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Introducing kittens to a home with house bunnies.

BevBunny

Mama Doe
I've asked before about people having buns and cats, and know that people have mixed experiences of them getting on.

We've decided to get two cats. My bunnies live in the lounge (they have free run of the room when we're in, and a dog crate with a fenced off part of the lounge when we're out) so the cats would be shut out of the lounge when we're out of the house, but the rest of the time they'd potentially be together - obivously we'd be careful about supervision until we knew it was 'safe'.

So we've been thinking hard about the best way to do this. I think we're better off getting kittens with the theory that we can hopefully teach them how to treat the bunnies. I don't expect the bunnies and cats to be 'friends', I just don't want them to be scared of each other or to attack each other.

I should say that my bunnies are both very friendly and laid back, so I can sit them on my lap when they first meet the kittens to make sure its very controlled. I can't decide if I'm more scared of the cats hurting the bunnies or vice versa!

Should we still do this in neutral territory? Is it likely to cause issues with my bunnies bond? Any experience of these sorts of things? Or advice?
 
I'm currently socialising my 2 kittens (7 months) to a new bunny & I've pretty much done what you're talking of doing, but I only have 1 bun & my kittens were already settled in my home before I brought bunny home so I can't really offer much advice on what you'd need to do - however I can sympathise :)

Generally, my advice would be to supervise all interactions until you feel you can fully trust them all not to fight/hurt each other, & a water sprayer is a godsend ;)

My kittens are friendly & have accepted Phillip into their home without any hissing/scratching or any other type of animosity for which I've been extremley grateful - I'm very proud of them, but I wouldn't say it's been plain sailing either.

One of my kittens is predatory & has spent the last 3 weeks trying to play-fight with my bun, which I've tried to prevent as much as possible.
I'm sure you've seen how kittens play-fight LOL

Over the last few days my bun's decided he's not going to put up with my kitten's behaviour anymore & he kicks out with his back legs & hops away, much to the bewilderment of my kitten who before could put his paw across bun & try to bite his head (if I wasn't quick enough with the water).
tonight for the 1st time this same kitten licked my bun's head instead of biting him & my bun sat next to him letting him do that :love:

It's been 4 weeks but I still wouldn't leave them alone together unsupervised, though I'm sure there wouldn't be any problems I'm not ready for that level of trust yet.. so patience is definetly something you'll need to have.

as to whether you should get kittens older cats unfortunately I'm unable to advise, I expect there are pros & cons for both & either way it's going to depend on the temperament of your bunnies & the cats you adopt.
However I can recommend Cats Protection because from my experience they're very knowledgeable about their cats & spend some time socialising them so they will know their individual characters & if they're likely to interact with buns or fight with them.

I'm sure you'll get lots more helpful advice from others too, but I hope my little essay (LOL) might help a little :)
 
nothing will work..its all a case of actually penning away the kitties overnight!!!
mine went into a dog crate overnite or when i wasnt in the room..to give the buns abreak!!

they thought bertie was dad and bif was mummy..caused some probs and esp as bif is a nervous bun and salem was jumping on her and trying to feed by going under her tummy and trying to get her to lay down but bif wasnt having any of it!! within a few weeks itd had got to the point the kitts follwoed the buns everyhtwere apart from when the kitts were playing rough with each other and then fell over asleep exhausted.

the kitts will want to use the buns trays as its only natural to follow....but you will have to stop them from pooping in the buns tray,,,hard work!! but it will work.
in fact bif litter trianed salem..esp as he used to cry as he ried to wee and weed all over his little tail and legs..she dragged him into the tray with ehr each time to show him..lift your tail..and he did after two days..and she used to nudge him aorund to get him to do what she wanted..usually to go away so she could go have a nap!!
bertie elt the kittens cuddle him and go to sleep with him....salems till tries but berties got iffy with him and decides to sleep alone..much to salems despair..but then berties ill and salems got a heart murmur.

try putting the kitts into a carrier..and let the buns investigate.
treat it as bonding buns....take them in a carrier together etc...it shouldnt realy be necessary......cats n buns..well cats who arent prolific hunters or havent been educated by their mum who was a prolific hunter.

always keep an eye.

my old cats were about 7yrs old when we got our first housebun..taby and snugles her brother were terified of her in her cage..bumble however trotted right up and touched her nose to kibbles nose and they were best pals....snuggles was great with her too..so was tabby unless she was being starved and kibbles was dental again..then theyd fight or tabby would actually prowl around her cage..they even had boxing matches. but nevr ever did tabby or snuggles or bumble claw her bite her on purpose. one day tho snuggles was playing iwth her as always and got over excited and grabbed her by the neck..not hard just grabed her..and then scared himself and hid under the coffee table without me even saying a word. kibles went up and washed him to say it was ok and they settled down for a snooze.

salems grown up adoring bunnies and washes them when they let him etc..sleeps alongside them.
zuzu is the mischief..she loves to play rough with the buns like she does bertie..how she played with willow and even weeny casper.
she loves merlin as he plays rough too....thinks hes a cat now the nutter.

bif is mum..and boss of all of us:lol::lol: shes only got to look at them funny and they run nd hide!!

bif often seperates them if they fight too and wake ehr up..when she was free rage she did anyway..and if they didnt listen shed lunge at them and theyd stop and bow their heads to her and slink off........yes has to be seen to be belived!!

