Will my Bun forget me>

[HippieBun]

I recently “adopted” a dwarf lionhead bunny! His name is Morrison and he’s quickly become the love of my life. My mom’s friend’s daughter had adopted him from a pet store, but quickly discovered that bunnies are a lot of work. I volunteered to take him and I’m so glad I did! he’s a lot of work but he’s so rewarding. I’ve had him at my apartment for about a month now. We’ve bonded and have gotten very close — I can’t even count the amount of kisses he gives me a day! Even though I am a busy college student, I always makes sure he gets plenty of playtime outside of his cage (I take him out between my morning classes and then when I’m doing homework in my room — he’s out at least 2-3 times a day for a few hours). He’s such a love!!!

But the topic of this post is that I’m afraid he’ll forget me. I’m taking him back to my house this weekend since I’m vising my parents. I’ve got a few weeks of school left, and taking care of him will be very difficult while I’m studying for finals. I’m gong to leave him at my house for the rest of summer, and then take him back to my apartment when school starts again in the fall. I won’t be home for another three weeks to a month. With this time that he’s at my house and being taken care of by my parents, do you think he’ll forget me? I’ll hate to see all of the bonding we’ve done go to waste (even though we’ll be bonding again over the summer). I’m so sad to be taking him home so early, but I know it’s for the best for him since I’ll be busy studying and won’t be able to give him the care he needs!

Any advice on how to get over missing a bunny for a month? Or does anyone know how good their memory is? I hope he doesn’t forget his mommy!

[MooseMouse]

Hmm I don’t know if he will forget you I will be facing similar situation soon but only leaving for 2 weeks. I plan to stink up a few shirts and towels that i dont care about and have the person watching my boys put them in the bunny room while i am gone so they remember my scent. Maybe stinking up some clothes for your little one could help out too?

[Melissa Rabbit]

the concern shouldn’t be about the bunny forgetting you, but rather that he becomes unsocialized. bunnies are social creatures, so they need opportunities to be social every day. i hope your parents are understanding of that and know that properly taking care of a bunny doesn’t just mean feeding it and cleaning the cage. they should spend time talking to Morrison, petting him, and letting him run around.

if you are going to not be around for weeks at a time, i’d make sure your parents know how important it is to continue to spend time with Morrison in your absence. i’d also consider trying to be home as much as possible during this time. your bunny wont forget you, but he will be very lonely.

i adopted my first bunny from a rescue in april, just before graduating from college. i wasn’t able to bring my bunny to college with me and settled with only being home friday-sunday every weekend for a month until i moved back home. i was lucky enough that my parents loved her as much as i did and spent lots of time with her while i was gone. ill admit, when i came home every friday it almost felt like i was starting over with her. she was already timid, scared, untrusting, and cage-aggressive from previously being ignored and kept in a cage all day for most of her life.

my advice would be to make sure your parents are willing to take on the task of spending time with him. i would also recommend taking steps to make sure this kind of arrangement doesn’t happen often. maybe consider another bunny for bonding at some point in the future, to give him attention and love when youre not around, though that is not a solution for this arrangement either. bunnies need lots of attention!

[HippieBun]

Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it!

Luckily, I don’t have to worry about Morrison’s lack of attention. My mom is a huge animal lover like myself. She understands that he needs lots of attention, and I’ve told her that I usually prefer to have him out 3-4 times a day. she’s retired now so she doesn’t really have much to do haha. He loves to be picked up and cuddled (surprisingly) so she’s gonna keep doing that with him so he can stay friendly and social.

I guess I’m being selfish. I hate to take him back early because we’ve grown so close. My mom has a tenancy to bond with animals quickly, so I guess I’m afraid that in these few weeks, he’ll end up loving her more than me. Selfish, I know. It’s just happened to every other pet I’ve ever had. But the important thing is that he gets the care and love that he needs and I realize that! So I just hope he won’t forget. It’s so hard to do the right thing but I just wanna do what’s best by him!

After these three weeks are up, I’ll be home for most of the summer (except for the three weeks that I’ll be in France). I intend on spending time with him every day, and it’ll be easier since I won’t be working this summer. Then once summer is done, he’s back to college with me! He misses the college lifestyle lol, he loved to party XD (JK!!)

I’ve also thought about getting a second bunny, but with me being in college and not making much money, I don’t think that would be feasible I kind of got jumped into this (no pun intended lol) quite unexpectedly and I didn’t anticipate having to get a second bunny. When I graduate and have a stable job, though, I’ll definitely get him another buddy. But since they’re so social I really try and make up for it by spending as much time as I can with him. I know it’s not the same as another bunny, but it’s the best can do right now

[janjanjan]

He won’t forget you! The stinky clothes idea sounds promising too…

I just went through a similar situation. Adopted an adult rabbit and then a couple months later was unexpectedly sent out of town for work. Bun spent 2 months on a farm with my best friend. I was worried he would fall for farm life, and her. If she had asked, and he seemed really happy on my visit, I would have said they could keep him.

But he came right back into apartment life without a hitch (except I’m revisiting some litter training). Seemed excited to be home. And he remembered me right away. In fact, he’s arguably more attached to me than before – which might be because he missed me, or because it’s spring time and he’s being extra attention-demanding. Probably both.

Now your buns personality might be different, leading to a different reaction. I feel like I should put a disclaimer that my rabbit is more outgoing and flexible than the average. Doesn’t scare easy, I bring him with me on overnights to see family without trouble, he likes new people, etc. I am still confident he won’t forget you, just saying that he might need more adjustment time between people and places to act comfortable and open. But as long as he is cared for well while you are gone I bet it will be a-ok!

[janjanjan]

–sorry, I submitted my last response twice somehow and I can’t figure out how to delete this entry, only edit it–

[sac14196]

Your rabbit won’t forget you. My in-laws looked after mine during our honeymoon for over a month and he immediately knew who we were when we came back. However, my rabbit was a little skiddish when I took him back to our place because he was used to being in another home for so long. I wasn’t worried, though. He bounced back to his old self again after about a week or two.

Your rabbit might fall in love with your mom more in the meantime, but you’re the one that’s always going to be there when you get him back. From my experience, rabbits love routines and everything should go back to normal with time.

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