Adoption advice on what’s best for my foster?

[Mimzy]

This might be slightly long but I need honest advice so bear with me…

Ok, so a little under a year ago, I opened up my home to a foster rabbit after feeling so empty after both my rabbits Mimzy & Obi-bun passed away.

He’s a Californian rabbit, & I was having trouble connecting with him for the first few months of having him but then he got used to me & is totally himself now. I kind of fell in love with him as he’s such a sweetheart! So I was toying with the idea of adopting him. I also now have another rabbit who is completely mine, Runa. She’s not spayed yet so I have them caged separate, although they both generally seem to get along ok.

My basic question is; What do you guys think is best for my foster? Should I be the one to adopt him or should I let someone else have the opportunity to adopt him? Here’s my dilemma…

Runa & my foster, Dax, get along pretty well, I’ve been able to have them together when I need to take them somewhere in the car or if I have them in the pet stroller together, they are perfectly fine. In my room, they have a gate between them but still do pretty well, although I’ve had to put a double gate between the 2 of them because Runa has started to scratch at Dax’s head through the bars (but Dax seems to like it???) & Dax occasionally nips at her through the bars. I also noticed Dax having litter box territorial issues when she went near the corner I have his box in. But I find all of this to be typical pre-bonded behavior.

 

Now…they are definitely starting off much better than Mimzy & Obi did before I had them bonded so it DOES seem very promising, however…
Dax has a tendency to put on weight VERY easily since he is a Californian rabbit. He was recently weighed & they told me he is overweight & needed to go on a diet. I thought that was crazy because I already had him on a diet for about 2 months before they told me that since I thought he was looking pretty big myself, so he’s on even more of a diet on top of that.
Dax is SUPER crazy food driven, like he nearly hurts himself every time he thinks there’s food. He one time tried to launch himself over his x-pen just to get to what he THOUGHT was food. Runa so far seems like she’s going to be able to have a normal diet. So my worry is that if I adopt him, I will always have to separate the 2 of them during eating times & Dax is going to get upset every time like he is now. The second he smells or hears food, he runs from 1 side of the cage to the other & I feel bad for him cuz he’s not allowed to eat every time she gets to

Do you guys think this would become too complicated? I don’t exactly have a completely separate room to feed Runa in either. Also, Runa is 6 months old & I have no idea how old Dax is, I’ve been assuming around 3 yrs maybe.

[DarthVadar]

If you are super attached to him, giving him up might be hard. Also, you can be sure that you will keep him healthy and take great care of him, but others might not. I know rescues and such screen the people who adopt their pets, but it can still happen. Rabbits do better with a buddy, so keeping him might help Runa.
He will eventually get used to seeing/smelling food, and hopefully that behavior will die down. Do you know just why he does this? I have a Cali, and she is pretty darn food-motivated, but does not do that. Does he have a history of being underfed?

[LittlePuffyTail]

You know how I feel about him. But yeah, like DV said, if you give him to someone else, no way to know how well is being treated. And whether he gets passed along to someone else in the long run. I think if you give him up, you will regret it and worry about him. I know I would.

[FlemishDad]

A year is a long time for a rabbit and you sound like a really great human companion for rabbits so I suspect Dax is probably better off with you than with a go at the adoption lottery, even if he has to live in a pen with some exercise time (which is probably the median outcome from a random adoption anyway.)

It sounds like food issues are the only problem. Could you perhaps train them to get all food besides hay strictly only when alone in their pen? If absolutely the only way ever Dax gets food is in his pen I think he will learn to go there and then you can close the pens and feed them separately.

I know it would kill me to give up a rabbit I had bonded with.

[Author]

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