Introducing a new rabbit

Question
I have a five year old female unspayed, netherland dwarf that recently lost her best friend, a female unspayed dwarf, rex mix.  They were serious buds and lived happily together since birth.  We adopted them two years ago and have loved them to death.  The rex mix passed away when we had to put her down following an abcess behind her eye that would not respond to treatment.  Very tragic and still painful.  Our plan was to get her a mate at some point adn likely do this through a rescue group.  Yesterday we were out shopping and went to a local pet shop that is smal, family run adn has a good reputation.  They had a 4 motnh old female, min rex cross taht we fell in love with.  She is very sweet, has been raised with a lot of handling and loves to cuddle.  Very passive when you're holding her and yet curiosu if she down searching around in her new cage. We knew that we could not introduce the rabbits without some effort, time and that they could not be left alone. We chose a female so that the spaying would not become immediately necessary and thougth this may be easier than a male female.  We hoped that our remaining rabbit, who appeared absolutley heartbroken despite our continuing affection, would take an interest in the new potential friend.  We have done two intros in a small room and tehre was a brief nose touching each time followed by a very breif boxing session and tehn we brought the visit to an end to avoid injury. They are in separate cages that are linked to soem degree - I've actually taken my hutch, cage, run assemby and section it off so the new one is in the hutch and can see the old one but they cannot have contact. I don't regret purchasing the new rabbit as she has a lovely personality.  I now realize taht although it is expensive and risky due to the anethesia that spaying her is the correct thing to do and will make arrangements to see a vet taht cares for rabbits in the next week or so. I had not hoped to spay the older one as I have been told that it may be very risky at her age.  Having spent some hours researching all this now, I am wishing this would go smoother. I intend to keep them both as I love my original rabbit and know the new one will be a wonderful friend.  I cannot return the new one and would not conisder it anyway. Any suggestions.   Should I continue to keep them apart and forget about any more intros until spaying?  Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hi,

I don't recommend bonding unfixed rabbits in the first place.  Too many hormonal impulses overriding personalities.

Your five year old, if she is in otherwise good health and not overweight, would be a good candidate for spaying.  The critical thing is her health and if you have a good rabbit vet.  The vet must be a good rabbit vet and do this regularly with > 99% ratings of success.

Further you will most likely save her life by doing so, as >80% of unspayed females develop and die from uterine cancer.  By spaying her you allow her to life a full lifespan of 10-12 years as a spayed, indoor house rabbit.  Outdoor hutch rabbits generally only live on average, 5 years.

TO find a good rabbit vet near you go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet.

I would also strongly suggest going to their web site (www.rabbit.org) and search their article database on "bonding".

Also you do not want to force her to accept a new buddy if she isn't ready and still missing the other gal.

Lee