I still have this problem…

[MimzMum]

Three unboned bunnies, now aging and/or chronically ill, living in three separate habitats.

Recently, I put Pip, who had been 3/4 bonded to Mimzy and then separated due to illness on his part, next to one another in partitions on the kitchen floor. After Mimzy got headtilt in June I figured he would be so different to her she wouldn’t remember him.

To my astonishment they snuggled close or near to one another even thru the barriers. She became agitated if he moved away and would settle as soon as he returned. The last time I’d tried to rebond them it went well at first and then there was fur pulling. So this sudden snugglefest was a surprise.

However, upon trying to put the two together in one xpen recently it went wrong. Usually there’d be a bit of humping and then they’d settle. But this time Mimzy immediately lowered his head for grooms and Pip hopped off. She wouldn’t even look at him. So even tilted, he tried dominance…from both ends! Multiple humping attempts by him ended in snapping teeth, grunts and charges by Pip. So I ended the session.

I am looking at the possibility of having to move from Alaska in the next year. I would really like to get all three bunnies together before I have to leave…although I am dubious as to exactly HOW I am going to move them more than 3,000 miles. I don’t want to put them on a plane because it would be too much stress. (There are three cats and two dogs to go as well.) I’m thinking of converting a special vehicle to drive them all down but not sure how that would work either.

Needless to say, this is not written in stone yet so I have time to decide what to do. But the main thing is…do I continue to try to bond them…or do I just keep them separate since they’re all above the age of 5 by now. They may not even still be around by moving day…but I don’t want to rush that possibility by them fighting and hurting one another.

CAN older, chronically ill bunnies bond to other bunnies or is it pointless? It seems like Mimzy desperately wants companionship. By all rights Pip is the first obvious answer. They both have aging rear ends and occasional incontinence and Fiver has perfect litter habits and I wonder how that would change if all three were together.

I can’t rehome them. They are all too old and have problems that nobody would want to deal with. (Dental, incontinence, headtilt, seizures, weight issues, etc.) We have almost no exotics vets left here. And anyone else who came to the door for them in this wasteland would be looking for a cheap meal.

I’m really discouraged about all this. Not sure what to do.

Help, please? Thanks for reading.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Tips for moving-you must message Scotter and Annette-I think they moved one dog, a couple of cats and five rabbits across Canada! They know how to move pets

I can definitely see why you’d want them bonded.

Mimz-are you moving somewhere warmer! I think that would be super!!

I would think that anybunny can bond and you may have a bit of an advantage with them all being older rather than one older with one young stroppy bunny.

Now where to start-I think I would suggest using your biggest space, with lots of um..dividers…-what I’m picturing is LOTS of room, that way they don’t have to be right next to each other, and dividers-like chairs, or big bowls or whatever, so they could evade should a little chase break out (so there aren’t direct sight lines and chase lines), and make sure there is nowhere to get stuck (so they don’t get trapped and fight) and maybe ideally with a slippery floor to discourage a high speed chase.
Then I’d well-I’d set them all out with a partner or two and watch…and let them sort it out. Maybe five minutes first, then ten and on going.
That’s how I’d go about it-maybe worth a try?

The big area with dividers worked for Rupert and Kahua after Kokanee passed. It also worked that he was aggressive but slow and Kahlua was not aggressive and fast. So I gave them free run of the apartment (with furniture to allow evasion) and they got on just fine. Our staged bonding sessions never went well but giving them lots of room just worked for us. If none of your three are very aggressive (the kind of knock ’em out drag ’em out aggression where you have to break them up-and I don’t think any of yours are) the big room with divided sight lines and rooms to escape may work well.

[MimzMum]

Thank you. I was mostly worried Pip was rejecting him because he was being so demanding and it was a kind of small space. Plus he was a bit stinky (some messy bum issues going on at the moment.)
The moving worries me because Mimzy stresses so easily now. Truly I’m not certain he’ll make it through his next vet trip much less a long slog. Yes we’d be moving to warmer climes because my husband is very ill and doesn’t want to be here anymore. It’s very hard because this is home now and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. But I suppose we’ll see what happens. We hope to be able to keep some property up here so we can visit in summers. It depends on a lot of variables.
Thanks for all the advice K&K. I was almost not going to post this because the whole sitch just seems kinda hopeless right now. But that could be the dark talking.
I’ll keep trying, thank you.

[Sarita]

I actually think older rabbits are easier to bond than younger ones. I know if I chose to I could easily bond Toffee & Bogie (both 10) but then I’d have to chronically messy seniors free roaming the rabbit room. When I let Bogie out to clean his pen, he goes up to Toffee and they have no problem at all. They are really less hormonal at they age.

Why don’t you try Pip & Fiver first or Fiver & Mimzy. Also don’t be discouraged by the ignoring – that is actually better – maybe they can coexist peacefully together without snuggles – that would be perfectly fine. There doesn’t have to be love, just trust.

[MimzMum]

Thanks Sarita. That’s interesting to know about senior buns, I would think they’d get more crotchety as they got older and more likely to fight.
Do you think Fiver will lose his good litter habits around the other two? (I don’t doubt there’s going to be a lot of territorial wee and poop to wipe up.)

[Sarita]

To be honest, yes, he probably will. I think that’s common in all rabbits when they bond, initially at least. That seems to be one of the downsides of bonding any rabbits.

Actually my seniors are not at all crotchety, they are very easy going and mellow. Toffee & Bogie have terrible litter box habits though. Peppermint is still very high strung but he at least has excellent litter box habits.

I think only senior humans tend to be more crotchety :~) Senior buns are sweet and mellow.

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