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He is a very handsome boy indeed! What a lovely colour.

I hope things progress a little better from now on - I've just brought home a new one too and the concept of bonding bunnies is looking more and more daunting.

I wonder if it might be better to leave them to just live side by side a while with no direct contact until they're a little more used to each other being around... ? I'm not sure, but it almost sounds like it was just a bit too much foreign contact all at once and brought out the fear/aggression.
 
Awwwww poor Benjamin :( Ya that is tough, I wasn't trying to bond Lily and Happy but I just wanted to introduce them and she just nipped at poor Happy and Happy ran away :( I felt so bad. It's tough when the one you're trying to make happy by introducing a buddy doesn't go so well right away. I'm sure it will eventually work out for Benjamin. I know exactly how you feel.

I wish all the best for Benjamin and Chloe :)


 
pumpkinhead wrote:
I wonder if it might be better to leave them to just live side by side a while with no direct contact until they're a little more used to each other being around... ? I'm not sure, but it almost sounds like it was just a bit too much foreign contact all at once and brought out the fear/aggression.
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Yeah, we were trying to avoid having a long courtship. We don't really have room for the extra pen to be there for very long, and as long as it is there, Tobi won't be able to come out for her run time. Benjamin's cage door is blocked now, too, and we were just making progress on getting him to come out of the bunny room.
I specifically told the HRS chapter manager that we don't want to embark on a long/difficult bonding, and wanted to pass on a girl who would present that challenge, and wait for a better match to come along.
She said Chloe and Benjamin were a good match, and promptly filled Chloe's foster space with 3 babies. *sigh*

The grooming yesterday looked so good, I guess we'll see how this goes.....

 
I sent my HRS manager the description of last night's bonding. She said Benjamin does want a companion, as evidenced by his attempts to groom Chloe. But, Chloe might not be the girl for him. She is going to ask around to see if there is another foster home she can go to. I will be racked with guilt if I leave her back at the shelter. (They are no-kill and have space right now (her foster spot has already been filled), but.......she's been through so much. I will feel like I am dumping her when she just needs some individual attention :( )
There are two more single girls right now who will be at our next meeting. In the meantime, I guess I will keep working with them, and try to get her diet stabilized. She doesn't like the pellets I feed, isn't usedto salad or hay. Also working on litter training.
 
We did not do a bonding session tonight. Chloe is still nervous, and Benjamin acted like he just wanted to hang out. We might try tomorrow.

Chloe doesn't seem to understand the litter box. As in, she doesn't know she can even get into it. I got a bigger one, but she just looks at it, never hops in or even peeks over the edge. She has been using one corner as her bathroom, so I put the box there, and she moved to a different corner. :/ I even put a scoop of soiled hay from Benjamin and one from Tobi in the box, but Chloe hasn't even noticed.
Tomorrow I am going to buy a cheap dish tub and cut one side down very low so she might figure out she can go into it.
She has pooped more today than yesterday, so that is good. I will have to clean her rug, though, since she can't reach to get her cecals they've just gotten squished. Yuck.

I had a good talk with my HRS manager this evening. I told her I will NOT leave Chloe at the shelter, even if we decide she won't work with Benjamin. She is going to call a woman who used to foster for us and see if she can possibly take in a single bunny. Then, if Chloe doesn't work here she can go stay with Julie, who is really good at working with stressed out single bunnies. Then we can try another girl for Benjamin. I guess the plus side is that the first foster home was not working on her diet/digestion/weight issues, so I can at least try to get that figured out.

*sigh* This is stressful for me.
 
Thanks for asking, Donna!
I did a short bonding session in the kitchen last night. Chloe wanted a lot of pets and stayed near me for awhile. After she approached Benjamin he kissed her ears a few times. There was no aggression this time, so that was good. He seems to like her well enough, and she is either indifferent or she is ok with him. The big hurdle, I think, will be her cage aggression. She was ok in a totally neutral area, I also put him in first.

Still working on litter training and diet.

There is another person looking for a girl bunny, and another single girl, so we may have a bunny singles mixer this weekend to see who does better with whom. Don't know yet, I don't want to ruin the progress I've made so far.
 
Well. I got an email from my HRS chapter manager this morning, she forwarded me the shelter records on Chloe. But I'm gonna have to change the name now........ Because Chloe is a BOY.

I don't know what to do now.

Out of 3 bonding sessions, the first one didn't go so well, the second and third were ok. Chloe/Digger presented a lot, Benjamin mostly ignored him, other than to groom ears once or twice.

Should I try to make this work, or try to swap Chloe/Digger for an actual girl? Of course, now that Chloe is a boy, the rescue only has TWO single girls, neither of which are spayed yet. There are also about 5 people wanting single girls right now.

Additionally, there are two guys who work with the rescue who have a single male bunny who they think would get along great with Benjamin. He (Goddard) is a lot more laid back than Chloe/Digger, and might well be a better male companion for Benjamin.

I don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
:ponder: would the guys who have goddard bunny be able to give 'chloe' a home in his place? also, what do the shelter say? if you asked for a girl bun, i would have thought they would have checked their records before placing a bun:?
 
