Cat & Rabbits

[Mathew]

Hi, I currently live with my mom, who has a dog. My cat and her dog sort of grew up together, they’re both a year old. Neville, my cat, seems to play rougher than any other cats we’ve had and the only difference is he plays with a (sort of rough) dog.

Now my rabbits, I have a male and a female who are currently separated due the the male being unfixed (for now, I plan to neuter him soon. Neville is also intact, for now.) My rabbits are good with cats, they grew up with our last cat, Shadow, who has unfortunately passed away. Shadow and Boo, my male cat, would often play together. He was also good with my female, Dahlia, though she wasn’t interested in playing with him much.

When Neville was a kitten, he was good with Boo. Within 10 minutes of the first introduction, they fell asleep together, it was adorable. However, as Neville grew older and began playing with the dog, he’s grown much more rough. It’s fairly obvious to tell he’s just playing, but with him playing the exact same way with the rabbits as he does the dog, there are some problems. I can’t leave him unsupervised with the rabbits anymore, specifically the female who just sits there and let’s him do whatever he wants, and it’s become a bit of a concern as of late.

I start college in September and plan on renting an apartment, and wish to take my rabbits and cat with me. I plan to allow the rabbits to roam free, because I find it much more appealing and healthier for them.

Now, rabbit proofing an apartment will be easy enough. I’m just not sure what to do about how rough Neville plays. With cats being natural predators, it’s doubtful I could ever break him of the habit.
Will he calm down once neutered? Should I just section off a part of the apartment for the rabbits while I’m away and not allow the cat to enter? I know they’re okay when supervised, and I plan to declaw Neville in order to make (supervised) playtime safer.

Oh, and for sizes and breeds (if that makes a difference), I’m not certain about the rabbits, as I rescued Boo from the streets and the pet store people didn’t really know about Dahlia (they thought she was a male, what a surprise when I brought her home to an unfixed male rabbit.) I believe Boo to be a Lionhead, and Dahlia a Lionhead-dwarf. Neville is a small common house cat, roughly the same size as Boo, though maybe a bit bigger.

Any knowledge and advice would be greatly appreciated.

[alexandra]

Hi,

I have 2 cats and a rabbit (Holland Lop). Both of my cats have never known anything without a rabbit but even with that being said, I still do not trust one of them. He plays extremely rough for some reason (he has always been like that). Also, even though you are getting the cat declawed, unless you are doing all four feet which you shouldn’t really do, they can still use their back feet if they wanted to do damage. My bun has a cage and that is where he feels safe too. I leave it open for him to jump out whenever he wants but I have to really watch my one cat. Even if he doesn’t intend to harm the bun, he could and that would be very sad.

I would advise maybe putting the bunny in your bedroom and shutting the door while you are not home and let the cat have the rest of the apartment. then when you get home, just open your bedroom door.

I had a friend who thought her bun and dog were fine together until she went on vacation and left them both out, and when the pet-sitter came over, her dog had gotten ahold of her bunny. You would rather be safe than sorry. When I leave my bun gets enclosed in his cage and I don’t think he minds.

[Hazel]

We have two cats, they get along fine with the bunny. They’re out together all day as long as we’re home. I don’t have to watch them like a hawk, but they are never out together at night or if nobody’s home. I would either designate a room to the bunnies where you can shut them in while you can’t supervise, or build a cat proof enclosure for them.

Also, please do not declaw your cat. It’s a horrific and cruel thing to do to him, and it’s not guaranteed to make the situation any better, in fact it can make things worse. The cat will always be a potential danger to the rabbits, unless you remove all claws and teeth. Declawed cats can also become even more aggressive because losing their claws makes them feel helpless and defensive. It can also have serious physical consequences. By declawing you remove the first digit of their toes, which forces them to walk on their wrists, which is painful long term and changes the cats posture. That in turn can cause joint problems later in life. A lot of declawed cats also develop problems with using the litter box. Their paws often stay tender even after healing and stepping on the litter can be painful. There are many other reasons not to declaw, please look into it further before making a decision. Many countries have made this practice illegal, for good reason.

Regarding the neutering, our  male did calm down a lot afterwards, but if course there is no guarantee. It would likely relieve him of a lot of anxiety, so that’s always good.

[Mathew]

Posted By Hazel on 3/24/2018 4:23 PM

We have two cats, they get along fine with the bunny. They’re out together all day as long as we’re home. I don’t have to watch them like a hawk, but they are never out together at night or if nobody’s home. I would either designate a room to the bunnies where you can shut them in while you can’t supervise, or build a cat proof enclosure for them.

