Bonding with a deaf bunny

[LaurenJK]

Hi,

I am looking for advice on if anyone has ever bonded a deaf bunny before?

I have a girl (Pancake) and a boy (Roberto), both neutered but the boy only two weeks ago. When he was neutered they found he was deaf which we had already suspected. 

We are looking to start the bonding in another two weeks.

The bunnies have lived side by side in house cages since we got Roberto at the beginning of September. They are totally used to being around each other but we exercise them separately while still keeping the other near. We have caught them licking each other recently if one is in the cage and they seem to be really comfortable around each other so far. Before Roberto got all hormonal we introduced them in neutral territory and they were fine then too.

I am just hoping someone has some advice for any issues with bonding a deaf bunny? I am worried that Roberto won’t hear or recognise if Pancake gives any warnings if she is unhappy and end up being hurt. I’ve never done anything like this before so I am really nervous and just want it to go perfectly! They seem to be so keen to play together but who knows what might happen.

Thank you!

[Monkeybun]

A lot of bunny interaction is by body language, so I’m sure it will be fine. I have a deaf bun also, and his bonding is going quite well

[JackRabbit]

Bonding a deaf bunny with a hearing bunny really is no different than bonding two hearing bunnies except that one can’t hear you holler, clap your hands, turn on a vacuum cleaner, etc., if they start to fight. Physically separating them still works, and the deaf bunny can still feel thumps, see movement, etc.

Marlee and Moshi are bonded, and Moshi is deaf (the vet thinks he might not be 100% deaf but pretty close). Those two have been bonded from day one (half sister/brother), so we didn’t have a bonding process with them but we did try to bond our single bun Kieko with them. When any of our bunnies are angry, noises don’t seem to phase them so we used “thumping” and separating them (gloved hands, colander) when tensions got high. We’re on a long break from trying to bond Kieko with the lops — Kieko hasn’t accepted that she’s a bunny yet.

If Pancake gets annoyed at Roberto, she’ll let him know! When Moshi does something that annoys Marlee, she will do things like go to the other side of the room, thump, or bite his butt. When she wants to play and he doesn’t get the message, she’ll bite his butt and run to get him to chase her. Moshi is all boy, and he can get pretty annoying at times — he’ll binky into Marlee, decide he needs to dig in the exact spot where she’s sitting, climb on top of her to reach something, etc.!

I could be way off on this, but I believe that the bond between a hearing and deaf bunny may be even stronger than between two hearing bunnies since the deaf one relies heavily on cues from the hearing bun and the hearing bun seems to know this and watches, out for the deaf one. It’s really sweet to see!

Edit: So sorry! I fixed that!

[LBJ10]

Leopold has definitely benefited from having a friend. Like JR mentioned, he relies on Wooly for visual cues. Wooly hears something and his reaction alerts Leopold to what’s going on. I don’t think the fact that Leopold is deaf had any affect on their ability to form a bond. Most bunny language is visual, not through sound. So they can communicate with each other quite well. And I think Wooly understands that Leopold is deaf because it seems he will often go out of his way to alert Leopold of something. He will run up and touch noses with him before scurrying off to the source of interest.

I think the only drawback to having a deaf bunny is that Leopold has no clue you’re yelling no at him and if he’s engrossed in whatever naughty thing he is doing. Poor Wooly, he is definitely a follower when it comes to getting into trouble. Leopold will decide to go chew on something a Wooly follows. I come over there to stop them and Wooly is already acting “innocent” by the time I get there. Leopold is oblivious so he’s always getting caught. LOL

[JackRabbit]

Moshi is the same way — always the one getting caught! He also startles easily if he’s engrossed in something and we “suddenly appear”. Don’t know if this would help you, but I always turn the light on when I enter the bunny room (even during the day) to let Moshi know I’m coming in.

[LBJ10]

This is going to sound bad, but I always have the light on in their room in the evening anyway. They like having it on. LOL

[tobyluv]

We had a bunny who went deaf in his later years. Early last year he lost his long time companion, and a couple of months later we adopted a new companion for him. I don’t think his deafness had any impact on the bonding process. He just wanted another bunny to love and to snuggle with.

[LaurenJK]

Ah this is so lovely to read!
We are introducing them tonight to start the official process & I really hope they love each other when they’re in the same area like they do when they are separate. They are brother and sister but from different litters.
I hadn’t realised deaf bunnies were quite so common until I’ve mentioned it to people. I always switch the light on too, and half the time Pancake is more startled than him. Also when it is ‘breakfast time’ & I give them their fresh veg he is becoming more aware of what is happening by watching Pancake. Rather sweet actually.

