Separate buns after neuter?

2460 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Purple-Hops, Apr 22, 2011

emiliewasmyeve

Discussion Starter · Apr 19, 2011

Last fall, we added 2 new buns to our household (we already have 2 3-year-old male buns).

Our new males--Atticus and Finch--are a mini lop and a lionhead. They have been caged together ever since we've had them and, unlike our previous two, we haven't had any problems... yet.

They are both getting neutered on Thursday, and our vet just said that we should keep them in separate cages for 7-10 days. We didn't do this with the older buns, and I'm worried that--since they've never been separated--separating them now will cause tension between them.

Did you separate your buns after surgery? We certainly don't them to fight, but we don't want to them to experience too much change at one time either.

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Dragonrain

· #2 · Apr 19, 2011

It's common for vets to recommend keeping them separate for awhile after surgery. It can be hard enough sometimes keeping them from bothering their own incisions, worse when you have two of them together and have to keep them both from grooming the incision areas.

That's one of the reasons why a lot of people will recommend that you don't start bonding until both rabbits have been fixed.

Yes I separate my bunnies after surgery. It's important to keep them calm, prevent them from over grooming the incision site, and to be able to monitor each individual rabbit to make sure they are eating and using the bathroom.

Can you cage them right next to each other? So they can still see/smell each other...and maybe even give them some supervised time together each day?

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Purple-Hops

· #3 · Apr 19, 2011

Hm, Dragon made some interesting points. In order to maintain their bond leave them close enough together for a week. Maybe once they're really healing let them have limited supervised playtime? Just watch them closely so they don't get at each other's incisions.

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emiliewasmyeve

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 22, 2011

Thanks for all the advice, folks!

They have a HUGE cage. So, we bought a piece of plexiglass, and we just separated their usual cage. That way, they'd both be in their usual environment and they would both be able to see/hear/smell each other.

When we got home from the vet yesterday afternoon (they both did awesome during surgery), we put them in the divided cage. Atticus, our mini lop, did awesome. He slept, ate, hopped around, drank water. However our little lionhead, Finch, was really depressed. I know this sounds ridiculous, but we could actually see it in his behavior.

He wasn't eating very much, he didn't drink, he kept trying to break through the barrier, and he would sit right next to the barrier and look so sad. We left them all through the night and just checked on them again. Finch ate all of his fresh greens from last night, but he'd hardly eaten any of his food and he hadn't had much water. And he was still sitting in that same spot. He wouldn't move or respond to us.

So, I took out the plexiglass. We'll be home all day, and I'm going to watch them very closely. The minute I removed the glass, Finch went to Atticus and started cuddling. A minute later, he woofed down a whole bowl of his food and drank water. Now, they're sleeping side-by-side.

I couldn't help it. I caved!

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Purple-Hops

· #5 · Apr 22, 2011

It's not ridiculous that you could see his depression! Animals feel pain, and misery and all our emotions at a different level. So it makes sense to me. Without physical contact to his bonded buddy, perhaps Finch was affected doubly. I know the physical bond bunnies make is very important to their health. That's why they suggest if even 1 of your bunnies ever needs to go the vet to bring both!! I'm glad both are doing well

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