Rabbit proof but not cat proof?

[Margeaux]

 Hi everyone. I’m a new member, and enjoying all the forum discussions as well as the store, yippee! I am hoping to get my bun,  Mrs. Bunny set up in a whole room so she can have lots of space to run. The only issue I’ve come across is that the room I can use for her is between the rest of the house and the bathroom, and my cats’ litter is in the bathroom. So if I want to block off doorways for the bun, the cats will get locked out of their bathroom! The cats and bun get along great, I have rats and my cats are even trustworthy around them, so the issue isn’t to keep them separated. I just need a door-blocking-apparatus that a cat can get over/through but not a bun. I know the cats can jump up onto something that’s much higher than a bun could jump onto, so I was thinking some sort of gate that is thick enough to have a little landing spot on top so the cats can land and then jump down. Like maybe a NIC squares and plywood combination. But just wanted to see if anyone has come up with a solution for bun blocking but not cat blocking that has been tested. Thanks!

[Julezypie]

I’ve used baby gates before when I had cats and had to keep the pugs away from the litter boxes.

[mocha200]

Once when I let my rabbits out to run around the house I blocked the stairs off with a baby gate. One of our cats must have had to go to the bathroom and started digging around in some bags in the living room and started to squat. I ran over and set him on the stairs to go use the boxes (the boxes were in the basement). Now it might be different because they had to jump over the gate onto the stairs, but just be careful. Do you have any NIC cubes? Maybe you could make a tunnel going through the room so your cat can go through but have gates on the doors so the rabbit can’t get out.

[Beka27]

Is this going to be a permanent arrangement?

I’m thinking of those cat lofts/tunnels that people build around the top of rooms. If you had something the cat could walk on up high, the bun would never get up there and the cat could walk over this ramp to the litterbox. Or a tunnel on the ground made out of NIC grids.

[MoveDiagonally]

I use a baby gate for the bathroom and the cats just jump over it but the bunnies don’t.

[Margeaux]

All great suggestions, thanks! How would a tunnel work so a bun couldn’t get through? It would be a semi-permanent arrangment, maybe a few months till I can totally litter train, bunny proof, and make sure my bunny isn’t into ingesting upholstery. Then hopefully she can roam free in the whole house. I guess one door would need a permanent solution though. I do have NIC grids at my disposal. The baby gate seems like an easy solution though. How high were your gates and also how big we’re your bunnies? My bun has jumped over a 22 inch gate, but hasn’t considered escaping her pen that is 2 NIC grids tall, which is 28 inches. But the cats don’t seem to be able to clear that either. Maybe there’s a sweet spot between 22 and 28 inches that would work? Thanks again!

[Margeaux]

I just looked up the cat loft, that is so cool. Definitely an option. And I’ve never even heard of that before, thanks!

[mocha200]

Margeaux: You would make a gate at both doors at least 2 NIC grids high so the bunny can’t jump it. It will be approximately 3 grids wide, so remove the bottom middle grid and extend a tunnel going across the room from it to the other gate. The only problem is that the bunny might jump onto the tunnel and over the gate…

[jerseygirl]

so I was thinking some sort of gate that is thick enough to have a little landing spot on top so the cats can land and then jump down. Like maybe a NIC squares and plywood combination.

I think this idea is worth experimenting with. Especially since you already have grids.

Rabbits often won’t jump over something if they can’t gauge what’s on the other side. So if you made a gate so it’s not see-through, it might deter your rabbit. You could put a landing shelf on the bathroom side of the gate out of the rabbits vision. If the cats are shown that once they would likely use it wouldn’t they?

Only problem could be a dare-devil bunny might copy the cats. Lol

I saw a friend recently that had placed the cats box inside the tub. Would that be an option? You might get away without having to use a gate then.

Someone posted a device here once that you put on the cats collar. It allowed cats to go through a pet door but not other pets. Pretty good idea! Knowing determined rabbits though, they’d loiter and wait to make a break in as the cat uses the door.

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