Also, please do not declaw your cat. It’s a horrific and cruel thing to do to him, and it’s not guaranteed to make the situation any better, in fact it can make things worse. The cat will always be a potential danger to the rabbits, unless you remove all claws and teeth. Declawed cats can also become even more aggressive because losing their claws makes them feel helpless and defensive. It can also have serious physical consequences. By declawing you remove the first digit of their toes, which forces them to walk on their wrists, which is painful long term and changes the cats posture. That in turn can cause joint problems later in life. A lot of declawed cats also develop problems with using the litter box. Their paws often stay tender even after healing and stepping on the litter can be painful. There are many other reasons not to declaw, please look into it further before making a decision. Many countries have made this practice illegal, for good reason.

Regarding the neutering, our  male did calm down a lot afterwards, but if course there is no guarantee. It would likely relieve him of a lot of anxiety, so that’s always good.

Thank you for your advice! I had no idea declawing was like that (I’ve always been against it, but I was hoping it could make things a bit safer for the rabbits). My mom has always had the cats declawed, though I was under the impression the knocked the cat out and sort of.. ripped the claws out, I suppose. Our cats have never had problems and never changed after the surgery, so I had no idea there were negative effects.

[Mathew]

Posted By alexandra on 3/24/2018 3:01 PM
Hi,

I have 2 cats and a rabbit (Holland Lop). Both of my cats have never known anything without a rabbit but even with that being said, I still do not trust one of them. He plays extremely rough for some reason (he has always been like that). Also, even though you are getting the cat declawed, unless you are doing all four feet which you shouldn’t really do, they can still use their back feet if they wanted to do damage. My bun has a cage and that is where he feels safe too. I leave it open for him to jump out whenever he wants but I have to really watch my one cat. Even if he doesn’t intend to harm the bun, he could and that would be very sad.

I would advise maybe putting the bunny in your bedroom and shutting the door while you are not home and let the cat have the rest of the apartment. then when you get home, just open your bedroom door.

I had a friend who thought her bun and dog were fine together until she went on vacation and left them both out, and when the pet-sitter came over, her dog had gotten ahold of her bunny. You would rather be safe than sorry. When I leave my bun gets enclosed in his cage and I don’t think he minds.

Thank you for your advice! I think I’ll be building a large cage more suited for an apartment (so carefully building up, rather than to the side like our current one) or designating a room specifically to the rabbits, which they’ll be locked in while I’m gone or unable to watch them.

[alexandra]

I have to make a comment on declawing cats because it is such a huge controversy, even though this is a bunny forum so I will make it quick. Declawing cats (FRONT CLAWS) should be done in certain situations and for me, I have had 5 cats in my lifetime, all of them being declawed and one of them living 20 years, and another living a few years old than that.

Although declawing can be painful for them, it is temporary. My cats have never had any issues or shown me any signs of issues after the declaw has been done. One of my cats did about $800 worth of damage to my house by clawing up the drywall and climbing up the curtains when she was a kitten so declawing was necessary. After she was declawed, all the issues of damaging my house stopped and she is one of the sweetest cats I have ever had. The only aggressive cat I have, was aggressive even before his declaw and it not any more aggressive now.

[professorzap]

Information about declawing:  http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html

[Lauren]

I have a cat and a rabbit living together which has been hard at times. The rabbit grew up with my mums cats who were super chilled and even protected the rabbits whilst they were living outside. When I moved out my partner decided to get a kitten ?. The kitten is obsessed with the rabbit and was mad about the rabbit that has just passed away. They used to chase each other and were never nasty but I would never trust the cat alone with them. Cats can get carried away and cross the line of playing into hunting.

We have had the kitten neutured in hope it would calm her down but it hasn’t. But I allow the cat and rabbit to mix under supervision and separate them as soon one of them gets annoyed etc. The rabbit roams free all day but has the lounge to himself when we aren’t there and the cat has the rest of the house. I personally wouldn’t declaw the cat when there’s other ways to prevent any injuries occurring.

[Hazel]

Clipping your cat’s nails goes a long way in keeping other pets and belongings safe. We clip our cat’s nails every couple of weeks.

[professorzap]

I too wouldn’t trust Benny and my other two furbabies unsupervised for any extended period of time.   I do have a super laid back kitty that I don’t think would ever do anything to the bunny, I don’t trust that the bunny might not do something and trigger my cat.  (For example, my previous bunny would mount the kitty.  Though my kitty never did anything in those situations–which I stopped rather quickly–I wouldn’t want it to happen when I wasn’t around.)  Even if a cat’s claws are kept trimmed–which is the best way to handle sharp claws, they still have carnivorous teeth!  My dog on the other hand I wouldn’t ever trust for a long period of time.  I don’t think he would intentionally hurt Benny, but he does want to get into dog play at times–which wouldn’t go well with a bunny if left to go the distance.  As someone else said, it’s really for the bunny’s safety when there are other pets in the home to keep them in an enclosure (not a tiny rabbit cage, but a larger enclosure).

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