Rabbits and cats…

[Boing]

Hello,

How do you tell if your cat would be a good candidate to share a home with a house rabbit?  I grew up with indoor cats, and have bunnysat for a friend in the past, in my home.  Her rabbit has since died, at almost eleven years old.  He was very good; the longest stretch of time that I had him was almost three weeks, and he was always given the run of my house, when I was home and awake.  At the time, no pets lived with me.  I have since adopted a cat.  She is almost eight years old, is petite, has been with me over a year and also stays indoors.  She does not have as high a prey drive as some cats that I have known, but is nevertheless a cat.  When I adopted her, I was told that she does not get along with other cats.  She is dog savvy; this I know thanks to some irresponsible neighbors whose dog ran by me into my home, and threatened her. 

I would be looking at getting a bunny, if I get one, this fall at the earliest, as I would like to be prepared.  The humane society where I live does get them in, and they come spayed or neutered.  I have read the following books/ websites: The Private Life of the Rabbit, The House Rabbit Handbook, A House Rabbit Primer, Info Animaux : Lapins, The Field Guide to Rabbits, Stories Rabbits Tell: A natural and cultural history of a misunderstood creature, The House Rabbit Society webpage and this Binky Bunny Forum, as well as having regularly checked all of the BB forums for the last six months.  

Still, I have no idea if it would work.  Obviously, I would not expect to be able to leave a cat and a rabbit alone unsupervised, but there are so many pictures of happy cats and rabbits on the internet.  I miss being around rabbits; this bunny definitely had an effect on me.  This may sound odd, but it has been a year and a half since I last hung out with a bunny, and when I pass the pellets that he used to eat in the pet store, I get very nostalgic.   

Is there any way of determining if this would work, and, if so, how?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Boing

[LBJ10]

Do they let you foster first at this shelter? Perhaps you could bring the bunny home on a foster to adopt basis and see how your cat gets along with it first.

[LittlePuffyTail]

In my experience and from what I’ve read, most cats are not a problem with rabbits. When we brought our first rabbit home we had 5 cats. We introduced the rabbit to the cats, one at a time. I had no idea what to expect. They all were either a bit curious or totally ignored the bunny. When my rabbit was out of his cage and he got more comfortable in our house, it was actually the cats I was more worried about. He was the boss of the cats (even though he was only 3lbs!). He chased them out of “his” living room and tried to bite their tails.

The only cats I would really be worried about is a cat with a high prey drive, like a cat that was a former stray or a barn cat. Although, one of my cats had been a stray for almost a year before I got her and she wanted nothing to do with the rabbits.

My bun, Olivia and my youngest cat, like to play and chase each other sometimes. We now have 2 bunnies and 2 cats but they pretty much ignore each other. They don’t snuggle or anything.

Just make sure you clip your cats nails and introduce the bunny slowly and never leave them unsupervised until you are positive it’s safe.

Hope this was helpful.

[MoveDiagonally]

The only way you’ll know for sure is to have a bunny around. The foster to adopt suggestion above is a really good one if your concerned. My bunnies love to boss my cats around.

You may find this helpful:
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/cats-and-rabbits.html

[Snowytoshi]

One of my cats ignores the rabbits and the other is scared of them. Sometimes when one of my buns is out she sleeps under my blankets and then is accidentally locked in with him, she doesn’t mind and neither does he.

[Boing]

Hello,

Thank you all for your replies.

LBJ10, no, there is no foster-to-adopt possible. It is the municipal humane society. They do a good job, don’t put down adoptable animals, and take in any animal, so I just don’t think there are the resources to run such a program, especially since they don’t get any government funding. It’s already a miracle that all adoptable animals stay there ’till they are adopted, regardless of the wait time or type of animal.

LittlePuffyTail, my cat’s history is largely unknown, since I adopted her as a senior, but she does have a low prey drive, and weighs less than seven pounds. Her nails are regularly clipped, so it sounds like it could work out.

Thank you for the link, MoveDiagonally, and for the anecdotal evidence, Snowytoshi.

This sounds like it is not at all impossible I’ve basically exhausted the supply of good books at the public library, and it is always best to hear from people who have successfully done something like this. This fall, I hope to be able to return and update people on my future bunny!

Sincerely,

Boing

[Author]

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