Thane and Siha’s bonding thread.

[Emmie]

Today we brought Siha home and you can tell she is an abundance of energy! She was instantly giving Matthew kisses and demanding pets!

We decided to introduce the two in the bathroom as Thane was showing signs of aggression towards her. In the bathroom Thane was terrified and Siha was as happy as she could be. Matthew kept thane on his lap reassuring him and cuddling him. We spent about twenty mins with him in his arms and Siha running about exploring. She climbed up on Matthew looking for cuddles from him. She adores him already. Thane day there pretty frightened. She kept putting her head down demanding pets and kisses. Eventually thane obliged by grooming her a little and she returned the favour.

We decided to end the session on a good note. Thane is now a lot less aggressive towards both of us and is ignoring the area were keeping Siha in.

[Deleted User]

I am sooooo jealous that you have grooming already! It seems that things are doing well and Thane is mellowing out. =]

[Emmie]

So today we put Siha and Thane in the tub for some bonding. We can already see who the dominant bun is – Siha. She’s constantly demanding grooms from Thane. Thane’s a little apprehensive and will take a while to get used to another bun. Siha is more than ready to be friends! Tomorrow we are taking her to the vet for a pre-spay check up. I want to have some tests done on her as she’s 5yrs old now.

 

Anyways, bonding so far is looking optimistic. There has been no agressive behaviour between either bun in the neutral zone. They tend mostly to ignore each other. Then Thane might groom her a little. He looks for grooms back, but Siha isn’t happy to oblige just yet. They have been sitting in front of each other and grooming themselves (Is this good or bad?) and generally ignoring one another. I have included pix!

 

Here’s a short video of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ3q4E_JlFU

[Deleted User]

The ignoring is good. =] You definitely want that. Bonding seems good. =] I wouldn’t be surprised though if Thane reacts differently to Siha after her spay. She’ll smell different to him so he may react differently around her.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sounds like things are going very well. What an adorable couple they make!

[Emmie]

So we’ve just finished our 2nd bonding session for the day and things are getting better with Thane.
What I find is I put them in and Thane pees straight away. I don’t know if it’s out of fear or marking or what. Then Siha pees a little (I’d expect that as she’s not yet spayed.)
Anyways, they warmed up to each other much much faster this time. Thane groomed her a little first, and Siha then gave him quite rough grooms. At first I thought that was aggression as it seemed more like biting, but Thane wasn’t bothered so I figured it was just the first signs of affection for him. I do have some questions about her eating habits etc, which I will post in the appropriate section.
Anyways, here are some more pics. Any advice / feedback on how we’re doing is GREATLY appreciated!

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

It seems like the bonding sessions are going very well! And it’s a good thing – because they’re so cute together!!!

[Emmie]

Things are continuing to go well. We only had time for one bonding session yesterday, I needed to give Siha’s cage a COMPLETE scrub clean to help with her litter habits. She’s strange. She’ll pee in the litter tray, but will not poop. She will wait until she’s on a softer surface like a towel or something and then will go. Anyone else had this before? Spaying should help.

Vet warned us that her age carries a higher risk than younger buns. I explained I knew this, but would rather take the risk now and not have to deal with cancer at a later stage. I also wanted to do it early incase something DID happen to her and I wasn’t SUPER attached. Hate thinking about it, but it has to be done.

Back to bonding! Thane seems happy to groom Siha if we are not looking at her. When we put them together, they sit there and look at us, hardly interacting at all. Anyone had that experience? We had flops though:

[Emmie]

Bonding update:

Things are going amazing! Siha pee’d on Thane’s face by accident! But not to worry – Thane spent a solid 5mins grooming Siha last night in the tub! No agressive behaviour at all.

[Deleted User]

This is really good! It looks like your buns are doing really well! Since they are doing so well have you discussed with your vet about taking Thane in with Siha for moral support when she gets her spay? (Other BB members are welcome to put in their two cents about this.) Siha will come back from the vet smelling differently which may freak him out. I have never had to deal with bonding before spaying. So I may be wrong in this idea. But it doesn’t hurt to see what your vet or other members think.

