why not bond baby to adult?

[lwayne]

 I’ve just started reading up on bonding and have a question:

Why can’t you bond a baby with a spayed/neutered adult?  I hear you are supposed to wait until BOTH rabbits are 6mos.  As long as they get along in the beginning and you get the young one speutered as soon as possible, does it really matter?

[TARM]

Where’s Petzy???

[Deleted User]

Many members on here have joined a kit with an altered adult rabbit for a time but it isn’t a real bond. Kits generally like the company of other rabbits because as youngsters they seek the safety of a nest-like situation. Even if you have a friendly altered adult bunny that welcomes the kit gently, you have to exercise caution to catch he time to separate them, before emerging hormones in the kit cause a fight. Young hormonal rabbits are quite unpredictable. It is a risk because it can predispose the two rabbits for a harder bond later if a fight breaks out due to new hormones. I personally like to use the time that a kit has pre-neuter to bond it to me rather than to other rabbits. It is a great opportunity to teach the young bunny things like being handled and to trust humans, etc.

[Beka27]

I absolutely agree with Petzy (I always do tho… lol!) I like the thought of using the baby time to bond with him or her… without worrying about the stress of bonding. It is possible to get a baby and adult together, but more often than not, it’s temporary. There is always the risk of hormones kicking in and a serious fight breaking out. What if they get into a fight at 9am and you’re not home from work until 5pm? Bad things can happen very quickly. It’s risky.

[angelicvampyre]

From my own experiense I got a 6mo to a year old male bunny Bugz and got him desexed. I also ended up with a 4 – 8 week old female, when she was about 2 months old (I had her for a few weeks) my sister put them together and they got on fine. I left them like that. i did however watch for signs of fighting, however Bugz has established himself as top dog and when Anya tried to change the pecking order he would convince her otherwise. i had no really fighting just a few hump wars. I had Anya booked in to get spayed earlier this week and the week leading up to her getting spayed i noticed a bit of agression on her side but no enough for me to warrent splitting them up. Once spayed (and is is only 2 days since) they are back together (due to Bugz braking out of his cage and into her) and there is no agression. Having said all of that in the last month there has been someone at my house pretty much 24/7 and everyone knows that if there was any agression to split them ASAP even if they think there is agression. I am LUCKY really lucky and as others have said this is not the norm. Even my vet was suprised that i had them bonded and together without fighting before Anya Spay and recommend that i keep them apart for 4 weeks after her spay and rebond however Bugz had different ideas!. It can work but is can also go wrong VERY quickly.

I have heard of others who had a bonded pair and then they spay one and the bond breaks and never re forms after spaying.

[lwayne]

Thanks all for explaining it. I also read through Cotton&Tiger’s sibling story.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Where’s Petzy???

Sorry I had to laugh at this.

[Author]

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