Bunny Ripped Part of ear off of their sibling

[LopsAreGreat]

I am in the RabbitsOnline forum, and honestly the people there were not giving me a lot of support so I decided to come here and make a post. This is a long story, so thank you to those who read it because the past two days have been so depressing and I’ve felt so alone, like no one will give me any hope.

We have a 7 year old neutered mini lop buck, and we have two mini lop does, who are sisters, and we just got them about 2 1/2 weeks ago. We bonded the trio, and they were getting along really well until Aurora (one of the sister bunnies) took a chunk of Ruby’s ear off. So here’s my theory of what went on: During the bonding process, Aurora seemed to get a spark of dominance when she met Oscar, our buck, and then we took away Oscar and Aurora started circling Ruby. Then after we thought they were bonded, that happens. So we took Aurora and put her in a playpen, and Ruby can still see her through the bars, but I feel so sad seeing her in there, and seeing the trio in shambles right now. By the way, I don’t think I mentioned the sister bunnies are 11 weeks and not spayed. I’ve read that baby bunnies don’t actually bond when they are babies as siblings because they haven’t hit puberty and hormones and dominance, so really they aren’t bonded, so we have to go through the process with them. I’m not sure if they will even bond until they are spayed. With all the rabbits I’ve had, they have never really had to go through the bonding process, so any help would be appreciated.

here are my questions:

will any part of the ear grow back? I’ve done some research on it, and it did say that it can, but if anyone has experienced this, it’d be great to know and understand what I can do to help it. I read steroids can help with the growth but I’m not sure that’s a good idea, so would antibiotics help? Cream? I don’t know! I need help.
can I try bonding them again before they are spayed? There interactions seem so sudden! At one point they are grooming each other or laying down, and the next, it’s some sort of aggressive act. I’m thinking it’s because they are trying to figure out behaviors and hormones and the hierarchy.
can anyone give me some hope? Because every person has not given me hardly any hope, and joy, why is everyone so uptight it feels like?? I know this is serious, but I get negatively thinking when someone tells me “They just might not work, some buns just don’t.”  But I want to try, really try and get someone telling me with motivation, and giving me some light.

 

thanks for reading so far, I really appreciate it. Here’s some photos, and this is what they used to look like together, why can’t it just be this way again. 🥺😢😔

[DanaNM]

Hi there, sorry you are going through a rough spot. Definitely stop all bonding for now and separate all three. With an injury that bad, it will take some time for them to forgive each other as well.  Their hormones coming in are what is making their interactions so volatile. The ear won’t grow back unfortunately. Has she been seen by a vet?

If you separate now and try again when they are all castrated, it’s probably going to be fine. But the more fighting that happens now, the harder it will be to bond them properly in the future. You are correct in that they were never truly bonded. Sometimes siblings can stay together until they are spayed (often times not though, as the hormones will still trigger fighting), but I’m guessing the intro of the new bun upset that balance.

So try not to worry too much about the future bond right now, just get the ear taken care of and get them set up as neighbors but in separate enclosures. It looks like they definitely still have some positive feelings towards each other so I bet it will all be ok.

 

. . . 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.  

[LopsAreGreat]

Thank you for the reply. She hasn’t been seen by a vet, but it has been healing really well. We’ve been keeping it clean, but we might need to take her to the vet just to make sure. Yes I will make sure they stay separated. I was also thinking that introducing another bunny may have upset their bond. Thank you for the help and positive thoughts! 🙂

[Hazel]

Agree with everything Dana said. It is a nasty injury but they will have a good amount of time between now and when they can begin bonding post spay, so hopefully there won’t be any grudges. They should have been seperated before things got this bad, most rabbits will start fighting once they hit puberty, so this really isn’t unusual for a pair that wasn’t seperated. I don’t know who you got them from but they should have warned you that this would probably happen. Also, baby bunnies are very hard to sex correctly, you could very well have a male and female on your hands which is another good reason to keep them completely seperate. Try not to feel discouraged, get them fixed and go through the bonding process. Chances are they will bond just fine. 🙂

[LopsAreGreat]

I’ve had baby bunnies together before and this has never happened, so it’s surprising that this would happen at such an early age. We have checked multiple times now and have confirmed they are both females. But yes I’m hoping that bonding goes well once they are spayed and we can just get things back to normal hopefully.

[DanaNM]

11 weeks is pretty young, I agree with you on that! But who knows with adding another bun into the mix. Are you 100% sure on their age? They seem older than 11 weeks to me in their pictures. But maybe they are just fast-developing!

. . . 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.  

[LopsAreGreat]

Yes, I know they look pretty big in the pictures but in real life they are quite a bit smaller. They are probably 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, that’s just a guess. They were born September 25.

[Hazel]

Yeah, they do look pretty big.

They can hit puberty as early as 3 months old, so they’re not that far off. Maybe it’s just one of them that has gotten hormonal, that’s all it would take to start trouble.

[LopsAreGreat]

Yeah, they were born September 25th. They look bigger in pictures than they are in real life lol. And yeah it definitely does start trouble. But I’m sure things will get better once they are both spayed.

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