coexistence with predatory cat

[Diamond]

I haven’t been on bb much lately, missed you guys.  But I’m worried right now.

My boyfriend and I just moved in together, and he brought his two cats.  I wasn’t too concerned because one of them is has always been okay with rabbits.  I wasn’t counting on the other one, who recently came to live with him

I was finishing setting up Lily’s pen, when the second cat, Carmella, comes in.  She’s usually a sweet, mild kitty, so I was cautious but not too concerned.  As soon as she saw Lily she immediately crouched down and started lashing her tail.  She would have climbed the pen wall to get her, and when I put her outside the room she tried to run back past me.  I got her out but it scared the heck out of me.

I’m going to try to get her more accustomed to Lily using the advice here http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/cats-and-rabbits.html   with Lily safe in her cage, but probably no further.  

Any further advice would be welcome.  I don’t think they’ll ever be friends or anything, I just want Carmella to be able to see Lily without hearing kill bill sirens.  Right now I’m concerned to have them in the same house together. 

[jerseygirl]

I don’t have any experience with this so I’ll leave it to others to offer advice. I just wanted to say it’s nice to “see” you!

How’s Lily reacting to the new place and this particular cat?

[Diamond]

@Jersey Girl – Shes’ not happy right now and she’s mostly hiding.  I’m gonna give her a few days to settle

[Diamond]

Update: Lily has met the other cat (Jasper) through the pen bars and seemed cautiously curious, if that helps. They sniffed noses twice.

[jerseygirl]

*Bump* Any cat owners got some suggestions here?

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Hi there!

I spent a lot of time getting my four predatory pets (two cats and two beagles) nice and bored with bunny when he first arrived. As in, the bunny did not leave the couch for a solid month until I was confident in the reaction I could anticipate from my pets. The great thing about pet bunnies is using their domestication to your benefit. I’m not sure if my bunny is just not a very smart prey animal, or if he was extra docile, but he seemed more curious than afraid of the animals. And since he did not run, the cats and dogs did not chase. He is the only bunny and he is actually bonded to one of the cats, the way bunny pairs sometimes bond.

The other cat is the Queen Diva. Her hobbies include waiting for me to not pay attention so she can smack the bunny. The bunny has no reaction when she does this. Like your article said, yelling doesn’t really work to improve the association. Instead, I simply pick her up and plop her at the food bowl (her most favorite hobby) and let her distract herself.

You might think about feeding your cat something delicious, like canned food, that will keep her busy and interested and occupied in the same room while you get the bunny out and put him on your bed/couch etc. That way cat knows good things happen when bunny comes out, and cat is not directly interacting with bunny. This way, the introduction is safe and slowww. You can even do the old fluff up your bunny with a towel and let your cat roll/play/smell the towel. Cats smell better than humans and almost as good as dogs, which will allow kitty to get used to the new scent. Sometimes a tail flick just means a cat is excited/interested, but excitement isn’t necessarily what you want. Disinterest or interest with the straight tail, curled at the tip like a question mark would be more amiable/non threatening.

I would not let the bunny on the floor with the cat until their supervised couch/bed visits are predictably uneventful.

[Diamond]

aah thank you! Lily also doesn’t seem that afraid of cats, and i thought that would work to our advantage.

Also, is that your bunny in your avatar? He has the cutest ears and bandana

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Yes haha his name is Tolliver Sprout and he is a ham

I had to read a lot about bunny body language, because Tolly was my first indoor bun and I wanted to make sure I was reading him right when I first got him. If this is your first time living long term with cats, it might be helpful to look up cat body language/communication so you can read your cat while she’s interacting with Lily!

Good luck

[Nev]

I’m a fairly new bun mom, but have been a cat person almost my whole life

We had a ten year old cat when we adopted Daisy The Very Nice Bunny Rabbit this past summer. Teens (the cat) was huge and not particularly friendly. She wasn’t mean per se, just wasn’t friendly. We were worried, she could’ve made a quick meal of Daisy if she was so inclined. Their interaction was highly supervised (as in, my husband would almost sit on Teens while I had Daisy in my lap) on the beginning. When we felt confident enough for them to be on the floor together after a few weeks, they sniffed noses.

And that was the end of it. Teens decided the bunny wasn’t exciting, then proceeded to spend the rest of her life (sadly, Teens died suddenly and unexpectedly a few weeks later) pretending the rabbit didn’t exist at all.

We have a pair of male kittens now. Daisy asserted herself as “alpha cat” right from the beginning and chases them around the house. They’ve never batted at her or anything.

Is this a new place for you and the BF? I’d suggest rubbing the rabbit (or more accurately, a blanket or something fabric heavily saturated with her scent) over everything in a room, then lock the cats in there for a few hours a day. Get them used to her smell. If the one kitty that tail swishes does it again, scoop him or her up right away to distract them. Don’t pick up the rabbit (unless she is in imminent danger of course), move the cat. Kitty must learn house is for bunnies, too. Also, if you are new to living with this cat as well, you must assert your own dominance, so you have to be the parent. The only change cats are ever comfortable with is new treats, in general, just about everything that’s different or new is unwelcome and unappreciated. Takes time, oodles of supervision, and the awareness that kitty and bunny may never be friends, so building a home and family that can accommodate the need for some fur members to be separate but equally loved is important.

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