The guys who have Goddard were offering him as a potential roommate, as they have a LOT of bunnies. I don't know if they'd swap. Might be worth asking them, though. (They're quite attached to Goddard, but I told them I'd give them a guest login for my security camera that is in my bunny room, if Goddard came to live with us.)

The shelter adopted Chloe out as a boy, but the person who took him kept calling him a female. When he was turned over to the rescue, we were told (multiple times) he was a spayed female. Which was very exciting, as we very rarely get single females in. There is practically a waiting list with us for a single female.

I briefly considered trying him with Tobi, who is still single, but it looks like Chloe wants to be dominant. However, Tobi has a deep seated belief that she is the MOST dominant bunny EVER, so I suspect someone would end up getting bitten.

I am trying to think of a new name now, I love Chloe as a girl's name but not so much for a boy.
 
I can't believe Chloe is a boy! WOW! I wouldn't know what to do in your situation as well. He is a gorgeous boy tho. I hope it all works out. I have 2 girls. In the future if I ever get another bunny I would love to have a bonded boy and girl. I've seen some people sell bonded pairs.
Good luck with whatever you do.
 
The rescue manager has been in touch with me today. She has suggested that we swap Chloe for a girl bunny. The remaining two available girls are not spayed yet, and I would prefer to introduce Benjamin to a girl who is already spayed. (I can't deal with a possible break-up if she has a big hormonal change after the spay.)
One girl will be spayed this week.

We are going to keep Chloe until the next group meeting, in two weeks. Because bonding sessions have been going fine, we are going to continue having dates. If things go well, we may keep Chloe, regardless of sex. If bonding doesn't get any better than it already has been, we will look to swapping. The rescue manager has promised to find room for Chloe if that's what we do.

I am also going to continue working on Chloe's diet and litter habits, neither of which are going too well.


I feel better knowing that there will be a spot for Chloe, should things not work out here. I was so distraught this morning, I was in tears.

From last night's bonding session:
IMG_0122.jpg

 
That sounds kind of like someone made a huge mistake leading you on, even after you specifically said you didn't want a long drawn out bonding experience. This really does change things doesn't it!

I think that given there are only 2 girls, neither spayed, and a long waiting list, the best thing you can do is wait it out for another girl. If you don't want to put the bun back at the shelter, are you going to foster him yourself or foster him until a foster space opens up? Either way, if you absolutely cannot house another single, which is understandable, maybe you can just passively bond them... but you can take the time you do have with "Chloe" to rehab him since he's so overweight. You will rehome him knowing you did him a huge favor making him healthy again.

BTW, when it comes to buns, you should really give it a try even if you think you know what the result will be. Tobi may be dominant with you and with her roommates, but you never know what'll happen between the rabbits when they get together. They have their own way of working things out.

I thought when I was bonding Toby and Kirby that Toby would be dominant and Kirby would sit back and take it but it didn't happen that way at all. Then with Kirby and Penny, I thought Kirby would be the dominant one but in the end, laid back and super gentle Penny is the dominant one. Weird bunners.
 
Oh, you posted a minute before I did. Well the thought was the same :) Good for you, doing this for Chloe during his time of need. I hope it works out.

Bonding is super stressful, and this was just drama out of nowhere. I'm so sorry you're going through all this. You're doing such a good thing though -- don't give up!
 
kirbyultra wrote:
Oh, you posted a minute before I did. Well the thought was the same :) Good for you, doing this for Chloe during his time of need. I hope it works out.

Bonding is super stressful, and this was just drama out of nowhere. I'm so sorry you're going through all this. You're doing such a good thing though -- don't give up!
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:yeahthat::hugsquish:well done you and jason for doing this for chloe - lesser people would have dumped him where he came from. im glad the rescue has responded - at the very least this takes the pressure off of you. what ever happens, chloe will be a better bunny at the end of it.:)
 
hartleybun wrote:
:yeahthat::hugsquish:well done you and jason for doing this for chloe - lesser people would have dumped him where he came from. im glad the rescue has responded - at the very least this takes the pressure off of you. what ever happens, chloe will be a better bunny at the end of it.:)
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Thanks, Donna. Even if we end up swapping him for a girl, there's no way we'd just dump him back at the shelter. Poor guy's been through a lot in his short life.

Also, the rescue couldn't not respond, since we're volunteers there. Jason maintains their website, LOL. I think this mixup happened because there are so many bunnies right now, she's just trying to move them quickly to good homes and didn't wait to verify this one.

On a positive note, I saw Chloe pee in his litter box yesterday. Yay! I hope that means he is getting the idea of it. There are fewer poops on his floor, but I think that's because he is still declining most of the food I give him. He gets totally freaked out when I sweep poops off his rug, and starts running around and grunting like a little piggy. I know it upsets him, but I can't help but laugh.

He is still having trouble reaching his cecals (I did notice he ate two "stale" ones yesterday off the floor) so we still have some hygiene issues. If he keeps up his hunger strike, though, he should be trim in no time.

I did increase his salad size this morning, and he maybe ate some hay overnight. He still doesn't care for the pellets, and declined some pumpkin.
 
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