Agressive?

Question
Hi, I am looking at bringing home two female rabbits, both sisters and a year old. The owner can no longer take care of them and claims they are both healthy, bonded, and happy. They have never been fixed, but once they get settled into my own home I will have them spayed/neutered. I will also have a vet check them for health. But the owner did mention that one eats the other's fur. The fur grows back, but I was wondering if this is aggressive. Would the rabbits be better off separated? or would having them fixed solve this problem?

Answer
Hi,

rabbits groom eat other and ingest fur.  Usually one grooms more than another.  Sometimes during dominance moves one may pull the fur out of the other, but this is normally loose fur, not fur that isn't loose.  

It would be good to spay them.  However you will need to be careful with them afterwards for 4-6 weeks because their hormone levels are going to be generally declining (but sometimes surging up) and these are times where fights or spats may occur - especially if the normally dominant one is low and the other is higher.  Be prepared that you may have to separate them (by a gate) for awhile until both seem to have calmed down and aren't fluctuating anymore.  Generally 4-6 weeks is the timeframe.

After both seem to be normal, if they are still together and okay, you're fine.  If you've separated them by a gate you'll need to rebond them (not fast).  Because before they got along with high hormones.  Now that their hormones are low, their personalities are able to override hormones and they may not like each other without the hormones making them get along.  Or they may like each other fine, or they may be okay, not bad or good but tolerating the other okay.  

They should get spayed however as you will be able to handle them and interact with them better, and in the long run they will get along better with each other.  Further they will live twice as long because they will not develop uterine cancer by age 5 or 6 and die from it.  They will have a shot as an indoor house rabbit of living 10-12 years of good health.

Finding a good rabbit vet (not all are) is key.  Start here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

to find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.  Also spend time on the site looking up articles on behavior and nutrition and bunny proofing the areas they will be in.