Okay, we are going to freely admit right up front that when it comes to bonding bunnies, we did almost everything possible wrong. We had always seen bunnies snuggling together and had no idea you couldn't just put two of them together. We got Tigger first, realized she was lonely, and brought Shadow home a couple months later as a companion.

The only thing we did right was to keep them apart until they were altered. We didn't believe the vet was right that we had two females. Thank heavens for our gut feeling, since little Shadow was hiding his male status quite well. During the month we were housing them side by side with separate run times, we realized that getting them together was going to be harder than we thought. Tigger had lost her lonely feeling, now she had a purpose in life. Unfortunately, that purpose meant trouble for Shadow's well being.

We needed help. Being admitted computer geeks, we went online and found the House Rabbit Society. We read all the bonding material and talked to local people and knew the road ahead was going to be a bumpy one. We started real slow with just five minute dates and built up until three long months later we had a beautiful bonded couple 24/7. Success! That lasted a year. Then Shadow got deathly ill with an inner ear infection and stopped eating and drinking. The vet asked us to separate them so that we could closely monitor Shadow. Reluctantly we did for the first 48 hours while Shadow was so very sick. After that, we let Tigger out to share run time and she ran to Shadow clearly showing signs she meant to groom his head. Shadow growled at her, lunged, and started chasing her around the room. The vet suggested keeping them separate until Shadow was off antibiotics. Unfortunately, as Shadow was coming off meds, Tigger needed to go on for an inner ear infection of her own. This time the vet asked us to move them into separate parts of the house with no contact until we got them both infection free.

So, four long months later, we began the rebonding process. We thought maybe it would go well, because they had both showed signs of loneliness while apart. This time was even bumpier. Now they had issues with each other. It was clear Tigger felt she had been treated badly. For two years we tried off and on to rebond them without any real progress. They weren't trying to kill each other, but they weren't getting friendlier either. They would start out amiable or ignoring each other and a head humping or butt nipping incident would lead to a chase, and lock down for both. We had pretty much given up hope when we noticed a change. Their cages had remained side by side and during their separate run times they were beginning to spend time camped beside the locked up bun's cage and then they started grooming each other through the cage bars. We started trying "door dates" where we would open the door of the locked up bun's cage and sit there and pet both of them and allow them to groom each other at the door. Shadow would even come running if we called "door date" and opened Tigger's door to pet her until he got there. After a few months of increasing togetherness as jailhouse lover's we tried letting them out again for short runtimes together.

This time around, we decided to do "bunding" instead of bonding. In bonding we were trying to define their relationship in terms of what we felt a good bunny bond should be. We decided to let Tigger and Shadow define their relationship on their own terms and be "bunded" instead. The result is a pair that share their runtimes, but have separate cages. They have a good relationship most of the time, but they will do the bunny bump and grind on each others head if they feel that they have been shorted in the grooming department. They will also nip each others behind and pull fur at times for the same reason. We allow this, because it doesn't go further. They are trying to make a point with each other, but they aren't trying to hurt each other. The little stinkers have proved to us conclusively that humans aren't the only ones who have weird relationships. When they go to the vet, they look like the best bonded bunny couple in the world. They spend the minimum two hour round trip in a carrier together without the least bit of fussing. For Tigger and Shadow it is clearly you and me against the world if they have to go out. At home they clearly keep score on the grooming issue and make sure that the other bunny gets the message if they've been neglectful.

These two have always been incredibly high energy bunnies. Looking back, I don't know why we thought they would ever be total snuggle bunnies all the time. Tigger and Shadow have a high spirited relationship. They have "bunded" themselves quite well and love their shared run times, but also love their separate alone times in their own cages. Will that change as they grow older? Maybe, maybe not. But we know now if we watch their behavior closely, they will show us what they want their relationship to be.

~ Rebecca Pullin