bonding our elderly blind male rabbit

[dana]

Hi, my partner and I have an elderly, blind male rabbit named Chewy. He’s around 11 years old and lost his partner back in September. A few weeks ago, we brought home a new rabbit (named Maggie) to try to bond with him. Maggie seems very interested in Chewy but Chewy doesn’t seem all that interested in her. I recently got them to groom each other a little by putting banana on their heads, but tonight Maggie was being very aggressive and went after Chewy, pulling out some fur. He ran into the corner and whimpered, so I ended the date. In general, Chewy hasn’t been very responsive to Maggie except to run away when she tries to nip him.

I know it hasn’t been that long, but I really don’t want to put Chewy through a drawn-out bonding process given his age, and especially since it’s putting him through a lot of stress. But we’d be willing to continue if it seems like there’s hope for them (we also love Maggie and we’d be very sad if we had to give her up). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I filled out the bonding questionnaire below but if you need any more info, please let me know!

Spay/Neuter
Are your bunnies spayed/neutered? yes
If so, for how long (for each)? Chewy: over 10 years, Maggie: not sure but hormones shouldn’t be an issue

Housing
Please describe your bunnies’ current housing set-up (living together, as neighbors, etc.).

They’re currently in side-by-side x-pens.

Bonding background
Did you allow the bunnies to “settle-in”?  Yes, for a week

How would you describe your bunnies reactions towards each other (answer for each bunny): shy, scared, curious, calm, aggressive, excited, affectionate, etc.?  Maggie has been a mixture of curious, excited, and aggressive towards Chewy. Chewy has shown little interest but gets very anxious and scared when Maggie turns aggressive.

Have you done any “pre-bonding” (cage or litter box swaps, etc.)? Been swapping their water/food bowls and toys

If so, for how long? a little over 2 weeks

Have you started sessions yet?  yes

How long have you been working on bonding your bunnies? a little over a week

How frequently do you have bonding sessions, and how long are they?  almost every night, around a half hour or so depending on how well they go.

Have you tried any stressing techniques? Trying to avoid stressing techniques since Chewy is old and blind.

[DanaNM]

Hi there, thank you for filling out the template!

You are right in that you don’t want the process to be too stressful on your senior bun. I also have a senior bun and have bonded him twice now. Once to his first mate, then again to another when his first mate passed away. I also tried him in a quad but decided to stop because the two boys were being too aggressive and I didn’t feel comfortable with it. So you will need to trust your gut on whether it’s worth it, whether it’s a good match, and who you are doing the bonding for. He might be just as content to have another rabbit as a neighbor as he would to be completely re-bonded.

So the first thing I notice is that you have only swapped food bowls and toys for pre-bonding. I would completely swap which bunny is on each side if possible, and if not then swap sort of dirty litter boxes. When you say Maggie is very interested in him, what types of behaviors does she show through the fence? My sense is that you should continue side swaps until Maggie doesn’t really seem that interested in Chewy, or she seems very calmly interested (like flopping near him, mirroring behaviors, grooming in his presence). The full side swaps is also important to mingle scents, which is extra important since Chewy is blind.

Aside from his reaction towards aggression, how does Chewy behave after and during the dates? Does he eat and poop normally right after, or does he show any signs of stress?

As long as he is not showing signs of stress due to pre-bonding or the actual bonding sessions, then I think it is OK to continue, but just go at his pace. If he seems like he needs a day or so off, that’s fine.

My last question is, how big is the bonding area and how neutral is it? It should be very neutral, ideally not within smell range of their home areas. I also wouldn’t go for banana just yet. I’ve found that early on when things are tense it can make them a bit confused and kind of over excited (like if one bun is excited about the banana and the other is just worried about the other bun). I would instead focus on building some calm interactions between them. I like to pet a lot in early sessions, you can even smoosh them side by side if they will accept pets and just pet them a ton to swap their scents. Or wait until they approach each other and put their heads down for grooms, then just start petting them.

I also like to use a larger size space, so they have space to move away from each other if needed. I’ve always had things escalate to fights more quickly in small spaces.

So yeah, to sum up I would pause bonding for a bit and do some more pre-bonding. If that all goes well, then I would focus on building some calm and positive associations in bonding sessions and just see how they do. 🙂

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[dana]

Hi, apologies for the late response! Thank you so much for your help. I took your suggestion and pet them more during the sessions and it helped to keep them both calmer. I’m also swapping their litter boxes now (I was swapping their pens but Chewy would get very disoriented and couldn’t find his way back to the other pen when we let him out).  Over the last few days Chewy has started grooming her a little bit on his own (no banana) and in general he seems less anxious around her. They’ve started mirroring their behaviors more as well. Maggie will shove her head into his to get groomed but if he doesn’t, she’ll usually just settle down and lay next to him.

I’ve also been in touch with a woman at the shelter who’s very experienced with bonding and she said they seem to be making progress. So I’m going to continue to take things slowly and be more patient with this process! Thank you again for your help!

[DanaNM]

That sounds like very good progress! I would keep up what you’ve been doing!

Not every grooming request has to be met (you just don’t want to see it turn into bickering), and settling into cuddling instead is wonderful (that’s often what bonded pairs do).

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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