Something very strange is happening in the furry castle today. Our four year old bonded rabbits (both neutered) seem to be ignoring each other. She is lying downstairs in her usual corner, he is splitting his time between the outdoor run and upstairs in the hutch, and is completely ignoring her. They usually spend all day snuggled up next to each other in the corner, and this is the first time I've ever seen them apart for more than a few minutes. He has to go past her to get out of the cat flap into the run, but they're not even looking at each other. In contrast, the guinea pig (same age) has come downstairs and is lying next to the rabbit, cuddled into her side. Although they frequently cuddled into each other when lived in their old home (a converted shed, so all on one level), since moving into their new two-storey hutch and run set-up last August the GP spends all her time upstairs. I've never seen her downstairs at all since they moved in, and just presumed she was too scared of the ramp. It's a big hutch so there's never been any reason for her to go downstairs anyway, as there's plenty of space on both levels. She seems quite happy snuggled into the rabbit, so maybe she's just been lonely these last few months and finally decided to brave the ramp? But I find it a bit strange that it's happened at the exact time the rabbits have fallen out, and it is very unusual for her to be downstairs. There's definitely something wrong with one of them, but I just can't put my finger on it.
They were all at the vets on Wednesday to be treated for a mysterious case of ear mites, and were treated with Ivermectin. But they've been acting normally until today, so I don't think that's caused the fall out (and the rabbits travelled together anyway, we didn't separate them). The girl rabbit has been a lot less active the last couple of weeks - I had to put my hand under her to push her out of the way today when I was putting her bedding in, she just wouldn't move. But she's eating her hay fine and the vet didn't seem to notice anything strange when she examined them last week, so I thought she was just a bit miserable because of the ear mites. But they're all getting on a bit now, so I know it's only a matter of time before one of them dies (our other GP died last year). I'm sure I read somewhere that rabbits will instinctively ignore their dying friends because they attract predators, so they isolate them. Does anyone know if that's true?
Maybe the GP knows something we don't and is giving the girl rabbit a bit of company in her last few hours. Or maybe the GP has snuggled up to the rabbit for protection because she's dying and thinks it will keep her safe (GP's do the predator thing too), so the boy rabbit is ignoring them both. Or maybe the boy rabbit has just really annoyed them and they've ousted him
Something's afoot, anyway! I can't shake the feeling that this time next week we'll only have two furries left - of course I could be wrong and they'll probably live another four years just to prove me wrong!