Vet cuase rebonding???

[Cinnimon&Ollie]

Hello, one of my rabbits Ollie went to the vet today for a teeth trimming surgery. He was fine for 8 hours. Cinnimon my other bunny was home and she was doing fine, sleeping, eating, running around, etc. I hung out with her for about a hour while Ollie was gone but I had to leave so couldn’t stay the whole time with her. A little bit about my rabbits that may be helpful in this next part is that Ollie is a scaredy-cat he is afraid of people, movement, noise, ect. Including the vet visit which had him shacking. Cinnimon on the other hand is very outgoing and love adventures and people. Continuing on, when I picked up Ollie they told me that it went well and he woke up fast after the surgery, showing that the anesthesia didn’t take a giant toll on him. They gave him pain medicine and sent some home too. The problem started when we got home, I put Ollie back in the cage and watched them. I was watching for about half hour and they were doing good so I left. I came back two hours later and saw Ollie attack cinnimon. They were doing tornadoes and biting. They stopped before I did anything but then a few (maybe a minute) later they did it again so I went and grabbed cinnimon. They were a few tuffs of fur from both bunnies on the cage and a noticeable spot on cinnimon. The thing that was odd though is that when they typically get into little bunny fights cinnimon just jumps over his head and no one gets hurt, this also stops very quickly longest was three minutes. But this time cinnimon couldn’t get away she would jump over and so would Ollie biting her in the process. We called the vet and they told us to separate they completely. Luckily I had a ex pen so I set that up for cinnimon. They told us one or two days should be enough and that’s very rare for them to need to be bonded again. I guess what I’m asking is if this is normal? And did I do the right thing? They can see each other from the separate cages. Do you think I will have to re bond them? Has this ever happened to anybody? Thanks and sorry for it being long.

[DanaNM]

Sadly this does happen fairly often, sorry this happened to you 🙁 . The thought is that they smell different when coming back from the vet. In most cases the buns can be rebonded , sometimes quickly. Best bet is to keep them separate as the vet suggested, and go back to pre-bonding (side swaps). Then do bonding sessions in neutral space as you would if they had never been bonded. In many cases they just need a few days of sessions to “snap” back to being bonded.

Next time you need to take Ollie for a trim, Cinnimon should go with him. If that’s not possible, bring her in the carrier to and from the vet, and rub a towel over both buns to swap scents. This usually helps them “remember” each other.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Cinnimon&Ollie]

Okay, hopefully they re bond easier then the first time because that was rough. I wanted to bring Cinnimon but the vet told us it wasn’t possible, next time he needs his teeth trimming I will make sure cinnimon goes. Thanks you for your help.

[Bam]

This happens with cats as well. The cat or bun smells “strange” when they’ve been to the vet. The best thing is to bring both buns to the vet, for simple procedures the vet will probably not mind.  I’ll be bringing both my buns when one of them is due for his yearly vaccination in July.

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