Bonding two unaltered females? both are young.

[amanda-penny & lola]

 

Two weeks ago I decided to get a rabbit.  Her name is Penny and she is very sweet.  She is now three months old.   I was in town yesterday and I stopped by the animal shelter and I adopted a beautiful Lionhead female & I have now named her Lola.  I plan on getting both of my young girls fixed in July.  The shelter doesn’t  know for sure how old Lola is because they found her and her brothers and sisters dumped in the woods somwhere     She seems to be at least 9 weeks old.  Should I wait until they are both spayed to bond or is it possible to bond them when they are young?  I have them both in two huge NIC cube cages side by side so they can see each other.  Is that okay??  

[RabbitPam]

Yes, it’s OK that they can see each other although I think I would separate the cages by a few inches in case either decides to nip or reach through the bars.

Is this your first time posting? If so, then welcome! Would LOVE to see pix of your girls.

I would suggest taking them to the vet for a basic check up to get their health established and to make your spay appointment. Also, I think it would be wise to have the vet confirm that they are definitely both girls.
The bonding experts here will be able to tell you whether they can bond sooner than the month after their spay. The problem will be that they will both start acting like teenagers and that will effect their bonding behavior as well.

Meanwhile, you might want to read over the Bonding Info. section here (green menu above under Bunny Info) and some of the posts in the Bonding Forum to start planning your bonding process.

[MooBunnay]

Welcome to Binkybunny Thank you for rescuing two little girls who really needed your help!

I would recommend not introducing them until at the very least they have gone to the vet. The reason being that young bunnies can sometimes be hard to tell male from female, and just in case one of your girls ends up being a boy, or a different age than you thought, you don’t want a surprise litter on your hands. Also, just in case one of the bunnies picked up something from the shelter or from wherever you got them from, you don’t want them to pass anything on to the other.

I think it is definitely OK that they can see each other, it probably helps them feel more comfortable in your home because they enjoy living in groups in general.

[Beka27]

I agree, you need sex confirmation first. They are very difficult to sex at times, even experienced people can make mistakes. After you know for a fact they are both females, you *can* begin to bond them if you want to, but be prepared that the bond may not last thru puberty, surgery, and healing. It’s also important that they do not fight, b/c a big fight pre-spay (besides causing serious injury to one or both) may affect the bonding process post-spay.

[flippersmom]

I was going to start a new thread, but I thnk my question might fit here!!!

As I am the only bunny owner at our clinc (I am a tech for an animal eye specialists!), I by default get all bunny questions reffered to me!!  Usually, I can give a some decent advice based on my own knowledge, or what I’ve learned from everyone here, but this one has me baffled!!!!!

This owner adopted two littermates (both vet checked females!).  They are now about 8 months old and although they get along fine, the are being typical “teenage” bunnies!!!  Of course, I asked and found out that they are not spayed!!  So my suggestion was to have them spayed.  After talking about aftercare and whatnot, I realised that there would obviously be hormonal changes and started to think about the whole re-bonding process!!!  I quickly told them that this was not an area I was horribly familiar with and told them I would do some research (I.e. ask you guys) and get back with them with any thoughts or suggestions!!!!  They would really like to keep them together, and are willing to try whatever anyone suggests – I’m just afraid without any guidance, they may bring them home and expect life to be the same!!!!!!  So I would like to give them some solid info!!!!!  I’m not sure who they use for their bunnies vet, but we have several in the area, some good and some not so good – so again, not sure what they are being told!!!!

Thanks you all sooooo much for any help you can give me to give them!!  Just thinking about it is making my head spin!!!!!!

 

 

[Sarita]

It sounds like most likely if they are bonded even after the spaying they will most likely stay bonded. If they’ve come this far at 8 months and are still together it’s a little more positive scenario than at 4 or 5 months. I have 2 females that came to be bonded (not entirely certain of their age at that time but they were most likely over a year old – maybe more) and after having them spayed I had no problems with them remaining bonded.

[flippersmom]

Thanks Sarita – I have 2 bonded females also, but the bonding came after the spaying!! We took one buuny dating and she decided she’d rather have friend than a husbun (she’s probably better off than a lot of women I know!!!!), so I had never thought about it!!! Did you keep them in seperate cages next to each other while they where recovering?? If so, for how long???

[Beka27]

I would recommend to them that they have them spayed at the same time. This way they will both smell like the vets. They will both be “out of it” together while they recover. It’s a very real possiblity that they may need to do some more bonding exercises after the spay, but hopefully they have a strong enough bond so it won’t be necessary.

[Sarita]

I didn’t keep mine in separate cages during the recovery since they were already bonded – I had no problems at with that either.

[Beka27]

She should definitely keep them housed together after the surgery if that was how they were living beforehand, but she’ll need to be prepared that if they become aggressive, they might have to be separated.

[flippersmom]

Thanks for the help guys!!! The more I read some of these bonding threads, the luckier I see that I have been. My first pair came to me bonded and the girls were BFF off the bat, so I’ve never had any real bonding experience!!

[amanda-penny & lola]

thanks everyone.

[amanda-penny & lola]

 

[jerseygirl]

*gasp!* Is that Penny in your signature? She’s GORGEOUS! How lucky are you?!

Edit: Eep! Penny disappeared and Lola appeared?  I take it your working on your siggy  The profiles are still being updated so you may encounter problems. We should have the “all clear” soon.

Lola is equally Gorgeous! Never seen a diamond shaped bun before.  Beautiful girls!

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