Adding a kitten

[Allda Lapin]

Hi guys, I need some insight. I have two buns, male and female: Little Bunny (female) and Fat Bunny (male) – six years old, bonded for 5 years. When we bonded them, Little Bunny was fairly submissive. She is much smarter and faster than Fat Bunny and when she reached her stress limit with h she’d create distance rather than get defensive and the bonding went fairly smoothly.

We just added a kitten to our household, and followed all the steps for a successful bonding. It has gone really well up until today. The kitten is super gentle and the bunnies have both been pretty relaxed. Last night tho, Little Bunny got a little too stressed and lunged at the kitten, which intimidated him so he backed off.

Well today we brought the kitten down for his daily play date with the bunnies (bunnies live downstairs, kitten lives upstairs until everyone gets along) and we kind of thought we could stop separating them tomorrow. However, Little Bunny remembered that she could intimidate the kitten and lunged again. When he backed off again, she all of a sudden got super aggressive. Not biting but chasing him around and cornering him. When she had him cornered, she would turn her back to him and groom herself until he tried to move, then she would growl and lunge again. When I tried to interrupt, she lunged at me which has NEVER happened before. I let her alone until she got bored and went to eat, and then I took the kitten back upstairs.

I know my rabbit has a dark side, but I’ve never seen her on a power trip like this before. She’s usually cunning like a velociraptor but this was full on T-Rex.

So my question is, what now? She is back to being relaxed and letting me pet her. Should I try another play date tomorrow like nothing happened? Should I let her assert dominance as long as she’s not hurting the kitten and risk creating a monster? Should I start over and change the bonding location? Should I keep them apart for longer or give them a chance to work it out right away?

What would you do?

Thanks!

[sarahthegemini]

Rabbits don’t assert dominance over other species. If your rabbit is aggressive towards kitten it’s likely due to fear.

I’m not really sure what you expect in regards to bonding. I think cats and bunnies can certainly get along and happily coexist but forming a proper bond? I’m not so sure.

[Azerane]

Hi there

I also have a pair of bonded rabbits (male and female) and last November we also added a kitten. Our rabbits have a large cage that they get shut in when we’re not at home, but have a large playpen in half of the lounge room when we are home.

When we brought our kitten Jasiri home I let them see each other through the bars and approach and sniff etc. From the very first moment I never allowed any play from our kitten with the rabbits, as play can lead to chasing and hunting type behaviour. Being a kitten we couldn’t keep her out of the playpen for long so it wasn’t long before she was interacting with the rabbits face to face. The rabbits tolerated her well and if she ever tried to play with them she was instantly removed from the pen to learn that it wasn’t a space for playing. As she has gotten a little bigger, my female rabbit Luna has occasionally turned on her when she felt that Jasiri has gotten too close. She has lunged and grunted at her a few times, and on two occasions has also chased her around the pen. I have found this has happened when our kitten has gotten too close to her without her realising or she just wanted more personal space. I don’t mind my rabbit Luna lunging and chasing a little bit because I personally feel it teaches Jasiri to respect the rabbits a little more and to remember to give them their space, rather than wanting to treat them as play things.

Long story short, I think the behaviour from your rabbit is normal, she is trying to get the message across that she needs space. Try to keep her calm and perhaps make the kitten keep its distance from your bunnies so that your girl doesn’t feel so stressed or threatened. She may never be truly ok with a bunny in her space but they can learn to tolerate each other and accept each other in the same general area.

I would let your girl lunge at the kitten, and a small amount of chasing I feel is ok, again to help the kitten to learn to respect them. But if your bunny is constantly going after the kitten and chasing her non stop and potentially giving a painful bit then you should be stepping in. If she keeps being over defensive/agressive then perhaps give the meetings a rest for a few days before bringing the kitten down again. I wouldn’t be leaving them to work it out for themselves because you don’t want your kitten getting bitten, or fighting back. A single scratch or bite from a cat can cause a rabbit to have a life-threatening infection.

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