What is Rabbit-led bonding?
Rabbit-led bonding is the name of a bonding method used by ethical rescues.
It is a common sense approach that means that you are stopping bonds when it’s clear from the behaviours being shown that the rabbits aren’t compatible with one another.
This is not to say initial scuffles or disagreements are always a sign that a bond won’t work. Behaviour that escalates to a point where the bonder believes injury would occur or where a rabbit is so stressed that they refuse to eat would be two obvious signs the bonding process should be stopped for that combination of rabbits.
Rabbit-led bonding is also the absence of using any stress bonding techniques such as taking rabbits for car journeys in carriers for example. It is worth noting that splitting rabbits for our convenience once the bond has commenced can also cause additional stress.
Two things that are essential prior to starting a bond are that all rabbits are already neutered & there has been a period of time post neuter not only to allow for recovery but to also to allow hormones to die down & that a neutral area can be used during the initial stages of bonding.
It’s important that we understand that age, size, breed & even sex aren’t relevant from a rabbit’s perspective when choosing a potential partner or partners, these attributes only matter to us as guardians.
Having a friend or friends with a compatible disposition is all that matters to rabbits.
Sometimes a rabbit may not be compatible with the first few rabbits they meet, however, this doesn’t mean that the rabbit is unbondable.
As humans we wouldn’t expect to have our friends dictated to us by someone else, it’s time we stopped doing this to our rabbits.
That’s not to say that we can’t have a preference for a particular rabbit just that our rabbit’s preferences have to be more important than our own.
It is a common sense approach that means that you are stopping bonds when it’s clear from the behaviours being shown that the rabbits aren’t compatible with one another.
This is not to say initial scuffles or disagreements are always a sign that a bond won’t work. Behaviour that escalates to a point where the bonder believes injury would occur or where a rabbit is so stressed that they refuse to eat would be two obvious signs the bonding process should be stopped for that combination of rabbits.
Rabbit-led bonding is also the absence of using any stress bonding techniques such as taking rabbits for car journeys in carriers for example. It is worth noting that splitting rabbits for our convenience once the bond has commenced can also cause additional stress.
Two things that are essential prior to starting a bond are that all rabbits are already neutered & there has been a period of time post neuter not only to allow for recovery but to also to allow hormones to die down & that a neutral area can be used during the initial stages of bonding.
It’s important that we understand that age, size, breed & even sex aren’t relevant from a rabbit’s perspective when choosing a potential partner or partners, these attributes only matter to us as guardians.
Having a friend or friends with a compatible disposition is all that matters to rabbits.
Sometimes a rabbit may not be compatible with the first few rabbits they meet, however, this doesn’t mean that the rabbit is unbondable.
As humans we wouldn’t expect to have our friends dictated to us by someone else, it’s time we stopped doing this to our rabbits.
That’s not to say that we can’t have a preference for a particular rabbit just that our rabbit’s preferences have to be more important than our own.