[Emmie]

I was thinking about doing this alright. I’m not sure if I would feel comfortable doing that just yet tbh. They have spent some time together in a semi-neutral time and are getting along fine. And when I say semi-neutral, I mean just a small wire fence between Thane’s domain and the kitchen where Siha is.

I’m dying to have her spayed asap. She smells terrible sometimes!

[Emmie]

Bonding is going very very well, they are now eating together, which is great as Siha wasn’t going near her food.

Semi-neutral bonding area

So as the bonding has gone so well so far, I feel comfortable leaving them by themselves so I decided to attempt a semi-neutral area. I have chosen the area where Siha is staying – Our kitchen. The kitchen and living room is all one space, so I have a fence blocking the area off.
I was cooking dinner so I moved the buns from the neutral area to the semi neutral area.

No issues here, both buns ignored each other and munched. They happily shared the litter box. Thane was leaving territory poops everywhere. At the end of it, I noticed Thane getting a little upset with Siha having food he wanted so I seperated them.

Will see how they get on today.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I`m glad the bonding is going well. You may have some issues after the spay as her hormones will be all crazy, but since they are getting on so well now, I wouldn`t worry much.

[Emmie]

I know, I’m a little worried all my work is for nothing! Siha is a very chilled bun anyways, hopefully there won’t be too many issues.

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

Hope things continue to go well for the bonding process, and that the spay doesn’t impact the progress you’ve already made.

[Emmie]

So we extended the stay in the semi neutral area today. Having read more about what to expect from them, I was feeling a little more comfortable about their nipping and stuff.

I put them together and as usual, Thane went right for the nyoms! After eating, I put the two of them side by side and snuggled them into one another. I then petted both of them until they were relaxed and happy. When I stopped Siha started grooming Thane and I mean GROOMING him! This went on for a solid 10-15 mins. Afterwards they circled and thane was insistent in humping Siha. She was having none of it. She would nip at him and run away. They would settle down after a bit and thane would groom her a bit from time to time also.

They have spent a good solid two hours together today, I’m happy so far!

[Emmie]

Bonding has taken a huge leap forward today! While I was at work I asked Matthew to put the buns in the kitchen together for the day. I’m very pleased to report we have had an overwhelming success! The buns haven’t had any disagreements, have been grooming each other and sitting with each other. Thane has been humping her which she isn’t pleased with so she corrects him with nips. Sometimes she will let him for a bit, but then get fed up. The two have been in the kitchen all day for about 12 hrs now!

We plan on keeping them in the kitchen together during the day until Siha’s spay. Once that’s done and she’s better, we’ll be looking to move them into the living area which is gated off to them right now.

[Emmie]

Buns are practically bonded!! Today I decided to set the two up in Thane’s area which is my living room. First time I’ve seen Siha do mini binkies! No fights, just Thane humping a little. She’ll nip him and put him in his place usually.

One week and I have bonded buns. I got very very lucky!!

[Emmie]

First night with the buns together and we have had absolutely no problems. Buns are now spending time together cuddling and grooming. Thane’s stopped humping Siha. Only issue now is getting Siha’s litter habits under control. Still having minor issues with her not eating pellets and not eating her cecals, but I’m just trying to have patience.

[jerseygirl]

I haven’t visited the Bonding section for a while but just want to say Congrats! It’s great they’ve taken to each other so well. : )

Still having minor issues with her not eating pellets and not eating her cecals, but I’m just trying to have patience.

You may want them to check her teeth while she is under for the spay. Her weight could also be a contributing factor in her not eating the cecals. Hopefully you’ll see improvements over time.

ETA: my foster rabbit drops cecals when he’s marking. That’s another possibility…

[peppypoo]

Wow, that sounds fantastic! And they make such a cute pair too . I don’t have anything extra to add, but just wanted to say that “Siha pee’d on Thane’s face” made me laugh LOL.

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