Before adopting questions.

[Lanaia]

Hello.

New here. Were fostering a lovely, sweet and friendly 2 year old Dutch bunny. We’re considering adopting her however I have few concerns. Mina has been living with us for almost a month now and her enclosure in located upstairs. We have a 30 lbs dog who is very friendly but as expected the bunnys natural instinct is telling her to be scared so we closed of the downstairs area with a baby gate and it seems to work really well.

Nina isn’t the cutest rabbit in town – she is overweight ( working on this) and she has weird shedding lines? She came to us this way and the rescue group said she has had this pattern for a while BUT she is absolutely amazing. She is friendly, curious and hasn’t distoroyed anything yet. She isn’t overactive but I encourage her to jump more to help with the weight. We have a 2×6 custom enclosure for her which stays closed only at night. She’s free roaming all day.

Ok. So here are my questions:

1. Will the shedding lines go away? Can I help it somehow?
2. We don’t spend much time upstairs in bedroom other that going to bed, getting clothes etc maybe additional hour to interact with the bunny. Won’t she get lonely? We do our best to stay as much as possible but tv room is downstarirs where the dog hangs out.
3. Would getting another bunny be great idea so she has a friend? I’d be nervous that the other bunny would chew something up and they’d both end up locked for more than they should. My enclosure isn’t the bigggest.

Thank you for help.

[jerseygirl]

Welcome Lanaia!
It makes me happy to read you are adopting your foster rabbit. Lucky her!

To address your questions:

1. It may, Or the shed line will move. You might see her coat become more consistent after she has been on same diet and in same environment for several more months. If you’ve never had a rabbit before, be aware they do shed/moult a lot! With some rabbits the moult line is more obvious because of their fur colour. For instance, if they have bands of colour down the hair shaft.

2.  By now, you probably have noticed her routine. Many rabbits will just sleep through the bulk of the day. So a quiet area upstairs is not a bad thing. For other times, do you have the room to set up a dog proofed pen downstairs for her in the main living area? I think it would be a good thing for her to become acclimatised to your dog. Eventually, you might be able to have them spending time together under supervision. : ) 

3. Bunnies do really well with a rabbit companion but it is sometimes a process to get them to the stage where they are bonded to live together amicably. Not always, some bonds are very swift. You could look for rabbits that are known not to be chewers, but it’s no guarantee that they won’t start the habit. Or that she might start it doing it. Actually, a rabbit that has had it’s incisors removed due to dental health would be a consideration… They look awfully cute and manage food quite well, pulling it into their mouth and chewing with molars as normal.

My experiences of having rabbit pairs is they are a little messier too. Some single rabbits can be impeccable with litter habits. I think it comes down to if you really want a second rabbit. Most issues that arise can be worked out. If they had to be contained more, build them a bigger space and keep it interesting. etc. One consideration – if you do adopt another and bond them, you may have to separate Mina when you feed them so the weightloss plan is not in jeopardy.

If keeping her single, I do think it would be good for her to come into areas where you spend a lot of time when you are home. It should keep her active also – hopefully!

[Lanaia]

Great insight! Thank you.

She is excellent with litter skills. Maybe one dropping outside her enclosure the whole month and barely any outside litter box. Not sure if I want 2 bunnies ?

I’m working on bonding with dog but taking it reeeeeally slowly. My dog wants to play and sniff her – she wants the dog to stay frozen to check her out so there’s definitely conflict there the rabbit seems stressed upon sight so I’m letting her settle more. It’s only been a month. She hasn’t ventured outside the one room and hall yet so I’m not sure our living area is a good idea. Not to mention the whole downstairs has barely any rugs and floors are super shiny so. No tracktion for the bun. Ideally both dog and bunny would be running together all over the place but I have to be realistic and consider it may not happen.

Just want to make sure she will be happy with us.

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