Bonding a kitten to bonded house bunnies l

[Sam]

We have a 2.5 year old Harlequin lop Buck and 1.5 yo Dutch doe happily married and we have just got a kitten ~4 months old.

Buck is placid but can get a bit ruckus as can doe, though she’s much hungrier for attention, the Buck is more of a businessbunny and spends lots of time in his office

Kitten seems quite laid back and playful, we’ve had her two days. She stays in our bedroom which is off limits to bunnies (we figured would be good for her to be in a place that hasn’t been claimed by bunnies) and the bunnies live in their run in the living room but spend 4+ hours a day roaming free.

So far we have introduced them slowly, both bunnies seem interested but no aggression. When we put bunnies in bedroom they sniff around the place and her. When we put kitten in bunny territory they’re much more aware and scared. We haven’t done much of the latter. Kitten watches them when they come into bedroom and has bopped them once each, no claws or signs of fear from bunnies, they just keep sniffing and haven’t run off or anything that I would pick up on as them being hurt. I checked both after and they looked fine.

The plan is to keep introducing them slowly and see how we go. I’m hopeful that it will work out

Any advice?

Thanks and merry Christmas

Sam

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’ve had many different cat/bunny combos and never had much of a problem. For the most part, they all ignore each other. Opposite of what most people would expect it was mostly the BUNNIES I had to watch to make sure they didn’t chase or hurt the cats. I had one little bun in particular who used to like to chase the cats and try to bite their tails!

Sounds like you are doing good. Just keep at it slowly. Don’t let any serious chasing happen. Watch for signs of stress/aggression in both the bunnies and kittens. And make sure to keep kitty’s nails trimmed short. Cat scratches on bunnies can abscess.

Best of luck and Merry Christmas.

[Sam]

Hi LittlePuffyTail, from what we’ve noticed so far we agree

Since my post we have since introduced them all a few more times, usually 10-20 minutes at a time, stopping when we feel that everybody needs a time out

Here is a picture of our Dutch, Penelope sniffing/kissing: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOVhRSSD_RM/

Chester is a little less convinced though he is generally conservative whereas Penny is a socialite so no surprise there!

Unfortunately kitten had a slight accident and is hobbling (unrelated to bunnies) so we are only introducing for a few minutes just to keep up appearances so they come into regular contact and we aren’t asking much of Pickle while she recovers from her sprain.

Before the accident we did have a lot of playtime in the bunny occupied living room. Chester started towards the kitten but it was a bit skittish, no malice. Penny just wants to be best friends it’s quite cute!

Everyone seems happy and content. Slowly slowly catchy monkey… Have a good feeling, kitten is settling into the bedroom, bunnies showing no signs of change in their day to day behaviours. Two very happy animal lovers here

[Sam]

Update: we have done a little more bonding and our kitten, Pickle, headnudged Penelope affectionately!

[Author]

Messages