Bonding again after loss of partner

[Tom118]

Hey guys, first time poster here. Recently one of our bunnies passed away. We were very upset and my girlfriend posted about her in the rainbow bridge section on this forum. As far as we are aware we did everything right, we left her with the surviving bunny for several hours after she passed so he could come to terms with her death.

He seems okay and never went through a period of not eating or showing any signs of depression. They were only bonded for about 7 months before she passed so maybe he got over it quickly because of that. Now we’re wondering if we should bond him with another bunny. He is a 7 year old large Holland lop, he was alone for the first 6 years of his life but had lots of attention from my girlfriend, her parents and their pet dog. Since he has moved in with us he has become a house rabbit with no cage and seems very, very happy. Flops all day!

I work with clients who could start as early as 6am and finish as late as 9pm in extreme circumstances and my girlfriend works a 9 to 5 job. We both love him and don’t want him to feel lonely while we’re out at work. Usually I get to come home during the day for at least a couple of hours to hang with him where he usually just sleeps. 

My main question is: Should we bond him with another bunny? My main reason for wanting to do this is in case he gets lonely while we’re at work. However I am aware he is a senior citizen now and I would be heart broken if he went any time soon and while he isn’t ill it is a possibility. That would leave us in the same situation we are in now with another bunny. Any advice on this guys? Also how long would you give him if we did get him another rabbit to be bonded with? 

[Melissa Rabbit]

I bonded my rabbit Tibbers to a new bun,Buffalo, after his bonded mate Annie passed away. I waited about two months. I wondered if it was a good idea to adopt another rabbit for Tibbers, because it almost seemed like I would continue to have bunnies for the rest of my life because I wouldn’t want any of them to be lonely after losing their mate. I also worried about how Tibbers would react to another female so soon after Annie, so I adopted a male for him.

ultimately, I decided to find a new friend for Tibbers because even though we had grown very close after Annie passed, I was still not around enough to give him attention.

have you considered checking out local rescues for older bunnies? you could give a less-adoptable bun a home while also not necessarily making a 10-year commitment

sorry to hear about the loss. it does sound like you did everything right, btw

[Tom118]

Thank you, I do feel like we are very close after Lily has passed however, I agree with you that we aren’t around enough to give him as much attention as he may need.

[Sirius&Luna]

Once a bunny has been bonded before, I think it’s more important to rebond them, as they know the companionship that they’re missing.

I would try and bond him with another bunny of a similar age – a rescue should be able to help you out in finding a good match. Then its important to take the process slowly, with a month of prebonding before you start face to face bonding sessions.

While 7 is sort of senior for a bunny, many bunnies live to be older than 10, up to 12 or even 15, so I wouldn’t feel too despairing yet! I also lost a 10 month old bunny, bunnies are so fragile that really it’s impossible to say how long they’ll live!

[Author]

Messages