Re-bonding needed?

[MeggoWaffle]

Hi everyone,

 Some of you may remember my rabbit Nona had a mysterious problem with her back legs a few weeks ago. She’s better now, but the vet put her on crate rest for ten days, which seems to have started this new issue.

For the duration of that crate rest, Nona was separated from her sister Piper by an X-pen. They were never out of sight/smell of each other and frequently laid next to each other, and sometimes groomed each other through the fence.

When the crate rest was over and I put them back together, Piper first seemed ecstatic to have her sister back, and was grooming her. Five minutes later she decided to bite her and initiate a chase. This back and forth between grooming and chasing happened a few times until I decided to just separate them again for fear of Nona getting re-injured. I have tried a couple times to put them back together but the same thing happens.

 I should state that Piper does have a habit of chasing Nona (sometimes biting but never getting more than a tuft of fur), especially when she thinks I have food. So, that part is nothing new. However, the chasing out of nowhere is. Additionally, this chasing has taken part in Nona’s “territory” after they were split up (have also switched every few days who has which side of the bunny area), so it doesn’t seem to be Piper being territorial.

 Is this just a simple case of needing to re-bond them? It would seem that Piper grooming her sister indicates that she knows who she is, so I wanted to get some input. Do some bunnies ‘break up’ and never get back together?

 Thanks,

Megan

[Beka27]

Hmmm, why were they separated during the “crate rest”? Was there an issue with chasing while Nona was recovering?

[Stickerbunny]

My bunnies broke up at one point, biting and chasing every time they got together. I separated them for a month, then went to rebond them and they had forgotten all about the fight and were best friends again without any effort on my part. I would try rebonding exercises and see how that goes.

[MeggoWaffle]

They were separated during crate rest because two bunnies do not fit in a crate-sized area (and Piper would not have tolerated being cooped up). Also, I had a low-side litter box for Nona to make it easier for her, a kind that Piper likes to pee off of instead of inside of.

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