Accidental bonding of Barney & Belle!!

[AnnaW]

So I was planning on bonding Barney with Belle after she has been spayed at the beginning of September (and of course after a healing period) …. however! The bunskies had other ideas. Belle has learnt to hop really REALLY great now, its wonderful to see – she can even do little binkies now. So i had her in the garden hopping about, and Barney (who currently lives in the conservatory) escaped into the garden without being seen, and approached Belle!

As I came into the garden, he ran really quick straight over to her (and i ran after him terrified he’d bite her!) - he went right up to her face and she bowed to him and put her chin right on the grass and he groomed her head. There has been a fair amount of mounting and grooming going on, they get on so well. She is SO much happier in herself now that she can go outside and play with him (always supervised of course) – the accidental bonding actually seems to have been great. She also has been using Barney’s litter tray (we have had great trouble litter training her) so she seems to be picking up good habits from him!

 

He is more than 4 weeks post neuter so they have been safe to spend their time together – from what i have said what kind of stage in the bonding process do you guys reckon we’re at?

Thankyou! x

[Sarita]

Well, I’m not certain I would call them bonded if they are only playing in the garden – are they staying together 24/7?

If they want to be together though and she’s not spayed yet and he’s neutered then I say keep them together if they are indeed bonded 24/7.

[AnnaW]

Ok, the only problem I have with keeping them together is that Belle isn’t litter trained so is being kept in an indoor cage, whereas Barney is free range in the conservatory. What shall I do? They are not together 24/7 just for a few hours a day in the garden, shall i up the anti slowly until they are together for most of the time? It is difficult because of the cage situation! x

[Sarita]

Where are you planning on keeping them once they are bonded? If they are playing out in the garden with no problems together that is fine, but it truly is not bonded yet.

[AnnaW]

They will be in a double wooden hutch together with free reign of whichever room they are in (i’m soon moving into a new place, its a 3 storey terraced house so it may be feasable for them to have a whole floor to themselves!!) So where do you think I should go from here?? x

[MoveDiagonally]

I agree with Sarita, they are not bonded but this is a really good sign for bonding.

If they’re playing together fine than I think supervised play dates are alright but I wouldn’t push forward beyond that. Remember Belle hasn’t reached puberty yet so her hormones could become an issue later and you don’t want a fight to make bonding harder later.

[AnnaW]

Ok thanks for the advice guys I’ll keep allowing them to play supervised etc, but will wait to put them together full-time once Belle has been spayed at 6 months Thanks guys! She’s STILL having trouble with litter training, however Barney went in her cage yesterday and pee’d in her litter box so maybe that will help show her where to go … as she went in his litter box last week too! x

[MoveDiagonally]

It sounds like once your start bonding it’s going to be a pretty easy bonding adventure.

[AnnaW]

Yeah it certainly seems that way at the minute!! x

[Author]

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