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Irving and Winslet, sittin’ in a ....pen?
Last night was date #3 for Winslet and Irving.
My only experience with bunny bonding was the disastrous 3-day weekend with Pepper and Frisco, when he sprayed anything and everything (he was a month past neuter) and she tried valiantly to get through the double-gate and kill him. My house smelled like a barn, both of them bit me, and I ended up bringing him back to the shelter. * So I’m super-nervous and super-paranoid this time around.
They spent more than an hour together in a pen at the shelter, first with an exerienced volunteer supervising, and then me. Only two small incidents - the first when he suddenly turned around and she nipped a bit of fur off his butt, and the second when mutual sniffing turned to circling - but I managed to defuse both pretty quickly. The rest of the time alternated between ignoring each other, sniffing/investigating, and even some tentative snuggling. All of the volunteers who stopped by (it was a busy night, with 3 other sets of dates going on) said that things looked to be going very well. She even laid down at a few points!
So Irving ** came home with us.
He’s a good-natured little mini-rex boy. At one point last night, she thumped pretty loudly and he never even stopped eating. Compared to Winslet, he’s soooo tiny - at most he’s 2/3 her size) and his head is quite small. I can’t get over how a huge lettuce leaf fits into that tiny little mouth! He seems to have settled in pretty well - has pooped, eaten, drunk some water, etc. He seems to most enjoy the battered cardboard box I put in there, both for climbing on and hiding in. She was visibly uneasy when she realized he was actually here, but I gave her some reassuring pettins and she seemed to calm a bit. There has been a lot of sniffing through the bars, and they have startled each other a few times. I doubled up the pen with some grid panels to make sure nobunny gets their nose bitten. Winslet has tugged at the bars a few times that I saw - not in an aggressive way, more like a “this is in my way” way. She slept in her usual place in the hall just outside my bedroom door but was back over by his pen when I came out with my breakfast.
Still going to go slowly, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
*After being adopted soon after this, Frisco came back to the shelter several years later. He had a series of jaw abcesses that his people couldn’t afford to handle. He’s still a sloppy boy even after all this time. He’s healthy now, and has been adopted again.
** I’m not enamored of the name though (he was found on Irving Park Rd). We’ll need to come up with a better one, if he’s going to live at Thumpington House.
My only experience with bunny bonding was the disastrous 3-day weekend with Pepper and Frisco, when he sprayed anything and everything (he was a month past neuter) and she tried valiantly to get through the double-gate and kill him. My house smelled like a barn, both of them bit me, and I ended up bringing him back to the shelter. * So I’m super-nervous and super-paranoid this time around.
They spent more than an hour together in a pen at the shelter, first with an exerienced volunteer supervising, and then me. Only two small incidents - the first when he suddenly turned around and she nipped a bit of fur off his butt, and the second when mutual sniffing turned to circling - but I managed to defuse both pretty quickly. The rest of the time alternated between ignoring each other, sniffing/investigating, and even some tentative snuggling. All of the volunteers who stopped by (it was a busy night, with 3 other sets of dates going on) said that things looked to be going very well. She even laid down at a few points!
So Irving ** came home with us.
He’s a good-natured little mini-rex boy. At one point last night, she thumped pretty loudly and he never even stopped eating. Compared to Winslet, he’s soooo tiny - at most he’s 2/3 her size) and his head is quite small. I can’t get over how a huge lettuce leaf fits into that tiny little mouth! He seems to have settled in pretty well - has pooped, eaten, drunk some water, etc. He seems to most enjoy the battered cardboard box I put in there, both for climbing on and hiding in. She was visibly uneasy when she realized he was actually here, but I gave her some reassuring pettins and she seemed to calm a bit. There has been a lot of sniffing through the bars, and they have startled each other a few times. I doubled up the pen with some grid panels to make sure nobunny gets their nose bitten. Winslet has tugged at the bars a few times that I saw - not in an aggressive way, more like a “this is in my way” way. She slept in her usual place in the hall just outside my bedroom door but was back over by his pen when I came out with my breakfast.
Still going to go slowly, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
*After being adopted soon after this, Frisco came back to the shelter several years later. He had a series of jaw abcesses that his people couldn’t afford to handle. He’s still a sloppy boy even after all this time. He’s healthy now, and has been adopted again.
** I’m not enamored of the name though (he was found on Irving Park Rd). We’ll need to come up with a better one, if he’s going to live at Thumpington House.
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I wish them and you the best...
*hugs*
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Winslet is a Havana Satin - about 6.5 lbs, which puts her smack in the middle-size for bunnies and on the slightly-small size range for her breed. Satins are known for their particularly sleek and shiny coats. She's about 3ish
Irving is a mini-rex. Rexes are the "velveteen rabbits" with very short very plush fur and curly whiskers. Not sure how much he weighs but he's significantly smaller than her. He's about 6 months old, just old enough to be neutered.
I'll try and get a photo with both of them in it at some point this weekend
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A friend was worried abut bringing her kid over because she thought the kid might try to poke the bunny I explained that bunny was all able to take care of herself, and it would be a learning experience! kid pokes bunny, bunny nips kid just hard enough to hurt, kid learns not to poke the bunny.
But when I first got Pepper, I remember sitting on the couch thinking "how can I manage to leave my house when there is all this CUTE going on!"
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Oh geez, yes, we look at our Siamese cats and think that too. "Watch out, he's being adorable again! Aaaah!"
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If he's going to be consort of Her Grace Duchess Winslet von Thumpington (of Thumpington House) he needs to be a baronet at the very least
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*giggles*
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Irving Israel Isadore Berlin sounds awfully distinguished for a bun. ;)
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But I'm also leaning towards a breed-origin for him. He's a Rex, but not show quality, so I was thinking of a nod to this with Fitzroy
(for the non-history nuts, FitzRoy is traditionally the name given to a bastard son of a king)