Wednesday, September 29, 2010

One is Better Than Two

I love animals in pairs or trios. Most of the animals in my house have a best friend with whom they spend all their time, and I think that's great. Some people think that animals in a pair or group aren't as interested in their human family, but I've never had that experience.
But you know what - bonded pairs are the worst. The absolute, complete worst. I hate it when they come into the shelter.
Caramel and Snowflake have been with us now for four months and they are fed up with shelter life, not that I blame them. Snowflake in particular is getting depressed and spends most of her time flopped out.
In the last two years, we've had 4 bonded pairs of rabbits. Ginny and Harry took 4 months to find a home. Moo and Meatball were a fancy breed and lucked out, getting adopted 1 month after arrival. Fred and George took half a year. To put that in perspective, the average time a small animal spends in our shelter is 3 - 5 weeks. Bonded pairs have a terrible time of it in the Room.
Bonded pairs really aren't more work than a single rabbit. They entertain each other (and groom each other, which really helps keep their coat shiny and eyes clean). The only extra concern is food and vet appointments.
Luckily, a very nice woman called the shelter today, interested in the girls! She sounds like a great, bunny-knowledgeable home and I have all my fingers crossed that she will get these two out of there.
Rat pairs don't have that bad of a time, but our two current boys have a really hard time getting anyone's attention. Hudson and Arizona are shy and fat and big, and there's two of them. But you know, they're really sweet and funny if no one's looking. They just need some time to get to know you. I really enjoy them now that they trust me a bit. They've been with us two months now; here's hoping it doesn't drag out too long.
It's a total game of chance, trying to figure out which animals will fly out the door and which animals will languish for ages. But bonded pairs always have to play the waiting game.

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