So about a month ago my boyfriend and I finally took the plunge and decided to adopted our female lionhead a friend. We went to our local shelter and met a couple, her meet with one in particular went the best. It was an average meet, they sniffed each other but there was more ignoring then anything so we went ahead and adopted him. So we welcomed Marley (later changed to Jax as we already have a dog named Marley) who is 6lb, 1.5 year old American mix into our home.
So we started the bonding experience slow, gave him a couple days the settle into his new (hopefully) temporary cage. So we started the meets in the bathroom for sort periods of time and it was going great, a little bit of humping here and there but overall good.. But then on the 7th I woke up and looked at my females eyes and they were swollen and watery. I immediately called my vet, who wasn’t in and called my two back ups who either were booked or also out of office. I finally found a good vet that had an opening and we took her in. After a few tests the vet told us she believed she had pasturella. So a ton of money later she was sent home with three medications. We have since halted the bonding experience all together until Arya is all better.
BUT my main question is how difficult is it going to be to bond them now? The vet said it’s something that isn’t likely to ever fully go away and Arya could always have flare ups during stressful periods. I obviously don’t want to stress her out too much. The vet also said that we shouldn’t have to worry about Jax because he’s already been exposed to it being a shelter rabbit and seeing that he’s been around her, but his immune system is probably strong enough to fight it off.
Has anyone had an experience bonding bunnies when one has pasturella? Any tips? How can I make bonding least stressful? I feel like she likes him, their cages are semi close and she just sits there and stares at him, she’s super curious about him as he is to her.
P.S- I wasn’t sure if I should put this is bonding or general.
.
