maybe not every day. I tried switching their cages, but Moxie's has ashelf that Finn can get up onto, but not down from :?so hegets stuck there until I notice and get him down.I can switchtheir litterboxes though.

I think you both are right about the hormones - poor little guy!

Naturestee - The vet's concern about neutering him I think was partlydue to age (she did Moxie when she was older, about 5 months) and sincehe is a mutt, there is still hope that he will grow; but also sheworried that if something were to go wrong, his little throat wouldmake it very difficult for them to intubate.

The day I took him in was the day I had his neuter booked (wasn'tprepared for this "buck-smell" in my bedroom!) but I was impressed thatshe confessed her misgivings rather than going ahead with the expensivesurgery only to lose him on the table. And as a bonus, she gave him alittle checkup - teeth, eyes, ears, tummy, weight - for free, since wewere there.

I bought some bananas today, do you think it would be worthwhile to try the smear trick on their ears?

Again, thanks for reading my little novel, this board is a great resource.



P.S. I tried posting pics, but they are too big anyone know how to make them smaller?

 

[naturestee]

Hey, that's what we're here for!

I've never done the smearing trick, although I do the forced cuddling trick a lot and it works really well for me.

I resize my own pics on my photo editing software. I'm usinga pretty basic one- Dell Image Expert. There are also somesites that will do it for you when you upload them, and I use those topost pics here anyway because it's easier. Tinypic.com isdecent and you don't have to sign up for it. Sometimes it'llstill leave your pics pretty huge but you'll be able to postthem. Photobucket.com is another one.

That's cool that your vet was willing to admit her misgivings. She sounds pretty good!

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

If the forced snuggling is working,thenI say keep doing it. But Haley is right about the badencounters, if they are still fighting or close to it, avoid it for nowbecause it will make bonding harder in the future.

Oh and I did forget to mention that not all bonds work out, someareimpossible to bond and it comes down entirely to thepersonality of the 2 rabbits.

Spice was neutered at 3 months. I almost worry about that vet becauseit makes me think they are not that experienced with rabbits. The onlyvets around here that wont do aneuter at a young age are theones who do not do them often on rabbits. So I would definitely do alittle more checking on the vet before putting your rabbits in theirhands.

 

[aurora369]

I had really good luck with forced snuggling and treats.

I didn't use Bananna as Wildfire doesn't like it, but I used driedpapaya and put little pieces on top of the other bunnies'head. Normally once the treat was gone the bunny wouldcontinue to groom the spot.

So it's worth a try. Maybe try the bananna during the couch cuddling sessions?

--Dawn