Finding lonely rabbit a new partner.

[pinkhousesarebest]

We lost our lovely rabbit during the holidays and now have a broken hearted child and rabbit. Both rabbits were bought together and although male, have happily co-habited without much fuss. We have been looking for another rabbit-our preference would be a rescue one, but that doesn't seem that easy here in France. I know that it will be very difficult and probably impossible to re-bond with success. We will start by having our remaining rabbit castrated. I would be grateful for any other advice from veterans out there.

[Mbear]

Hi, we are in a very similar position. We had boy/girl pair, but had to have our boy pts. However we are in a quandary as although we know she is lonely (and we know rabbits do better in pairs) she is a feisty little thing so we actually don't think she will tolerate another rabbit. Which makes us sad as we don't want to see her on her own

We thought a rescue rabbit would be better as more similar in age and so we don't have to keep repeating the loss and reintroduction cycle. But I would hate to bring a rabbit home and then take it back if she doesn't like the new bunny.

[goingtoofast]

Growing up we had a pair of rabbits. One died so we got her a friend - they didn't get on. We ended up with four rabbits in seperate cages, they were all lovely but didn't enjoy each others company!

[Lozislovely]

Some rescue centres will bond the rabbits for you.

We needed a friend for our female bun after our male bun died. The rescue centre took Flopsy for a few days and introduced her to a few new friends.

Flopsy decided on Chocky and they've been living happily ever after ever since

[pinkhousesarebest]

What a perfect thing Lozis. I would dearly love to get a rescue rabbit, but it doesn't look likely. If the second rabbit is a younger one, would there be more chance of them bonding? He is a gentle soul, unlike our poor defunct Tulip.

[Lozislovely]

We didn't honestly consider the age of the bun but it turned out that Chocky is roughly the same age as Flopsy. I don't think it really matters though but with hindsight it worked well in that hopefully they'll grow old together.

Flopsy was a year younger than our old bun when we got her and tbh, I think just the fact that he had a companion was good enough.

I think that if your bun has an easy going temperament then you're halfway there when it comes to bonding.

Good luck and I hope you find a bun soon!

[pinkhousesarebest]

Ok, well we have bought one this afternoon - a carbon copy of the one we lost, though very little. It is a female - we hope- but that should work once we de-clacker our male. We supervised the introductions in the kitchen with a squeezy bottle of water just in case. But so far all is well with some grooming incidents so we are crossing our fingers.

[BonkeyMollocks]

You will want to get the female if it is spayed too!

Its essential for rabbits for a number of health reasons.

Good luck, hope it goes smoothly! :)

[Lozislovely]

Congrats!!!!!

Definitely get the boy bun neutered now if you can. Girls can normally be done from 5 months onwards.

We have boy and girl as we did before. I read a lot of conflicting advice about boy/girl but it's worked fine for us!

Here's to a long lasting friendship

[TherapeuticVino]

Sorry to hear you lost your bunny :( I had the same thing happen. I took my remaining male rabbit to a rescue centre and they put him in a run with 2 or 3 females to try them out. There was a beautiful albino who he hit it off with immediately. Bought them both home and put them in an obsessively disinfected run so it was neutral territory. By the next morning they were snuggled up grooming each other. (He outlived her too and I finally lost him age 12 last year).

Good luck!

[pinkhousesarebest]

Thank you all for your advice. Yes we will neuter both now as soon as possible. I never dreamt that you could become so attached to the darn things. Twelve years Vino! That must have left a void.

[Gay40]

Our vet said that rabbits will bond in stressful situations, so if ours didn't get on, put them in the (dry) bath and the anxiety will bond them It all sounded unkind to me tbh. Fortunately they all got on so we didn't have to do any of that.

[pinkhousesarebest]

I read that Gay about car journeys too. It seems to be working well here. She is very tiny, but bold, and seems to think the big guy is her mummy. He is a bit embarassed by her effusiveness, but is being very kind. I did nothing this morning but watch them. I need to get a life.

[Gay40]

I can sit and watch my three for hours. I also need to get a life.

[fiverabbits]

I know my name is fiverabbits but I now have six, the eldest is nearly nine and is on his third wife, he has got on really well with them which is good as they had all been in previous homes. I could spend hours with mine, I had a twenty minute cuddle with Rosie today, she and her husband are our latest ones that were in a previous home.