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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Should I let a cat in my house?

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    • Nicolle
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        Hi everyone,

        So I’ve got a lop house rabbit called Zorro who I’ve had for over 1 year now.
        Everything is fine with him but I’ve just been given a predicament. My brother is being basically thrown out of the house he lives in with my mum as she’s going to live with her new boyfriend. He has a cat who he’s had for about 7 months and they are so close. It’s a house cat (not allowed out) and it’s a male (called Derek). Derek is kind of skittish and scared of things like anyone who isn’t my brother (HD runs out if the room every time I’m there or anyone else). Briefly my brother had a little kitten (he found abandoned on the street and ended up giving it to a work mate who lives happily with it now), Derek wasn’t allowed ear the kitten (in case it was diseased) but he hissed at it from across the room.

        I’m just wondering if people have experience of introducing an adult cat to a rabbit. The main thing I fear is Derek killing Zorro as he’s obviously a rabbit and I don’t know if cats just like instinctively go for their necks or something. I don’t know whether that is likely to happen if we supervise them and introduce slowly? Could they be ok whilst a person is there then Derek attacks when they’re alone?

        It would just vle such a shame for my brother to give away Derek as he loves it so much and Derek is unbelievable close to him (when he took it to the vets they were shocked that Derek was like crawling under my brothers jacket to be close!)

        Any comments welcome


      • LittlePuffyTail
        Moderator
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          When I got my first bunny, I had 4 adult cats. None of the cats were really very interested in my bun. Honestly, it was the bunny I was scared of hurting the cats. He liked to chase and scare them. I wouldn’t be too worried, honestly. In all my BB years, I’ve never heard of a cat doing any serious damage to a bunny. I would be concerned perhaps if it was a stray or more feral cat who is used to hunting but I think a house cat is just not interested in “hunting” rabbits and/or find them too big and intimidating.

          The only thing is with a 7 month old kitten his instincts may be to play with the bunny, which may stress out and/or annoy your bun. You’ll want to supervise any interactions at the beginning to make sure everyone is playing nice. And make sure kitty has short nails as cat scratches can get infected on a bunny. If kitty is a bit rough, you may want to look into getting some of those soft nail covers put on.


        • Nicolle
          Participant
          65 posts Send Private Message

            Thanks very much for your reply. It’s a huge help!


          • flemishwhite
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            195 posts Send Private Message

              One one hand, rabbits are known to sometimes faint when they encounter a predator and if they don’t faint, they can be shocked to being immobile to be an easy kill.

              On the other hand, rabbits are known to be vicious in attacking a recognized “foe.”  Rabbits attacking rabbits…I’ve read that they can be vicious attacking each other.  Similarly with cats and dogs they are accustomed to living with…this assumes the rabbit and the cat and dog are about the same size.  You can go to Youtube and see videos of rabbits attacking cats..  There’s one video of a rabbit attacking a snake.  Actually, there’s at least one really funny video that shows a rabbit humping a cat!  Rabbits have tremendously powerful kicks with their hind feetI’ve read of situations where rabbits have kicked a small dog or cat in the face and broke their jaw.  I bought my two Flemish rabbits in mind that their large size would give them more opportunity to defend themselves against feral cats if we ever wanted to leave them in our back yard during the day.  I’m hoping my two girls will get to 15 pounds…cat protection at this weight.

              As a boy, our family had a pair of New Zealanders.  (pretty big rabbits).  We also had a beagle.  I remember that we had our buck rabbit in the house, and the beagle started hassling the rabbit.  The rabbit slapped the beagle in the face with a hind foot.  It was a loud smack. The beagle in no way bothered the rabbits after that.

              Rabbits can bite. They have two upper and two lower incisors..maybe 1/8 inch in diameter with razor sharp edges.  Grab a rabbit by the front part of their body, they can very energetically rapidly scratch you with their hind claws.

              With the first instance of having a house rabbit living with us, I was curious about it’s occasional thumping.  I put my elbow on the floor, made a fist, and slammed the floor with my fist to duplicate the sound of the rabbit thumping.  I was surprised at how hard I had to hit the floor to duplicate the sound of the bunny thumping.  Given this force, a bunny should be easily able to protect it against a cat or dog of the same weight using a kick.  

               Our two 8 month old 12 pound rabbits are of Flemish Giant stock.  Flemish rabbits are known supposedly for being gentle and docile, notwithstanding their large size.  Well OK, they meet the gentle and docile description until you try to pick them up!  They can be very dangerous picking them up as they start energetically scratching your arms with their very powerful hind feet.

               

               

               

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          Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Should I let a cat in my house?