introducing baby bunny

Question
We have an 8 month old male dwarf lop who has a cateract in his left eye, the
vet has advised us that he will soon lose his sight, he is a house rabbit. We
also used to have a 7 year old female netherland dwarf who we recently lost.
She lived outside but when she was placed in the living room with the male
(neutered) they would get along fine - she would submit and after a little
mounting he would leave her alone.

However, we have now purchased an 8 week old female dwarf lop, they have
a neutral environment to interact with each other, however, all the male does
is chase the baby, almost like he wants her to submit but she won't, she runs
away provoking him to chase her more! We have tried everything, they are in
seperate indoor enclosures where they can see each other and get used to
each others scent etc.

I was just wondering if we should leave him to chase her? I don't want to feel
like we are being unkind? Will they eventually get used to each other? and
how long will this take? When we bought the baby she had a few scabs on her
body almost like she had been bullied in the past - I know this doesn't help
our situation.

Thanks in anticipation for any advise you may be able to offer!!!

Jenny and Matt

Answer
Dear Jenny,

You don't say how long the baby has been in the house, but a resident bunny's initial excitement over a new arrival will generally abate over time if there is no hostility between them.  (If there's hostility, the excitement can just get worse!  But this isn't all that likely with a very submissive baby female introduced to a confident boy, as seems to be the case in your home.)

I would *not* just let him chase her, though.  She needs respite, and the more sessions they have together in a truly neutral place, the less he'll chase.  It will just take time for him to calm down.

You can find some excellent bonding advice in the articles here:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00062824-sp00000000&sp-q=bonding&user=enter...

Regarding the bunny's cataract:  I would not accept this prognosis unless it were confirmed by a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist.  There are many conditions that can cause cataracts, and they are *treatable*.  Did the vet say what s/he thought was responsible for the cataracts?  If it's glaucoma, that's treatable.  If it's E. cuniculi, it may be treatable.  But it's important to have this checked by an ophthalmologist soon, to arrest the damage if it is possible to do so.

I hope this helps, and that your bunnies will start to get along soon!

Take care,
Dana