I am still terrified of this whole bonding process & my other half is quite protective of Roberto as Pancake is the moodier of the two. I think he thinks she is going to squish him. We have an outdoor cage set up in the spare bedroom as neutral territory so fingers crossed!

[LaurenJK]

double post.. oops

[LBJ10]

It’s actually fairly common with Hollands, but other rabbits can be deaf too. I never would have known either if it wasn’t for BB. Honestly, you would never know Leopold is deaf just by looking at him. He acts like a normal bunny. He just isn’t startled by loud sounds, which has actually been helpful for Wooly as well. So the helping goes both ways. Wooly will be scared of something, but when he sees Leopold has no reaction then he actually calms down a bit.
I think your buns will do just fine with bonding. I’m sure Pancake already knows that something is different about Roberto and she will quickly adapt to communicating with him.

[JackRabbit]

Moshi kinda helps calm Marlee when there are loud noises, but if Marlee thumps, all bets are off. Marlee has a huge thump, especially for such a little bunny, but Moshi can apparently feel the vibration. Its cute though because he sticks his big ears forward like he hears something (I think he’s copying Marlee because he didn’t used to do this) but you can make a loud noise next to him when he does this and doesn’t even flinch. At one point I thought maybe he couldn’t hear because his lopped ears were so big, but I even held them up during part of the vet visit when we were trying to test his hearing and nothing changed.

[LaurenJK]

Mine are both mini lops & at first we thought Roberto was just being ignorant as he didn’t react to any of our calling.
Roberto is a lot more social than Pancake and I think that’s down to his deafness. She doesn’t like to be held and will only come over when it suits her but Roberto is really inquisitive.
Our vet seems to think Roberto was born deaf with him being so young and we have tested odd things at home (banging pans together when his back is turned) with no reaction. A few times he has reacted to whistles and sneezing but not enough so it could just be a coincidence. Pancake is startled by everything in comparison!

[LBJ10]

We did all sorts of tests at home. I would come up with different loud noises to make. Wooly would startle each time and Leopold would be completely oblivious. When you do it, you want to make sure the bunny in question has their back turned to you so you know they aren’t just reacting to seeing you. I even got one of those annoying party horns. I waited for Leopold to be engrossed in grooming and then I blew it. Wooly snapped to attention immediately and Leopold just kept grooming himself. LOL
Finally we did a test that was suggested by people here on BB. I removed Wooly and sat him on the couch in the living room. Leopold was in their room all by himself. I stood next to the doorway with a bag of treats. I kept the bag out of sight as I crinkled it. Leopold was just going about his business. He was completely unaware of the crinkling. Next thing I know, I’m getting bonked in the leg by a bunny nose. Wooly had heard the crinkling. He came down off the couch and went down the hall in search of that treat bag.
When we were at the vet, Leopold’s ears were thoroughly examine. The vet tried various things to get a reaction out of him to no avail. We assume he has been deaf since birth, but I suppose there is no way to know for sure.

[JackRabbit]

Same here. We even tried having hubby go in the bathroom off the hallway and then let Moshi into the hall play area with just the litterbox. Hubby scratched loudly on the door, banged on a steel drum, blew a horn, called Moshi’s name. Nothing. It did get Kieko all riled up in the next room though. I know it sounds silly, but I cried about it alot at first — my baby would never even know his own name. I even considered getting a 3rd lop to bond with Marlee and Moshi in case something ever happened to Marlee so Moshi would still “have ears”. While that’s not totally off the table, I’m okay with things now. I still talk to him as if he can hear.

[LaurenJK]

Yeah we tried everything when Roberto wasn’t looking. Pancake was going mad in the other room while we tried it! On Bonfire Night it made a massive difference. We have a conservatory at the back of our house (do you have those in the US?) which is where they have their free play. Roberto was playing happily in there all night while Pancake hid in the living room close to us.

We managed 15 mins tonight which was their first ‘date’. Roberto attempted to hump a lot! Pancake was really good for the majority of it and just lay down. By the end Roberto was licking her head and snuggling in but then still trying to hump her face. He thumped a little bit when he couldn’t get his own way but that was about it. Pancake was putting her head underneath his tummy a lot of the time. Is this her allowing him to be the dominant one?
Happy with how it went overall. I was so nervous at first but then wanted to leave them longer. Only that Pancake started to get a bit fed up that we stopped.

[JackRabbit]

Sounds like a good start. Watch the head under the tummy though (I’m assuming you’re talking about her putting her head under his tummy from the side). That can be a sneaky way to nip the delicate tummy and get to the genitals to nip.

[LaurenJK]

Yeah she kept putting her head there. She was well behaved doing it so far but will keep an eye out for that.
I was scared of her nipping when he tried to get on her head so moved him away any time he tried that

[LBJ10]

Sounds like a normal first bonding session. If Pancake tolerates it, then let Roberto continue with the humping. It will help them work things out more quickly. If he tries to hump her face, simply redirect him to her other end. Like JR said, you don’t want any nipping to happen to that area.

