How to proceed now?

[MimzMum]

The post Starfuzz just made about her precious trio got me thinking…

Now that my vet seems to think that whatever Mimzy’s probelm is, it’s probably chronic and most likely allergies, I am wondering if I should resume bonding him and Pip, and then look at adding Fiver into the mix somewhere down the line?

I still worry Mimzy could have something he’d spread to the other bunnies, but honestly, they are all housed (in their separate pens) together in the same room. Anything airborne would’ve spread by now and I’d see symptoms, I’m sure.

And none of them seem particularly interested in having a bunny friend. Even though Mimz and Pip were so close beofre he got sick.

Giving separate excercise time for the three of them is a nightmare. So really this would wind up being more for my convenience to bond them, although companionship for them would be the primary benefit of course.

Any opinions? I’m still waiting about a week or so to see if Mimzy resumes having symptoms…and if so we’re going to give him Pen-G shots (the last line of treatment that my vet decided wasn’t necessary right now) and if not, should we go back to bonding? Should I begin with the boys together first this time? (Mimzy and Fiver did seem to show some curiosity about one another while I was allowing them both separate time out on the bed within sight of each other-less grunting and more sniffing and lowering of heads for grooms between the cage bars.) Should I just go back to getting Pip and Mimzy back together-since we were within weeks of a complete bond before? Or shoudl I just forget about bonding them at all, since nobunny seems interested particularly?

[Sarita]

Why don’t you try Mimz and Fiver? See how that goes. Also try Fiver and Pip and see how that goes. Perhaps that will help you decide.

I imagine since it’s been so long anyway that Mimz and Pip would need to start over but put them together and see how it goes too. Try all the different options.

[BinkyBunny]

I hear ya about having them separate. It really is so much work. I definitely think that you should at least give it a go. It can be time-consuming obviously, but if it works, in the long run it’s much easier. When it comes to bonding three, different people have different ideas about the best way to do it. When I was trying to bond three bunnies (Forrest, Rucy and Bailey) I did all three at once – the three of them actually did okay with my other male Forrest, though Bailey was bossy with Rucy (once they got along), but when Jack came into the picture, he favored Rucy, and then Bailey would chase Rucy and Jack would chase Bailey and it caused a serious riff between Rucy and Bailey that I could never fix. (I tried for a very long time!)  But Rucy and Bailey NEVER really liked each other.  They only tolerated each other at best anyway.

However, I know Osprey who has more experience in bonding multiples suggested doing only two at a time. Here is a link to his thread where he discussed how he did it.

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aff/11/aft/51826/afv/topic/Default.aspx

[RabbitPam]

My first thought was to go ahead and try Fiver and Pip. Since both are completely healthy, and even though Mimzy is not contageous, he’s still uncomfortable so may not be as open to bonding stress. Fiver is relatively new, and hasn’t spent much time with Pip, so it would be nice to see how they get along. I definitely think bonding two or all three will be well worth it if you can do it.

[Starfuzz]

One of our trio, Thumper, started sneezing. It took a little investigation on our part, but we figured he had allergies. He seems to be allergic to certain kinds of artificial air fresheners and some of the hay, depending on usually on how loose and leafy it is. Once we stopped using any of the air fresheners we were and switched his litter box to a larger mixture of care fresh and less hay, we didn’t have the problems anymore. Of course now that they are all okay together he visits everyone elses littler boxes that have more of a hay content than his. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, but we have been using more of a local timothy hay rather than the big box store packaged stuff.

As for bonding, I think you are at a stage were you could try practically any combination. No one has a solid bond yet, so there seems to be no risk of undoing anything. I would be curious how the other two would react together. A trial run won’t hurt anything, and if they are good with each other, you may have the chance at creating an easy bond with those and work the 3rd in later on.

[MimzMum]

Well, I’m going to be thinking about it for a little longer. Mimz started blowing goobers again last night, and with today’s ER trip to the vet for my dog, I’m a little too wound up to be doing bonding. However, I will keep all these ideas very close in thought.
Thank you all for your suggestions! ^_^

[RabbitPam]

Oh, MM,

Poor little guy. This has been such a hard winter for Mimzy.

[MimzMum]

lolz…I just love that hanky. ^_^

Yeah, I think the Big Guy Upstairs is trying to get my attention somehow. Yanno, He could just send a few stone tablets instead…(of course they’d wind up landing square on my head, I’m sure.)

I’ll probably be asking the vet where we’re going from here again, once I go and pick up my dog. >.< Ugh…good thing I did wind up getting that HRS Visa! 0_o

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