Bunny and kitty bonding?

[Bunma26]

Hello! This is my first time posting but I’ve been a longtime lurker, ever since I found my little bunny in my backyard a little over a year ago. Anyways, so a couple days ago my cousin found 4 kittens abandoned in a box next to a dumpster outside of Fedex. To make a long story short, I ended up taking one in and now I’m worried about the my bunny and this new kitten getting along. To give some background info, my bunny is a free roam bunny but whenever no ones home to supervise or for whatever other reason she can’t be walking around the whole house, she has my whole room to herself. The new kitten is staying in my sisters room and they have not interacted due to the kitten hasn’t been to the vet yet (appointment is this Thursday) and I don’t wanna risk anything. My rabbit doesn’t have much experience with cats except for when I watched my sisters cat and that didn’t end well. The cat hissed at my poor bun and my bun ran off (cat tried to follow but I grabbed her and they remained separated). But, something interesting to add is that whenever my bun smells dog scent, she flips out. If I touch a dog at all I have to change all my clothes, remove the clothes from the room, and really scrub my hands or else she won’t even come near me. Yet, cat scent doesn’t do this to her. Anytime I have pet a cat and then came home to pet my bun she doesn’t mind. She sniffs intently but doesn’t run and let’s me pet her no worries. The kitten is fairly young (id guess around 4 weeks) and that’s both a pro and a con. Pro- easier for him to get used to her, Con- very playful at times. So my question is how can I make this experience as easy as possible for both my pets? What steps should I take to introducing them? I need all the help I can get, I really don’t to stress out either of them.

Sincerely,
A very worried bun mom and newly found kitten mom

[Asriel and Bombur]

I don’t have a kitten, so most of this knowledge is based on other people who have done it.

Cats are predator and bunnies are prey, so depending on their personalities it really is a coin toss. They could end up being the best of friends or the worst of enemies. The important thing is to go really slow and monitor their reactions. If your bun looks at all in distress, get her out of the situation. Flat ears that are back, a hunched position, and any aggressive behaviors are all signs that your bun is stressed out. I’d say start with short periods of time, no more than 5 minutes at first. I’d also suggest letting the kitten settle in for a bit before introducing her. 

Forum leader Azreanne has cats, so hopefully she’ll see this and respond

[Bunma26]

Well it’s been awhile! Honestly forgot all about this post since I’ve been so busy taking care of this little kitty haha

But, I figured I’d update you! Kitty’s trip to the vet was great, no worms/parasites/etc, a clean bill of health! (Which was surprising considering they were found so young) But, he was having runny stools so the vet prescribed some dewormer just in case (although, she said, it could be due to the change in diet) and to keep him away from the bunny till his digestive issues get in order.

He’s all cleared now and I’ve been slowly introducing them. Things were a bit rocky for a bit but now it’s slowly getting better the more Meech (the bunny) gets used to Enzo (kitten). I think I got lucky since Meech isn’t really territorial but Enzo, like most kittens, can be a bit too playful for her liking so we’re working on creating boundaries. She’ll actively come up to sniff him and check him out whenever he’s around and even tolerates a few pats on the head from him but occasionally she’ll get spooked and charge at him and then he’ll immediately back off and she’ll go about her merry way.

She seems relatively comfortable, though. She’ll lay down for pets from me while the kitty is laying in my lap and even eats right in front of his face (which he enjoys to watch for some odd reason!). There was, however, a bit of an incident due to me being foolishly ambitious and she nipped him a bit (not too hard, definitely didn’t break skin, more of a warning gesture) when he came up behind her and I immediately separated them. I’m a bit nervous though that I ruined the chances of them getting along and I definitely learned my lesson. It’s still sort of up in the sky as to how this may go. 

Wish me luck!

[mimimomo]

I’m glad to hear things are going reasonably well for you! I’ll actually be bringing home my own kitten in about a week and I’m worried about how my bunnies will react to him, so it’s nice to see a story like yours.

Good luck and I hope things continue to go well!

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