good luck.

a cat who is under a year old may still be young enough to educate..a timid adult cat whos no hunter or a cat with a nervous dipsosition like my bumbkle had benefit greatly from the friendship of a house rabbit..it was that or valium, and bumble had kibbles.:lol:

good luck:wave:
 
sadly the cats protection league wouldnt let us adopt kittens or young cats as we had bertie..and their argument was hed roll over onto a kitten/young cat and kill it!! i asked her if shed ever ever had any experience with houserabbits...and she said rabbits of nay sort..not at all:censored:
she tried to make us take a 3yr old female cat who was a hunter:shock::roll:

we were after these year old cats or 7 month old kittens..but she said no way cos of bertie our frenchie..stoopid woman:evil:
i did complain but guess my opionion wasnt impirtant. theyve been great with other things..but so many strays makes stress....guess they used someone who wasnt a usual home visitor i dont know.

but try them indeed.

:wave:
 
haha good point about the litter tray, I'm having that now - trying to keep my kittens from using the bun's tray...
& one of my kittens tries to eat the hay (from the littertrays).

I'm also very strict about my kittens going in/on top of the bun's cage - they're not allowed & if they're persistent after I say no I either remove them or spray them (depending on if bun is in his cage or not).

The things we do for our pets :roll:
 
sadly the cats protection league wouldnt let us adopt kittens or young cats as we had bertie..and their argument was hed roll over onto a kitten/young cat and kill it!! i asked her if shed ever ever had any experience with houserabbits...and she said rabbits of nay sort..not at all:censored:
she tried to make us take a 3yr old female cat who was a hunter:shock::roll:

we were after these year old cats or 7 month old kittens..but she said no way cos of bertie our frenchie..stoopid woman:evil:
i did complain but guess my opionion wasnt impirtant. theyve been great with other things..but so many strays makes stress....guess they used someone who wasnt a usual home visitor i dont know.

but try them indeed.

:wave:

Aww geez, they don't sound great at all - I guess a lot depends on how each centre is run & individuals working there too.

I was really lucky because I didn't actually choose my kittens (& tbh I was looking for an older pair) but my son has mild behavioural difficulties so I couldn't take on a timid cat that might react to him if he got too loud.
There was a pair I was interested in but one was very timid & when I explained the situation this lady suggested these 2 4mo kittens @ the back that we hadn't even seen - we went in the pen & they were all over us :D
we were smitten & they came home a couple of weeks later.

Thing is I'd only gone in to look too:lol:
But then that was the case with Phillip my bunny too, I fell in love with him, but I had the cats 1st.
I've since found out that one of the laides @ CP in York has cats and an indoor bunny too so I guess it really does make a difference on the branch & the experiences they have.
 
Thank you both for your replies, it sounds like we're going to have interesting times ahead but that its not impossible for cats and bunnies to live along side each other, it sounds like they 'may' even be friends if we're really really lucky.

One of my buns is a frenchy so obviously he's quite big but the plus side if that he's so utterly doppy and laid back - I'm hoping he's like this with the kittens to. I will invest in a water spray. :) I also fully intend to keep the kittens out of the lounge if we're not there - they're going to have the run of he rest of the downstairs of the house and one of the spare bedrooms, we also thought we'd make them their own space with beds, kitten activity tree thing etc so they learn that they have somewhere to retreat to as well.

Purplebumble - how old were your kittens as it sounds like one of them was trying to suckle from your bunny?

I've spoken to the cats protection league, they suggested kittens would be best but then told me I couldn't have any from them as we go to work and would leave them alone for too long! Surely they'll have each other so should be ok. I know a lot of rescues have this rule though (I do home checks for several and know none would give me a kitten! :(). So now I have to work out how to get 2 kittens without going to a pet shop!
 
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It might be worth searching for other rescue centres in your area as there will probably be smaller centres as well as the more well known ones.
Maybe ask at your local vets too as they might have some suggestions/contacts.

Ohh.. I'm sure you're the same.. my aim with my bun/cats was to get them accustomed to each other & to be able to tolerate each other.. anything more is a bonus though I do hope they'll become friends :)
Your idea of having an area for the cats to 'escape' is also a very good one - from what I've learnt, once the relationship has been established rabbits tend to dominate cats as they have a 'heirachy' that cats don't, so they tend to take advantage of that :lol:

My bun grunts & headbutts my kittens if they're doing something he doesn't like.
 
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yes buns rule!!!
the kits were about 6 or 7 weeks old but were also very teeny..there had only been three in the litter.
id looked in newpapers the internet etc and id seen a postcard in local shop. the lady had a kitten and it was a gilr but her mum and her were great hunters and she ws 8 weeks old. but the ladys friend had got into a lot of problems and her cat had kittens...i paid for the cat to be spayed i guess......and i took all 4 kitts into nikkis bed..and ended up with two of her friends kittens:oops:

salem was desperate for a cuddle with bertie earlier today and made bertie grunt and gruff as he just went up to him and headbutted him and starelted him.
i do have pics of snoozing frenchie bertie and salem asleep together when salem was small and from the other week:oops:

yes buns boss cats about something rotten...but love playing in the cat tree!!
 
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