Why do shelters bond their rabbits?

[renaelock]

I was browsing petfinder and would come across cute bunnies that I wanted to learn more about. I'd like to eventually get a friend for Polo, thus I would adopt a single female rabbit. I've noticed that some of the rabbits that I click on where bonded with another rabbit at the shelter and thus need to go to a home together. Doesn't that cut down on the chances for those two rabbits to be adopted? I just think it's a little odd to get too bunnies at different times into the shelter, introduce them - causing them to become uber besties and now have to be placed in the same home. I understand that bunnies do better with friends, but I just think it's possibly cutting the chances of the bunnies getting homes "faster" if they intentionally already paired rabbits in the shelter together. I suppose this is rant, however I'd still like to know why. Thanks for reading and I apologize if I wasted anyones time.

 

[nicolevins]

Im not sure if any shleters actuallly bond their rabbits.
I know where I live, here in Dublin they dont probably because its a kill shelter.

I would say it is only non kill shelters that actually bond them, because they could have them for a long time.

Some rabbits can go into shelters already bonded.. probably because they are wild or their past owners couldnt afford to keep them

 

[tamsin]

There are various reasons. A big one is that bonded rabbits share housing so bonding can double the number of rabbits a shelter can house. When space is at a premium that makes a big difference. Another reason is having a companion reduces stress and provides enrichment for the rabbits. Many people visit shelters don't have rabbits already so having ready made pairs for adoption speeds the process up.

It can be frustrating when you are looking for a rabbit to adopt to bond with an existing rabbit. The best option is to get in touch with the shelter and let them know what you are looking for. The way they can let you know what singles they have in that are ready to go soon. eg having been neutered and are healing up so haven't yet been bonded.

 

[Brandy456]

The buns could have also be bonded before they were surrendered to the shelter, and if they have a heart, they wouldn't separate them.
But, if they do actually bond them themselves, which I highly doubt since it takes a lot of time and patience which they could be doing something else with (like fundraising and such) would be so the bun has a companion when brought to a new environment which would be less hard on them, to have somebunny to 'lean on' and another reason would be that the shelter would adopt out double the bunny which is double the pay.
There are many reasons, but I guess it would depend on the shelter itself. Why don't you ask ?

 

[BethM]

The rescue I work with does try to bond some of our rabbits, and will keep others single. If a rabbit is single and still in foster care for a long time, we will try to find him/her a bondmate so they aren't lonely.

tamsin made some very good points on why we try to bond. We can house twice as many rabbits if they're bonded, which means more lives saved. Also, they tend to do better in pairs, especially if they're in foster care long-term.

We do sometimes get in bunnies that won't bond with anyone else we've got, so they are available to be adopted as singles, or to try to bond with rabbits people already have.

We do try to encourage people to have a bonded pair, rather than single bunnies. Especially for people who work outside the home, and someone isn't there to keep the bunny company, we think it is better for the rabbits to have a bond mate. (We even give a discount for adopting a bonded pair vs. a single.)

However, if someone is looking for a single bunny to bond with the bunny they already have, we do try to keep new intakes single until we can try them out. In those situations, we'll also try out single bunnies in area shelters, etc, to find the right match.

 

[renaelock]

Everyone does make good points. I do have an understanding now and I'd rather bunnies have friends then be lonely - I just have to be patient and when the right bunny comes along I will know and it will be single. If it's not single, it's probably not the right bunny.

 

[BethM]

renaelock wrote:

Everyone does make good points. I do have an understanding now and I'd rather bunnies have friends then be lonely - I just have to be patient and when the right bunny comes along I will know and it will be single. If it's not single, it's probably not the right bunny.

Maybe if you talk to the shelter, and let them know you are looking for a single bunny, they can either let you know when one comes in, or direct you to other places that might have singles?

Have you checked on PetFinder.com, as well? Maybe you can find an available single that is close to you.

