Seperated "bonded" pair and rebonding?

[Rhea92]

Hi all!
I have 2 neutered male lionheads (both 7-8 years old) who are semi-bonded in that one (Brim) still occassionally tries mounting, in which the other (Ro)will chase them off, but otherwise no fighting, they live and eat and cuddle together and groom eachother.

Recently one of them (Ro) got GI stasis and cannot stay balanced when he hops (vet treatments ongoing). I needed to seperate them during this time to keep track of Ro's litter and give him stress free environment. I allowed Brim to visit him a few times to sniff and see he is still there and okay, but needed to seperate them more to give ro safe space to try hopping around while he still has balance issues.

It's been about 7 days and I'm concerned about when Ro is recovered, how to bring them back to living together. Should I expect to need to bond them again, could fights break out? Could I try allowing Brim to visit Ro more often in his seperated space first?

My main concern is that since Ro is still wobbly and unable to hop fast without losing balance, I want to avoid further injury and stress if chases or mounting happens.

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice to what I should do now while he is still recovering, or later when he is better and trying to bring them together again?

Not sure what to expect so any thoughts would be very welcome

 

[Moonshadow]

As far as I know, gi stasis shouldn’t cause a bun to lose balance. Hunch over in pain can happen but wobbling doesn’t sound right... Maybe @JBun knows if it does

Has he been checked for an ear infection or e. Cuniculi? My first rabbit lost his balance due to an ear infection once and I have heard e. Cuniculi can cause a loss in balance.

 

[Rhea92]

As far as I know, gi stasis shouldn’t cause a bun to lose balance. Hunch over in pain can happen but wobbling doesn’t sound right... Maybe @JBun knows if it does

Has he been checked for an ear infection or e. Cuniculi? My first rabbit lost his balance due to an ear infection once and I have heard e. Cuniculi can cause a loss in balance.

Yes sorry I didn't explain clearly, his wobbling is another issue the vet and I are investigating and trying out treatments for, but the GI Stasis happened at the same time. Both things happened simultaneously and suddenly, possibly the GI Stasis is secondary to whatever caused his balance to go.

He's had diagnostics run and so far nothing is apparent, so he is on medications for an inner ear infection and if that doesn't help, vet and I agreed to discuss treatments for headtilt and E Cuniculi next

How long did it take your bunny to recover from the ear infection? I'm hoping that's what is going on with Ro and the medication will work!

 

[JBun]

Does your other rabbit try and pester, chase, or hump him when you allow them the supervised time together? It kind of all depends on his reaction and behavior to his buddy being unwell. Some companion buns are right there wanting to comfort and help their buddy, other rabbits react negatively to their buddy being unwell.

 

[Moonshadow]

I think it took 2-4 weeks for my rabbit Bandit to get over his ear infection with medication. He was about 5 or 6 when it happened and from what I remember we caught onto it before it got really severe.

(I was around 10-11 when I saw him fall over and unable to right himself because he couldn’t balance and we took him to the vet that day. For reference I’m 25 now so don’t know if I’m remembering everything correctly with the timeline )

 

[Rhea92]

Does your other rabbit try and pester, chase, or hump him when you allow them the supervised time together? It kind of all depends on his reaction and behavior to his buddy being unwell. Some companion buns are right there wanting to comfort and help their buddy, other rabbits react negatively to their buddy being unwell.

Yeah Brim definitly didn't show up as a comforting companion bun.

At first Brim just sniffed him but seemed more interested in the litter box and his comfy spot. The next few times I could tell Ro didn't find his visits comforting at all because he had his ears perked up being alert and looked more pestered than comforted, so i didnt allow much more visits just to keep Ro more stress free.

The last visit was because they both were sniffing eachother through the separation barrier and i took that as them missing/looking for each other again.

This time removed the barrier and Ro hopped into their shared space since he looked eager to go back, but then Brim immediately tried humping him, Ro quickly made to get away and I got between them because it looked like Brim was right about to chase him. It all happened in about 5 seconds.

I don't know if this means the bond is broken and ill need to rebond them from step 1 in neutral space to avoid fights, or if they should still be okay but just need a reconnection period? I wanted the visits to avoid breaking their bond but now I'm not sure what to do.

 

[Rhea92]

I think it took 2-4 weeks for my rabbit Bandit to get over his ear infection with medication. He was about 5 or 6 when it happened and from what I remember we caught onto it before it got really severe.

(I was around 10-11 when I saw him fall over and unable to right himself because he couldn’t balance and we took him to the vet that day. For reference I’m 25 now so don’t know if I’m remembering everything correctly with the timeline )

Oh yes that helps, I took him in the day I noticed him falling over too, he's been on medications for 1 week now and still has another to go so hopefully see an improvement by then if it's an infection!

 

[JBun]

I think until you get this health issue sorted and his balance is back, they probably need to remain separated. It would be very stressful for your bun to have to deal with being pestered and not being able to balance properly or get away. I think it would be comforting for them though, to remain in adjoining enclosures, and may help make the rebonding process easier. Once he's better, you can think about rebonding. You'll know better how to proceed once you start short bunny dates and see their reactions to being with each other again.