can cats and bunnies live together

[buttercup86]

Hello! I currently have a rabbit and am considering one day getting a cat in the future. I was wondering if it is even possible for a cat and rabbit to live in the same house together. I was hoping that people could post on their experiences of living with a cat and rabbit. I was also wondering if anyone has had any experiences with a dog and rabbit in the same house, and what that was like.

Thank you!

[MoveDiagonally]

I have 5 bunnies, 3 cats, and 2 dogs.

Our dogs and bunnies don’t interact really. When the bunnies are out playing in the main part of the house the dogs are out back playing, in the garage playing, or in our room sleeping. One of the dogs doesn’t really care about the bunnies at all/no interest. The other is VERY interested so we trained her to lay down whenever she’s near them to try to prevent her from getting overly excited. It’s kind of funny to watch now that she knows she has to lay down we don’t even have to ask her. She lays down outside the bunny room and belly crawls in to watch them (only when we’re there).

The kitties and bunnies don’t seem to bug each other much. We’ve had to put one cat in the bathroom on rare occasions because she wants to play with them too badly and I don’t want my buns to get scratched. Most interactions look like this:

Before they walk away and ignore each other again. Sometimes my bunnies chase my cats around. The cats seem waaaay more weirded out by my bunnies than my bunnies do of the cats.

I know some people have bunnies that cuddle with their canine and feline friends. Mine have just never been that way. All the critters in our household co-exist fine though. Even if my cats/dogs/bunnies were all cuddling all the time I don’t think I would ever leave the bunnies alone with either because of the predator/prey thing.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

 I have two buns and 2 dogs (chihuahua/doxin mix) and a (Husky/shepherd mix) and they are do not give a care in the world about my buns. They live together everyday and to be honest, by dogs ignore them for the most part. They were excited at first but it went away quite quickly when I told them NO and since then, they just coexist. My big dog will be laying down and Harley (my bun) will use his head as a hurdle by jumping over him a few times.. and my dog doesn’t even flinch. It just depends on the introduction and the obedience of the dog. I’m not sure with cats as I have no experience with them but a lot of members have cats and buns here  

 

my house is VERY tiny so everyone is in close proximity to each other at all times. And all my animals get along perfectly. Actually tonight when I got home I found my buns have escaped their pen and they were all in the living room together just lounging lol I would NEVER allow them to be alone though. That was just an accident.

 

Bear and Jack sleeping together.

Abbie and Sally begging together. 

 

[buttercup86]

All those pictures are too cute! Its good to hear that bunnies and other animals can live in the same household. During the day when I am at work I have my bunny in a cage in the main part of my apartment. Does anyone see it being an issue if the bunny is in his cage all day with the cat wandering around the house while I am at work? Should I move the bunny into my bedroom during the day?

[NewBunnyOwner123]

I don’t know. It depends if your cat is aggressive towards your buns. As long as your cat can’t access the cage I would leave it where it is. When I am gone my buns cage doesn’t have a top and the dogs never seem to bother my buns. I don’t know though… I’m told I have a really weird household because all my animals get along so well lol I even had rats and my dogs allowed them to crawl all over them too.

[Deleted User]

Cats and buns can live together. How ever there are some precautions that you should take to make sure that fatal accidents do not happen. For instance, you should keep your bun in a NIC cage. All interaction between bun and cat should be watched. When the bf and I were living with his parents they had two cats. Skipper did great with them. She was actually totally in love with one of the cats. We would keep Skipper in her cage all day while are gone and take her out when we got home. We have a NIC condo that is three panels long, four panels high, and two panels wide. This gave her enough room to play in during the day. If you are going to get a cat. I would take your bun to go cat dating. It’s really important to see how your bun reacts to the cat and how your cat reacts to the bun. You really want to look for a cat that is indifferent to your bun. I would, also, take into account your bun’s disposition. Having a cat with your bun is not for all buns. While Skipper is great with cats. My little boys are terrified of them.

[MoveDiagonally]

I think it depends on the cat. An overly curious cat trying to play with a bunny all day could make for a stressful day in their bun life.

I would maybe supervise your cat around the caged bunny before leaving them alone. See how interested they are. I would also make sure you’re bun is in an enclosure that a cat can’t fit it’s paw through just in case they suddenly get curious.

NBO – I love that pic of Bear and Jack! It makes me smile whenever I see it

[Roberta]

I was worried at first when I bought Pepper and Piglet home as babies but the cats were more afraid of them than they were of the cats. Bilbo my second eldest cat has always taken each new kitten under his paw and assumed the role of mother. It did not take him long to do the same with the bunnies. He even tolerates Piglet chewing on his fluffy tail.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I have 2 cats and 2 buns. At one point, I had 5 cats and 3 buns. The bunnies are in condos but come out for supervised play time. For the most part, the cats and rabbits simply ignore each other. Olivia the bunny often tries to play with my youngest cat but the cat usually just leaves, which is kind of sad. My Bridge bunny, Stormy, sort of put the fear of rabbits in the cats. He used to find it really fun to chase the cats and, often, would try to bite their tails. Never had any injuries, though.

Cats and rabbits, for the most part, can cohabit wonderfully. Some even become great friends. I would be concerned only if the cat were a feral/stray cat that was used to hunting small prey. Most house cats will not attack a rabbit.

One precaution would be to keep your cat’s nails well trimmed or to use Soft Paw nail covers. If the cat were ever to scratch the bunny (this has never happened in my house), the wound has a good chance of abscessing since cat claws are often full of nasty bacterias.

[BinkyBuster]

I know it’s not a cat, but when I was younger we had a bunny and a miniature poodle (almost same size as a cat. ) We didn’t have to do any bonding they were like best friends right away! We had a giant pine tree in our backyard and we’d let them go out and they’d play tag around it for hours. There can definitely be a strong connection.

One thing I might suggest is doing like people do for bunny dates! Take your bun to the pound / where you’re getting the cat and see which ones he gets along with best. Good luck!

[Bones]

I have 10 indoor cats, 3 of which are feral cats and most of the rest were strays and they pretty much ignore my rabbits. Twig use to attack the cats so they learned to stay out of the rabbits way. I did have to start trimming my cats nails though because one of the cats did scratch twigs eye once when he attacked it.

[Velvet]

Nope, just see my Avatar. The bed the cat’s in WAS the cats, then the bunny’s, then the cat’s, then the bunny’s. My living room is like race track with cat chasing rabbit, but rabbit is so fast the cat stands there ans looks round like, “where’d she go?”

 

These two sleep nose to nose. I swear they are in love, who says interacial marriage and gay marriage won’t work, they are both spayed females, but, yeah, the love each other!

 

[Mrs. Bob Loblaw]

I have 4 cats and 2 bunnies. They all get along really well, but sometimes, the cats will try to chase the bunny who is more timid. This means I never leave the cats with the bunnies when I’m not home, and I always keep a spray bottle handy to nip any chasing in the bud as soon as it happens. Overall, though, there are no problems. 2 of my cats have even groomed the bunnies and 1 tried to cuddle with a bunny, but she was promptly rejected for her efforts.

[Caroline22]

My brother has a cat (named Bear) and when we go back home for holidays, he brings him home with him. My bun (Lucy) usually ignores Bear for the most part, and Bear is the one is obsessed/curious about Lucy and follows her around. Occasionally, she’ll go over to him and they’ll touch noses and Bear will run off like a scaredy cat (haha!) or Lucy will demand Bear to groom her and he will. But other then that, they get along just fine.

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