 

[renaelock]

BethM: I check petfinder about every other day, mainly because I like to window shop. I'm not in a hurry to get a bunny and can't say that I plan on getting one anytime in the near future. I am just going to keep an eye out for a single rabbit that sparks my interest. I like the idea of calling shelters and letting them know - I may do that when I know I'm ready for another bun.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I know that the rescue organization that is closest to me (well, it's about 2-ish hours away, but the closest all-rabbit rescue in my state) has bonded pairs of rabbits. I think it's because the rabbits might be in there for a long time, so they do their best and see if one rabbit can bond with another. That way they have friends.

And like several others have said, some rabbits come in and are already bonded with eachother, so splitting them up would probably make them very depressed.

Emily

 

[JadeIcing]

You can always try for trio?

 

[renaelock]

JadeIcing wrote:

You can always try for trio?

Haha, nice! I did consider it, but 3 buns is probably too much for me and my home.

 

[kirbyultra]

Mostly everyone's already made the main points but I will just expand on it. We had 4 bonded pairs who came to us as bonded pairs and we are fortunate enough to have foster parents to take them in. We also got a trio of littermates in Dec that were young enough to be separated (totally newborns!) so we did separate them precisely because adopting a trio is about as easy as winning the lottery.

Another shelter I know of has had a bunny there for probably over two years. Poor girl never got adopted. A baby bun came along 1.5 years ago and his littermates from a hoarder all got adopted. For some bizarre reason the two of them just never go adopted so, because they'll probably become permanent shelter residences, the shelter bonded them to comfort each other.

It certainly makes sense to list pairs as one entry in petfinder but the chances of anyone looking plummets. If they list the buns separately, it might be a letdown for thr browser to find out he's part of a pair but at least one of the buns got an extra pair of eyes to look at it. we have no choice in the matter: our shelter computer system uploads buns to petfinder individually and we have to manually tweak the descriptions to say they are a pair.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Iam allowedto pair any rabbits that might match in a bond at our shelter. They used to have a 2 for the price of one if theygo together. Some did go as pairs, and some got broken up as singles.
Last week, someone came in picked out the one he liked best, and then had a bunny date with rest of the rabbits, and at the end of the day he took two home. :bunnydance::bunnydance:

There are no rules to howour bunnies get adopted.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

kirbyultra wrote:

We also got a trio of littermates in Dec that were young enough to be separated (totally newborns!) so we did separate them precisely because adopting a trio is about as easy as winning the lottery.

One of the volunteers at our shelter took three babies to foster athome, and she decided to keep all three.

This is Tootsie, Jellybean, and Lollypop.

 

[missyscove]

At the shelter I volunteered at we would regularly put buns together in the interest of cage space. I find that it's actually much easier to bond buns in the shelter. I think it's the stress of moving around and being somewhere new that they're just kind of like "thank God! Another bun!" and bond seemingly instantly.
We always encourage people to take more than one, but will also very willingly split up pairs of buns we've put together if they only want one bun.

 

[renaelock]

Pet_Bunny wrote:

Iam allowedto pair any rabbits that might match in a bond at our shelter. They used to have a 2 for the price of one if theygo together. Some did go as pairs, and some got broken up as singles.
Last week, someone came in picked out the one he liked best, and then had a bunny date with rest of the rabbits, and at the end of the day he took two home. :bunnydance::bunnydance:

There are no rules to howour bunnies get adopted.

So your shelter will seperate newly bonded rabbits if someone only wants to adopt one of them? My mind was drawing a conclusion to "any rabbits that were bonded at the shelter have to go home together".

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Yes our shelter will let any single rabbit go even if it was housed with another. Lucky for us, we don't havemany long term bunnies (the longest one nowhas been there since September 18, 2009).

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I spent time at the shelter yesterday and bonded Junior and Julie, ourtwo longest term rabbits there.

They got along so well, that it made my job look easy. :dude: They cuddled and groomed each other after being together for an hour.

Junior

Julie (She was featured on TV as pet of the week).

 

[kirbyultra]

Oh gosh Stan, can you come to NY and work your magic on my buns??? Bonding in one session is just too amazing to be true!

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I've been lucky so far. None of the bunnies I tried had a fight or bit each other. However they do go back into their own cages when I am done. I would not leave them together unsupervised. It is up to the Vet who decides if they shall live together in a cage.