While we were doing our usual Friday evening cage cleaning with Naomi out first, I was in front of Apollo's cage and both of them bonked noses while I was giving them both noogies. Yay, a good interaction!
Naomi hopped off to explore while big human handed me her water dish to set aside for later cleaning, during the hand-off, Naomi circled back around and saw Apollo standing up with her paws on the cage bars watching us and decided to chomp down on Apollo's front left paw. Pure chaos ensued, baby bunny screaming and flailing, water was flung everywhere, I got Naomi away from Apollo while big human herded her back into her cage.
I tried to calm Apollo down a bit before scooping her up to assess the damage, which was thankfully only a bite between two of her toes that removed a bit of fur and skin under it. That could have been far worse, but it still needed looked at by a vet. I gently cleaned her paw with some dawn dish soap and water then set her in her travel cage with Mr. Giraffe. So, at 8:45pm on a Friday night while soaking wet, I frantically called the big regional emergency vet who said they were at capacity and gave the numbers for a couple others in the area. Thankfully the next emergency vet about 35 minutes away had space to see Apollo, though we were told that they were also very busy and that it would be a good idea to bring something to entertain ourselves with. Nice!
Baby Apollo was a huge hit with all the emergency vet staff! She was the best behaved little munchkin letting me pick her up multiple times for weighing, health assessment, pain med shot, and getting her paw shaved and cleaned. In between all that, she'd munch on the hay or an alfalfa cube in her carrier, nuzzle Mr. Giraffe, bang her baby keys around, and gave me kisses on the nose twice through the cage bars.
After all was said and done, they just wanted me to let the wound air-dry and heal without placing any bandages or ointments on it. We got a couple canisters of pre-filled antibiotic syringes and another of pre-filled pain medicine that will be given for the next week. We got back home a bit after 2am. No one got playtime.
For now, we have cardboard between their cages so they can't see one another. I don't want Apollo to be afraid of Naomi and have that set back her healing. When either of them are out, we wrap a cardboard barrier around the front of the others' cage so there's no possibility of interaction.
We're not sure what precisely set Naomi off and it may be a few different things, not the least of which being that the living room is not neutral territory, possible jealousy, or Apollo is starting to grow up and hormone production may have Naomi seeing her as an adult female in her territory instead of the baby bunny we humans see her as. We'll be keeping them completely separate until after Apollo can be spayed and heal up from it, which will be a couple months from now. We'll re-assess the possibility of bonding them then.
4 comments:
I can only wish a fast recovery for Apollo and hope that this nasty experience hasn't shaken her too much. I think it might be the hormone issue, Apollo is growing fast so who knows what Naomi is sensing. Maybe Naomi is still grieving Amos, and sensing another rabbit in his 'territory' does not suit well with her.
Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry you all had such a hectic Friday night, but I'm relieved that there was an emergency vet available to see Apollo and that her injuries were very minor.
I still hope that the bonding will work since they're both so sweet, but it's definitely worth another try once Apollo is fixed and, one by one, removing all the variables that caused Naomi to feel threatened.
Hi Mónica!
Aww, thanks. Honestly, this entire experience has really shown how resilient little Apollo is. She was remarkably unbothered by being at the emergency vet, which was basically a huge room with various exam tables and couches where dogs were leashed and cats were either in their owners' arms or in carriers. She even takes her medicine like a champ and I don't even have to pick her up--the antibiotic must taste like candy and if I'm quick enough with the metacam, she'll slug back the entire dose before she realizes it tastes yucky!
You're right, it's entirely possible that she's still grieving or it happened to hit her at that moment. It's been a rough month for her and we're trying to get her to understand that there's love enough for both of them.
Hi Tarosagi!
Aww, thank you and we truly did luck out with the relatively minor injury and being able to get her seen by a vet right away. She's been great about taking her medicine without even being picked up (she just stands at the door to her cage and willingly sucks it down) and tries to grab the syringe of antibiotic and run off with it because it tastes like candy.
Yeah, I really hope so too. Simon and River had one major fight and they eventually were the best of friends, so there's hope. We just need to take it slow and follow their lead on the bonding.
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