First Time Rabbit Owner and Introducing Kittens

[MrMagpie]

Hello, everyone. As the subject says, I am a soon-to-be first time rabbit owner. I plan on adopting a lovely girl named Delilah at the beginning of the year. She is a medium-size Dutch rabbit currently being housed at the local county Humane Society. After visiting her weekly for several months and seeing how sweet she is, I fell head-over-heels in love with her. I can only assume the feeling is mutual – she dashes across her cage as soon as she sees me and assumes her standard bunny puddle flop, waiting for pets.

 However, the reason I’ve had to wait such a long time to bring her home with me is that I will not have an apartment of my own until the beginning of the year. I will also be bringing two five-month-old month kittens into this new apartment who have, up until this point, been barn cats living on my parents’ property.

 I have several concerns regarding the introductions between the three of them. My plan was to bring Delilah into the apartment and allow her to establish her territory, litter train her, and generally get her settled into an enclosed area in my bedroom while allowing the kittens free reign of the living room/kitchen. I would then be able to gradually introduce them in a third, neutral portion of the apartment, like the bathroom, or in separate carriers in my car.

 I really want to make this as smooth and stress-free as possible for all three of them. Delilah and the kittens will all be spayed, and I plan on keeping all of their claws carefully trimmed – or, in the kittens’ case, perhaps picking up some of those colourful soft paw caps.

Is there any further advice anyone could give me? Does anyone here have any experience with introducing a single rabbit and a pair of older kittens?

[Deleted User]

Geeee…… be very careful. Let me know how you go.

[MoveDiagonally]

Welcome to BB! Congrats on your soon to be new bunny.

I didn’t do anything special to introduce my cats with my rabbits. I just let the rabbits out in the common areas and kept a spray bottle with me the first couple times just in case..The bunnies aren’t out in those areas unless they we are around so they’re always supervised. The cats mostly ignore the rabbits unless both are trying to interact with us at the same time. This can be kind of cute as my cats tend to get in “love mode” when you pet them and they’ll head butt/rub their faces on the bunny’s heads which they both seem to enjoy.

That said, I understand why you are worried and I’m not trying to belittle that at all. A cat scratch on a bunny can abscess pretty easily because they have lots of bacteria in their claws. I keep all my cat’s nails clipped. You could also look into “soft paws” which are caps for your cats nails so they can’t scratch you or your bunny. I’ve never tried this product myself so I’m not sure what the pros/cons of it are. 

[CheriB603]

The only caution I have is that, as barn cats, they have most likely developed the habit of chasing, catching and killing rodents and other fuzzy critters, so you’ll have to be super – vigilant when they are together. As soon as a cat lifts a paw to “poke ” the bunny, clap your hands and say “No!” Same with if they assume the pounce position. They need to learn that bunny is OFF LIMITS!

[Author]

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