meet trixie!!

[Deleted User]

Ive been meaning to post for a while but keep putting it off as its quite a long story. 

As some of you may have seen on my previous posts i originally had two bucks. I was having difficulty with them after they were neutered when fighting started. After following advice on here and thinking the problems were resolved things just never worked out. They were fine till one week after neutering then fought, separated after this then given a few weeks space, once again they were fine together for a few weeks when fighting occurred again after my mum rabbit sat for a week. After this they were separated again. I made the decision that I could not face attempting to put them back together and my nerves were in bits. I felt like i just couldn’t trust it. having the rabbits separately like this made me feel they weren’t living the life they should even though I cared for them appropriately they just weren’t getting the vital socialisation that they should be. I made the difficult decision that I would try to rehome one of them. I was lucky enough to find a local rabbit shelter who found Rick a home before he even had to go into the shelter, they viewed him that afternoon and took him home for potential bonding with their existing female. I presume because he was already vaccinated and neutered that he was a very desirable candidate for adoption and he didnt cost the shelter anything to take on. I am extremely grateful to the shelter for everything they did to help me as i 100% could not have given him to just anyone just for the sake of having to give him up. As upsetting as it was to  let go i knew there wasnt anywhere better for him. Although I have tried to do right by him in the end I still feel very sad and like i have failed. 

As soon as i got back home to Daryl the change in him was instant and it was incredible to see how much happier he was knowing that Rick wasnt in the house. This made me realise the true impact this must have been having on both the rabbits and how withdrawn and in fear Daryl must have been the whole time. I knew I had definitely done the right thing.I knew that I wanted to find Daryl a friend as soon as possible and that I didnt want to let my nervousness about a pair get in the way of finding him a suitable partner. Originally the shelter said that I could take Daryl to stay with them for a week and they would match him with one of their available females. But i decided that I didnt want to go down this route. I felt as though this wasnt a suitable basis for Daryl and another rabbit to form a relationship. I didnt want to put him in another stressful situation, bring him back home and then have to follow on from what had been done at the shelter and risk any of this being undone and them not bonding. I decided that I needed to take the plunge and do the bonding myself but do it  right this time. I have none stop researched bonding since my original rabbits fought and I determined to make it work and not be fearful of it. 

This takes me back to Trixie. I was certain I wanted to adopt, there was no doubt about that and I also wanted the new  rabbit to be spayed already as I didnt want a large timescale. I came across trixie by chance. I saw her in the adoption section of a pets at home store in one of those undesirable glass tanks with all her siblings. I decided to ask about her and I was told that she was 14 weeks old, which initially put me off as i knew she was too young to be spayed. But there was something about her and i knew i had to take her home. The fact that she started her life in the adoption section made me feel so sad and i know waiting all the required time for her to be spayed, healed and her hormones to drain before i bond her with Daryl will be so worthwhile. The store told me that Trixie had been dumped at the store at 8 weeks old, with 6 siblings and the mum and dad, covered in mites and the owner was refusing to treat them so handed them over to the store. I was also told that the mum was currently in the back of the store as she had just given birth to another litter. Trixie is a lionhead cross, but doesnt have much of a mane at the moment as I was told they had to be trimmed due to the mites. 

I have had trixie about 6 weeks now and when I got Trixie home and I couldnt be happier with the signs I have seen so far and i am confident this will go well. Daryl and Trixie are housed side by side with about 8 inches of a gap in between. As soon as he saw her he had a spring in his step and seemed very keen to watch her and mimick her movements, rather than the behaviour he used to show around Rick, which was constant hiding or thumping. At the moment it reminds me of romeo and juliette watching them gaze at each other through the bars knowing they cant be together haha. Trixie seems to have brought out some brilliant qualities in him already which is lovely. Trixie is going for her pre spaying check up on tuesday so things are under way and i am looking forward to the future. 

I know this is very long but i really wanted to share

[jerseygirl]

Oh wow! That would have been a hard thing to do. It is so fortunate that Rick went right into a new home and has a possible bondmate there. That is really a good scenario. The shelter sounds like they really get involved and want the best. Especially if they offered to pair up Daryl and do some bonding work. Its good to know they do that. If things don’t go how you plan with Trixie and Daryl, would you have the option of having the shelter try bonding them?

Anyway, the early signs sound promising! She looks very, very sweet. Welcome Trixie!

[Deleted User]

The shelter were brilliant. Being grateful to them is an understatement because they really do seem to go above and beyond and I was extremely lucky to have their support. It was great that they were willing to help even though it wasn’t a neglect case or anything more serious. It really shows how much they care. I have thought about the possibilities of it not working out so I am 100% going to be taking it slow. I think because of the past attempt I will be looking at knowing when things might not be going how they should be and not forcing it to much.But also at the same time not letting things lag. So taking them to the shelter for assistance with bonding could be a possibility. I have some time off before I go back to uni in September to I have a lot of free time to make bonding sessions very consistent and regular. I hope things go very well and I’m trying really hard not to be nervous

[Luna]

Who wouldn’t fall in love with a face like that! She looks like such a sweetheart. I hope her and Daryl become great friends.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Must have been hard. But sounds like you did right for both the boys.

Trixie is adorable!!! Just love the little fluffy hair on her head.

[Author]

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