Can a bunny and a kitten be friends?

[OhBellaBunBun]

So randomly, and of course it would happen to me, a kitten was tossed into my yard from a car driving by the house. I happened to be at my window to see this, so I immediately ran outside to get the little baby. We’re keeping her. I would *love* for her to get along with my bunny. I only have one, she is two years old, and she hasn’t been around other pets much. She’s met our dogs, but we don’t allow them to interact b/c they are huge.

I took the kitten to the vet, she is free of disease, except she does have roundworms. She is being treated for that, and hopefully in three weeks when we go back to the vet we will find they are gone. At that point, I can start introducing her to my bun. I’m so nervous! But I can’t wait because I so totally want them to be friends. I purchased these soft kitty claws http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp that I will put on the kitten so she can’t hurt the bunny.

I will let you all know how it goes.

Does anyone here have cats and bunnies together?

[Malp_15]

I believe a few people here have cat and bunny friends. It all depends on the personalities of the two though. My cat and bunny hang out, I wouldn’t call them friends though haha. They will sit next to each other on the bed, but when bun tries to cuddle too much kitty gets pissy.

[OhBellaBunBun]

Hope we will be lucky then! My bun is a lover and so is the kitten. We’ll see

[KatnipCrzy]

My bunnies do not care for the cats or our 2 new kittens very much. When I had a 7 month old kitten and a 10 week old bunny at the same time- they used to cuddle but bunny and cat communication play is so different that they grew apart. All of my cats live peacefully and can be trusted with the bunnies but they are not buddies.

[LittlePuffyTail]

How awful that someone did that to a poor little kitten. What is wrong with people? I’m glad you are keeping her.

I have 3 buns and 3 cats and for the most part they ignore each other. There have never been any injuries. I definitely think if they are introduced young they could be good friends.

Kitten pictures please.

[Misspixie]

I have 2 buns and 2 kitties. Dinah, my younger kitty, chases my buns around and then goes and lounges with them in their pen. I’ve only had my 2 buns for about 2 1/2 months but they seem to be getting along very well with my one of my kitties. My older cat just ignores the buns for the most part. I think it really depends on the personality of the animals involved.

[littlemissflip]

I have two cats and one bunny, and they do fine together. Our older cat and previous bunny actually used to snuggle together and groom each other (CUUUUTE!), until one day for whatever reason, my cat decided she didn’t like the bunny very much any more and stopped snuggling. But it was cute while it lasted! I read once that cats and bunnies get along well, because in a cat’s mind the “groomer” is dominant, and in the bunny’s mind, the “groomed” is dominant, so the cat can groom the bunny, and they both think they’re dominant

Our cats are on the smaller side (10 and 12 lbs), but they do have high prey drive (they catch mice, etc.). However, they’ve never really viewed our bunnies as prey. I think it’s partly because our first bunny would lunge at them, and in a cat’s mind, if something lunges at you, it’s not prey! Occasionally the cats will briefly chase the bunny, or vice versa, but it appears to be in fun, and they’ve NEVER pounced on the bunny–otherwise I’d be putting an end to that game.

Our older cat mainly ignores our current bunny, but sometimes plays chase games. Our younger cat, who’s a total scaredy cat, has always been afraid of the bunny, so he generally tries to keep his distance. Sometimes when he’s feeling really brave, he will cautiously stretch his paw out and whack the bunny on his head, and then turn and run away. Never with his claws out though–just a little “bat bat bat” over the head, and then runs away… (and then I tell him “NO! Don’t hit the bunny!”)

So yeah, depending on the cats personalities, they can definitely tolerate being around bunnies, and some of them even become friends… see the children’s book Marshmallow, for example I’d just monitor very carefully, especially when the kitten is young, because kittens are so playful and tend to use their sharp little teeth and claws a lot in their play.

[angelicvampyre]

I have three bunnies, 2 cats and 2 small fluffy dogs. One of my rabbits if free range when i am home and is totally in love with one of my cats and she loves him back (granted they both came into the household only a few weeks apart) the other cat freaks me out by chasing the rabbit but when Rufus has had enough he will turn around and beat the crap out of the cat so i figure it is all ok, he also manages to make whatever aniamal is on HIS bean bag move if he wants to sit on it! So yeah eveyone can get on but it has been a year long process to get to this point.

[bunnies!]

 I do have a dog (german sheperd) and every time he sees my rabbit he always barks at her and every time she moves,mabe because my dog is still a puppy (4 months ) or he’s still just scared.

 

[Joyfull_music]

We have 5 cats (all with claws), 1 dog, and the rabbit. They all get along just fine. In fact, Momo, our 9 month old bunny (maybe just over 5 lbs now) is best friends with our huge 15 lb cat. They love to follow each other around, lay together, and play. When Momo is in her pen chilling, Seven (her bff) will lay outside of it next to her. He even sometimes sticks his paws in the cage and pats her on the head. He never has his claws at when he does it. And she actually seems to enjoy it. My husband and I have joked that if they weren’t both fixed, we would probably have cabbits by now.

Most of the time, your pets will comfortably co-habitate together. That is not to say I would ever let Momo free range when we can’t watch her. She stays safely in her pen. My only worry that I had with our dog is that being part boxer, he paws at EVERYTHING and I was worried that one hard swipe to her delicate backbone (especially when she was a baby) would be really really bad. So he has had to learn to play gently with the bunny. He does a good job too. It has been cute lately, she is the one that keeps wanting him to play with her. The other day she kept nipping him on the butt, then dashing and binkying away. Poor dog had no idea why.

[angelicvampyre]

i also don’t let Rufus free range with any of the other guys only when I am there because the can play a little rough, then again it normally is Rufus that plays rough so maybe i am proteching them!

[brittbritt]

My cat Abby is 13 years old and just ignores the two buns. If they get too close she just walks away. We just brought the first bun home back in March so they are still new to the household. Abby could cage less about the guinea pigs I’ve had for the last few years so I assumed she would be fine with rabbits too. I was able to take the lids off our homemade guinea pig cages as Abby could care less about them.

Like everyone else has said it just depends on the animals personalities and their prey drives. Part of Abby’s disposition may be that she’s getting older too. She’s always been a sweetheart to all.

[OhBellaBunBun]

Thank you all for the responses. It was encouraging.

So far we’ve let them be near each other, but we are only allowing Bun to come up to the kitten. She usually comes up slowly, pretending to sniff things along the way, and then she gets close and runs off. Idk if this is going to be bad b/c it may be activating the kittens prey drive. The kitten did put her paw on Bun’s head once, but she does have the soft claws on. I think it was just curiosity and wasn’t meant to be an attack.

At one point half way through their interaction, Bun did a couple runs and binkies. Then she retreated to her cardboard box. When she returned she acted weird again like what is this strange being you’ve let into my palace?

Sigh… I hope they warm up to one another.

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