Lost one bonded bunny, not sure if I need another.

[Gweebles]

Hi, I’m new here.  I bought my daughter a bunny about 3 years ago.  He hung out under the bed mostly and did well with my cats, but a year later, a co-worker gave me her bunny because she was moving.  He was a year older and was also a single bunny.  I had them both neutered (males) and they bonded.  They hung out together sometimes but Shadow, my first one, still liked his solitude and Fuu, my newer one, was always underfoot. 

 

Fast forward to last Tuesday, they were both fine when I fed them but an hour later, Shadow was breathing funny and looked grumpy.  I picked him up and he kind of fell over in my arm, weak.  I rushed him 1.5 hours to the emergency vet where he had a seizure and died before they could even get him out of the cage. 

 

Without thinking about it, dealing with a crying teenager, I had him cremated and brought him home.  Fuu is now looking around a little, like he knows something is off.  He is not as active as usual but he eats and threw his water dish around last night, so I know he isn’t ill.  I think he is sad, but I also have 6 cats, all rescues, who interact with him.  I really don’t want another animal to my herd, but I don’t want Fuu to mourn to death either.  Do I wait and see if he perks up?  If not would another male be best? 

 

I will admit to being one of those who didn’t think when I bought her the bunny at a feed store.  “It’s only $5 mom.” Now we have broken hearts and I still keep going over and over in my head wondering if there was something I missed.  My room is a pesticide free zone, all cleaners are things he has been around all his life.  If anyone has experience with multi pet households, I would appreciate any help on this. 

[BB & Tiny]

I don’t have any thoughts on what happened but I would like to offer my sympathies regarding you, your daughters and Fuu’s loss.

(((( Binky free Shadow ))))

[BB & Tiny]

I don’t have any thoughts on what happened but I would like to offer my sympathies regarding you, your daughters and Fuu’s loss.

(((( Binky free Shadow ))))

[Gweebles]

Thank you. It hurts still

[tobyluv]

I’m sorry about the loss of Shadow. Since rabbits are prey animals, they can hide their illnesses well, and sometimes by the time you notice something is wrong, it may be too late to treat them.

 I’m sure that Fuu is missing him, but if Fuu gets a lot of love and attention from you and your daughter and the cats, he may be okay without another bunny. Every case is different. When one of my bunnies, who was very bunny oriented and not people oriented, lost his companion, I knew that we needed to get another bunny companion for him pretty quickly. But when I had another bunny who was more people oriented, when her companion died, I knew that we could wait a while to adopt another rabbit to be her companion, since she enjoyed our company. You would know best how Fuu is feeling and if he is okay without another bunny (at least for a while). If you did want to get a companion for him, it is usually easier to bond a neutered male with a spayed female. Most or all rescues will have the female spayed already and some shelters/humane societies also spay and neuter their rabbits. That saves you a lot of money, plus it makes it possible for the bonding to begin sooner if the female is already spayed.

[Gweebles]

Thank you for the advice. Fuu is a people bunny. He loved Shadow but he preferred to be out and about where the action was, where Shadow liked his solitude unless he was hungry. This morning he was nibbling my foot, hoping I’d give him treats. He seems to be coming along ok so I will just spend as much time loving him as I can and reassuring him he is still my baby. He spent most of yesterday splatted out in the kitchen watching the cats play. I was looking at the shelter here since they have 2 females and 1 male for adoption.  If he starts acting lonely, I may pack him up to meet a shelter bunny.  They need all the love they can get.

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