Is It True…..?

[sally]

Is it true that bunnies are happier in pairs and they get quite sad if they are on thier own???

[Balefulregards]

My bun has always been a single bun. She had La Chatte around until La Chatte died this Spring, but a cat is not a bunny.

I have considered pair bonding her, but she gets lots of love being the only pet in the house…she is free roam, so she can seek us out if she likes, or hang out in her Maze depending on her mood. I would think that being caged for a majority of the day alone could be quite stressful for a lone bun.

[Sarita]

Not necessarily, many rabbits are happy if they have the human family as companions. Also if you are considering bonding then you have to be ready for the possible stress and time of doing this so that is a huge factor for someone to consider – it may not be something that they have the time to do or the strength (emotional) to deal with.

[bunnytowne]

Cotton seems to prefer me all to himself.   Ruby does not want to share her space not one bit. So they seem quite happy to be single and seperated.

They are too jealous to share me.

[sally]

Oh good , fantastic infact, i have a cat and im slowily introuducing them to each other, they played a bit of chase 2day ! But i cant really afford another rabbit so im pleased she can be happy alone, she isnt caged hardly at all she has the whole spare bedroom to herself then on a night time she is out with us, but hopefully once the cat and rabbit are friends she will have more time with us!

[Adalaide]

You’re so lucky that they are learning to get along. As we got Freya used to being on a leash we took her into the rest of the house. I was worried that she’d be scared to death of the cat. Instead she was quite curious about him while he hissed and was scared and ran away from her! They’ll never get along, I don’t trust the cat at all after seeing his initial reaction. I guess when we move we’ll just have to leave the cat with his mother… how sad. (I will of course be wearing my imaginary party hat.)

[sally]

Awww well they kinda had a few staring out sessions then sasha (cat) would run after the bunny, bunny did do a few thumps but what was interesting was during a stare out sasha lay down in front of her, now Im quite familiar with cat behaviour and as far as I know that is a friendly gesture so things are looking up, before today they had only seen each other when the bunny was in her cage so sasha knows of her exsitence. I was expecting the bunny to be more defensive though, but maybe she trusts me now and thinks I wouldnt put her in danger.I dunno but it went well for now! Its good tho if they do learn to get along as another rabbit is not really an option for me!

[RabbitPam]

I’ve only had solitary bunnies so far.
I used to worry about Spockie being lonely all day while I worked, but then I was home on my computer for several days and discovered that at the time I usually left, he went into his cage and puttered or slept or ate most of the time. He completely ignored me, and came to life around the end of the day when I would have come home. I am pretty sure it’s because they tend to burrow to sleep in the height of the day and mid-afternoon, so it doesn’t matter. They wake up around dusk, so when you are home for dinner it’s the time they start waking up and looking for food and fun. It works out well for me as a routine as long as I pay a bit of attention.

[MimzMum]

My three are not bonded, and as such, they all have their separate living quarters, but are within sight and smell of each other at all times. I have often thought of getting them all together so they never have to be strictly alone again, but it’s a big job to bond two rabbits, let alone three.
I do want them to be happy, and I spend as much time as possible with them. But I am sure they would like to interact.
In the meantime, my older cat dos really well with my mini-rex. They seem to put up with one another well and even sleep near each other…but I drew the line when she tried to get into his cage for a nap.

My younger cat doesn’t care for the bunnies and I am happy that he keeps his distance. When the bunnies were out in the xpen, he would ‘poke’ them in the rump to see what they would do. He got scolded good for that and hasn’t bothered them since.

I hope to have a central area away from the other animals for the bunnies some day. I just don’t know when it will be. So until then, they’re stuck with me as a companion. ^_^

[BinkyBunny]

I think as long as a person can supply their bunny with lots of love and attention that it is fine. At geesh, if bunnies wanted to have bunny friends THAT bad, bonding sure wouldn’t be so challenging alot of the time.

It is wonderful to see the bunny bond, but I don’t think that a single bunny is unhappy just because he/she is single. It’s all about the care and attention.

With your cat, just be sure that if he is chasing, he is not getting into that habit of stalking etc and scaring your bunny. Rabbits normally aren’t into being chased for fun. So just be sure h Sometimes cat play can scare a more timid rabbit and cat scratches can cause nasty abscesses.

Our cat doesn’t seem to mind the rabbits at all but he’s not sure about Jack as Jack comes over with a very obvious hostile caution vibe and so P-kitty will timidly put his paw up like he’s going to bat him in the head. So I never leave them alone together. So far Kitty sleeps in a chair next to Vivian’s pen, and Vivian doesn’t seem to mind him at all. Vivian approaches him without fear and just pure curiosity, no aggression, but P-Kitty backs away in confusion – but slowly he’s beginning to trust her.

Here is a article about cat and rabbit relationships – http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/cats-and-rabbits.html

[KytKattin]

I have my rabbits bonded out of the pen, but not in it. I don’t know if I will ever move to that point due to Hubble’s health. Nova obviously craves the attention of another rabbit over human attention, but I think she is a special case due to having previous litters and being betrayed by humans again and again. On the other hand, Nova is the reason that bonding them in the cage would be so difficult. Hubble obviously doesn’t care one way or another, and my previous rabbits were the same way. So the perfect solution for me is having two rabbits in separate areas but they enjoy out time together. If both were like Hubble then it wouldn’t make a difference and I know he wouldn’t care if he had a friend or not, but Hubble helps Nova trust. Nova is a high strung little thing too I might add so in her mind having a slow friend that would be eaten first should I, the dogs, the house, ect, decide to want to eat them is a good thing.

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