Looking for advice - rabbit bullying (?)
This might be long so apologies in advance. Tl;dr at the bottom
My girl Star (the grey one) is 5 years old and my boy Moon is of indeterminate age (we rescued him). I've had my girl her whole life and the boy for the last 4 years. Both are neutered/spayed Netherland Dwarfs.
We got Moon after Star lost her boyfriend. They took a while to bond, especially as I kept them separate until Moon could be neutered.
Last year, Star developed e.cuniculi which was unexpected as they are not outdoor rabbits so we assume Moon has it with non presenting symptoms. We caught it quick and she recovered a month later with no seemingly long lasting damage. However, a few months later she started peeing outside her litter tray. This was unusual for her, she's always been fastidious in keeping herself, and her living space clean. Since then, we've done ALOT of readjusting to accommodate her, she has confirmed arthritis in her back legs and incontinence. She was on medication for a while but it stopped working and her bond with us broke because she hated the syringe and medication, was terrified of us any time we approached her so after 6 months, we decided her quality of life would be better without being force-fed medication daily. We tried all different ways to feed it to her but unless it was in a syringe, she wouldn't take it.
We're now at the point where she's really bad. We clean their pen 3 times a day, I use puppy training pads all over my house which are mostly ruined every day so cost me a fortune and she rarely exercises, just leaves her pen to sit in various spots in the house.
Moon makes it worse and this is my number 1 problem. He constantly humps her, all day, all the time and it's obvious it hurts her as he pins down her back legs. She pees on him when he does it, usually spraying his face but it does not deter him. He does it to take her sleeping spot, he does it to get toys, he does it if she has food, he does it because she's weak and vulnerable. I can't separate them unless I put them in different areas of the house. But I can't just let her be constantly harassed, poor girl has enough to deal with.
What do I do?! What can I do?!
Tl:dr - girl rabbit with arthritis and incontinence constantly being humped by boy rabbit, causing more pain. How do I help her?
Posted Jun 8, 2023, 2:08 PM UTC