Should I keep the new Bun or should i take her back?

[sarah222296]

I have a 4 year old neutered male whose mate just died a little over 2 weeks ago.  I adopted him a new girl, she is unspayed and they weren’t sure of her age guessing between 2 and 3 years old.  My male George is usually a very submissive rabbit, at least he was in his last relationship, doesn’t appear to be the case now.  His only interest in the new bunny is to hump her and rip out giant chunks of fur from her.  She wasn’t aggressive towards him at first but she is becoming that way now, now she is marking next to his pen and trying to hump him when he comes at her.  I’m just wondering if since he is mainly the aggressor if I should keep her and get her spayed?  I do keep them in seperate pens next to eachother and as of right now she has poopy butt so there cant be any supervised play time until I get that under control. I just want to know about other peoples bonding experiences with rabbits who lost their mates, or who were fixed and introduced to other buns who werent.

[Monkeybun]

She should be spayed prior to any further bonding sessions. her hormones will be driving her, and George will be able to tell that she is intact, and could be causing his aggression as well.

Spay first

[Beka27]

I agree with Monkeybun. Keep her, get her spayed, and then proceed with the bonding. It sounds like she needs some love and a forever home, and you sound like the perfect person to provide that. They’ll bond, under the right conditions. No two bonds are going to unfold exactly the same, but you’ve done it once, you can do it again.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I triple what is said. It’s not fair to try to bond an unaltered bunny. Most bunnies can be bonded, sometimes it can take a while but I would definitely keep and spay her.

[tanlover14]

I would definitely alter her AND then try bonding.

Also, what bonding techniques have you tried? When she’s spayed you should definitely try stress-bonding first and only bonding in a small, neutral territory until they begin to become calmer and less aggressive around each other. You can do things NOW to try and help the bonding process before she is spayed by switching their litter boxes (or even their cages) to get them used to the others scent. You can also put a towel in each buns area and then switch the towels up so the other buns scent is in their area. This can some times help with aggressive and the towel trick is a good one since this can sometimes cause the aggressive bunny to take their aggression out on the towel rather than the other bunny.

[Ella K.]

Don’t take her back! Get her spayed! She will be much happier and less likely to fight.

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