Spay advice

[Bucktooth]

Hi guys, the big day is coming up for my two ladies (next Friday!)

My bunnies are not bonded but they live in the same room. One rabbit is in it's cage during the day, and the other rabbit is loose. The litter box and food for the loose rabbit is outside of the others cage. In the evening we switch. The loose rabbit goes into it's own cage and the other comes out. They are friends through the cage bars and hang out together but the one time they met, Storm pulled out a piece of Bucktooths hair, so they were separated before they got into a real fight.

My question, should they be kept within sight of each other at the vets or will it be better for bonding eventually if they aren't within sight? I do want to attempt to bond them in a couple months and since they are friendly through the cage I'm not sure what to do here.

Also if anyone is interested I can try to take some pictures of the procedure (obviously no graphic pictures will be posted)

Thanks everyone

 

[Devi]

If you want to bond them after they obviously disliked each other on first meeting total and complete separation should of took effect so they could not see or smell each other so they would forget about each other so they could eventually meet once more as complete strangers after the spay and the hormones was settled.

 

[whiskylollipop]

My question, should they be kept within sight of each other at the vets or will it be better for bonding eventually if they aren't within sight? I do want to attempt to bond them in a couple months and since they are friendly through the cage I'm not sure what to do here.

It doesn't matter since they aren't bonded yet, but I wonder if it might help to put them together when they are still groggy from anaesthesia after the surgery, so they can find comfort in each other while being too "out" to fight?

A note on bonding, I think that hair-pulling, nipping, chasing and humping sort of behaviours are perfectly normal during all but the most perfect matches. Bunnies are hierarchical animals and need to be able to work out who's the top bun. To that extent, some annoyance of each other is necessary and you shouldn't intervene. Only intervene when a fight IS happening, when there is a real danger of bunnies being injured.

Also you have two females. That's one of the more challenging bonding match-ups compared to male-male or male-female. Females are generally more concerned about hierarchy than males, so definitely expect some rough play and even violence. Remember that your role in bonding is only to prevent injury and end their date on a good note (hint: yummy treats). Other than that, let them focus on each other and hash out their relationship.

 

[Bucktooth]

Thanks Whiskylollipop. I was also wondering about recovering them together, I will play that by ear and maybe it will help.
I think they do like each other because they try to groom through the cage and don't cage fight, they always eat together and rest together but you're right they haven't decided who's the boss yet, and that's probably best decided after their hormones wear off.
The female/female bond being hard is my concern. They've made it this far as kind of friends, I'm worried about separating them completely. I guess my worry is that they would forget each other and decided to flat out hate each other. You've given me good things to think about and I think it might be better for them to see each other. They sure love lettuce, they think that's a super yummy treat so I will make sure to remember that on Friday.