[LaurenJK]

I will do. I’ve read to allow him to do it for 5 seconds then stop him?
I’m excited for their next date!

[LBJ10]

He can be allowed to hump longer than 5 seconds if Pancake isn’t bothered by it. You can use that method though if Pancake is distressed.

[LaurenJK]

He’s still humping but Pancake seems to just be moving away when he does. Lots of grooming from Roberto and snuggling from both of them. I have lots of pictures but have no idea how to put them on here.
Seems to be going well so far. I’ve began to move away a little bit as I feel I can trust them together. Staying in the room but doing other things. Really happy with how it is going. I definitely feel like it’s helped allowing them to be around each other but not directly meeting until now.

[LBJ10]

Great! I would just keep doing what you’re doing. Things seem to be progressing nicely.

[JackRabbit]

Ok, the ultimate bond with a deaf bunny…..

When I went to feed the bunnies this morning, I could hear Moshi digging and shredding a piece of cardboard inside the hidey part of the sideways E but he couldn’t see me. Marlee came over to greet me, and I put their breakfast bowls down. Marlee took a bite, stopped, ran to the hidey and brought Moshi back for breakfast!

[LaurenJK]

Ah that is so cute!
I hope mine are like that soon. They seem to be totally smitten so far. I moved them into my bedroom last night and left them as I was cleaning up & all went well.
Trying to move them into the living room tonight so we are getting closer to their new home together. I want to get a few bonding sessions in over the weekend with them getting along so well so far.

[JackRabbit]

That’s wonderful news!

[LaurenJK]

They’re in their pen together as I type & still going well now we are off neutral grounds. I did worry as pancake has loved the rug in the living room since we brought her home but she’s quite happy sharing it with Roberto. Still grooming him anyway!

[LBJ10]

Aww, that’s so cute JR. Wooly will run up to Leopold to get his attention too.

Lauren – That sounds great! So far, it seems like a pretty easy bond. Wooly and Leopold were an easy bond too. Maybe it’s a deaf bunny thing?

[JackRabbit]

I think you may be right LBJ. When we tried to bond Kieko with the M&Ms, after the initial rough introduction, Moshi was the one to accept Kieko (he was even fine with her humping him — thought he was getting a massage!). Marlee and Kieko did not do well together though. So either my calm deaf bunny is more willing to bond, or he just liked the idea of having two women!

[LaurenJK]

I think it may be. Roberto has started to react when Pancake does now. It’s really sweet to watch.
When do you consider them fully bonded?

[LBJ10]

If they are getting along really well, you can try extended periods of time together. Once they are able to peacefully spend the night together, you can consider them bonded.

[LaurenJK]

They have spent the majority of today together with both behaving really well. The only thing is Roberto still keeps humping!
I’m thinking of introducing them to their future living space in the next couple of days and I’ll spend the night with them at the weekend to see how they get on.

[LaurenJK]

Some photos from the last week..

[LBJ10]

Look how sweet they are together! Yep, definitely start transitioning them to their future living area.

[LaurenJK]

Update:
They are living together happily and are so happy together. They don’t go anywhere without one another & it’s amazing!

[LaurenJK]

Update:
They are living together happily and are so happy together. They don’t go anywhere without one another & it’s amazing!

[LBJ10]

Yay! That’s wonderful to hear! Thanks for the update.

[Robert]

Thank you for letting us know! I hope my Bonding goes this well with elly and panda, they too lick each other through the cage

Question: how long did it take for the Humping to stop?

[LaurenJK]

Roberto will still try to hump but no where near as much. Pancake just moves away and he will stop. We delayed their move in day because of how much he was doing it & you could see Pancake wasn’t enjoying being around him but that only lasted a day or two.

It’s funny because during the bonding he was the more dominant of the two with the humping and stomping his back feet but now they’re together she is his ears so he follows whatever she does. He has also stopped playing with us & will kick if we hold him but before he was really sociable and loved snuggling. We are hoping it’s just the honeymoon phase!

[JackRabbit]

Isn’t that the way it always works? Our boys just love us and then they fall in love with a girl and mom gets moved to the back seat!

BTW, I love those pics. They look like two tiger bunnies!

[LaurenJK]

Ha that sounds about right! Luckily, Pancake is still entertained by me. Roberto definitely thinks he is a tiger – he’s a real tinker! They honestly melt my heart. I am the crazy rabbit lady!

[LaurenJK]

*Trying to upload more photos of them*

The last one was mespoiling them on Christmas Day! Oops

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