bunny with Kitty?

[brook]

We just rescued a kitten from an alley and now we are keeping her.  Bomber and the cat seem to get along except that she annoys him a little when she tries to play, but I can see him starting to chase her more and play.  Is it safe for them to be together, they are never unattended.  Right now bomber is 3 times the size of the cat, i just worry about her claws she likes to bat at his face with her paws, harmless for now, but should I be concerned later, and she also wants to bite on his ears, he lets her know when he’s had enough, but Im still concerned… anyone with experience have any advice??

[kralspace]

Congratulations on your new kitty. I have a house with 3 bunnies and 3 full grown cats, I had the cats for many years, the bunnies just recently. They get along much better than I would have imagined, but the bunnies do like to get a little more personal than the cats like. The cats are all declawed on the front and they will smack when they’re had enough, but the bunnies just run a little circle and come back for more.

I do have some gates up dividing the house to keep the bunnies separate, but I made sure the cats can leap over when they’re had enough. I think if your kitten has somewhere she can go to get away they will learn to get along. Cats can learn to be gentle and not use the claws, not sure how to train them thoough. At first my cats just sat in the same room up high and watched and gradually got down and acquainted. They put up with a lot of attention, but usually just leave when it’s too much. One likes to play and gets on one side of the door. Pringles sticks her nose out, cat smacks, Pringles thumps and they do this forever! When I try to break it up, they just go right back playing.

[skunklionshow]

I have 2 bunnies and 4 cats.  I had the cats b/f I got the bunnies.  I never had any problems w/ their relationship.  All my cats have their claws.  In general, they will swat but w/o claws.  I actually don’t let the bunnies out at night, b/c we had some pee issues.  But all in all we never really had any issues w/ them. 

Jessica used to pee on their cat bed, but since she got fixed it wasn’t a problem.  Good Luck!  I think everything will go fine.  Just do lots of observation b/f you live them alone together.

[Scarlet_Rose]

I would suggest keeping them apart and arranging “meeting” for them. You may want to start by confining the kitten or the bunny to protect both of them, I might also suggest keeping the kitten nails trimmed. This way they can sort of have their time to warm up to one another and get used to “that other animal.” There is a good article on introducing your pets here:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/cats-and-rabbits.html

Of course your instinct should play a big part as well, the risk of injury can run pretty high and so keeping them apart for a while might be beneficial and/or definately keep your eye on both of them. You do not want your kitten to treat your bunny as prey as claws then spring out. I hope this helps.

[MooBunnay]

I would recommend continuing to keep them separate when they are not attended. From some discussions I’ve had with people who have domestic cats, they often tell me that their cats kill small animals like mice NOT because they are being predator like, but because they are trying to play with the animal and then give it a heart attack. Bunnies can be very sensitive, and if one day your cat decided to play “tag” with your bunny, it might frighten your bunny into a heart attack. On the other hand, I have also heard about several peaceful bunny/cat coexistences, though these were usually bunny owners that had de-clawed cats, and I am not sure if the de-clawing procedure is considered cruel to cats or not, so I can understand if you do not want to have that procedure on your kitten.

[brook]

thanks for all of your suggestions, they are around eachother all the time when we are home and the bunny is out, otherwise they are seperated by rooms. The cat is the playful one, bomber doesn’t seem to mind her playing but he has not shown much sign of playing back other than running from her and making her chase him, which seems to be fun for both of them. thanks again

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