Wound found after fight between 2 not yet bonded buns

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This topic has 7sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 6 months ago by Bunny House.

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- 09/05/2018 at 5:01 PM
  Eloise&Chey
  Participant
  4 posts
  Hello all! I have recently (less than a week) gained another bun, and have been very slowly working on bonding. Well, long story short one got out of their half of the house and I came home to fur everywhere and a wound on my smaller girl, Eloise. It is on her side, it is a circle hole, smaller than a pencil eraser. No blood at all, she only seems a little sensitive to it when it is directly touched, but doesnt react when we pet her and run our hand over it. She is eating, veggies and hay, like normal, drinking normal amount of water, normal bathroom habits. Neither of them seemed in a bad mood, she is acting totally normal. Still running and jumping, twisting, normal level of grooming.
  I have a vet appointment for Friday, the soonest I could get. I am wondering how bad this might be? It is white, with the skin around it looking dried/scabbed? No swelling that I can tell, no puss or blood. But I know with punctures it can be deceiving how deep they might be. Because she seems normal otherwise, will I be ok until Friday? Should I wash it with iodine or something like that?
  
  Please and thank you for any thoughts or advice!
- 09/06/2018 at 4:58 AM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  I’ve no idea about the wound but I just wanted to say please do not start bonding yet. You need to let new bun settle in for a few weeks. Then you pre bond for at least a month and THEN you start bonding sessions. It’s very impprtant not to skip any steps.
- 09/06/2018 at 8:17 AM
  TheDuchess
  Participant
  39 posts
  I also just wanted to chime in say that less than one week is not sufficient time to start the bonding process. Because of territorial aggression, it is recommended to “pre bond” for at least one month. Pre bonding consists of swapping litter trays and toys (even swapping the buns themselves) into each others enclosures to get them used to the other’s scent. Once you have done that, you can move on to introductions in neutral space. They are both spayed/neutered, correct?
  
  Regarding the wound, it doesn’t *sound* all that bad and will probably be ok until you can get to the vet on Friday. I think I have heard that Neosporin is safe to use on rabbits? **can someone else verify that**?? You may be able to use Neosporin to help prevent infection before you can get her to the vet. Might even ring up your vet and inquire about the safety of Neosporin.
  
  As I’m sure you know, it’s very important to ensure that the buns can’t get to each other. Aside from injuries, their fights will make bonding them even more difficult because they will hold a grudge and become aggressive towards each other.
- 09/06/2018 at 8:30 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Yes, iodine is fine. Just dilute it first. Neosporin (as mentioned) is also fine as long as it’s the plain kind. Not the one with added pain med.
  
  Continue to keep a close eye on it as bite wound can become abscessed.
  Hopefully she heals up nicely.
- 09/06/2018 at 10:08 AM
  Bunny House
  Participant
  1241 posts
  The buns are both spayed and neutered right? You don’t want an accidental litter from the fight.
- 09/06/2018 at 1:00 PM
  Eloise&Chey
  Participant
  4 posts
  Thank you all for replying!
  
  First of all, yes they are both spayed/neutered. Eloise is a female 4.5 years old, Davie is male 4 years old.
  
  Next, I think I may have just misused the word bonding. Sorry about not being more clear, I have had a bun for 4 years but never tried this before so I am still learning. Eloise is a house bun, so no cages or anything. But I have her out in the house as usual, and I have him pinned off in the kitchen (she can’t walk on smooth floors, so she had never been in the kitchen, figured that would be the best place for him for now). It was that enclousure that he escaped from. I haven’t been putting them together or anything, but they can smell eachother through the gate, about a 3 ft section that borders both their areas. After this fight I will definitely be waiting until they can let go of the grudge.
  
  I will put some neosporin on Eloise’s wound, luckily she isn’t too sensitive to it so it should be easy.
- 09/06/2018 at 1:32 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Thanks for clarifying. : )
- 09/06/2018 at 3:42 PM
  Bunny House
  Participant
  1241 posts
  Okay good! I was worried you might have a litter here in a bit haha.
  
  You might want to let them cool down for a bit and try to “forget” eachother and then start the prebonding
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