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Need some help with bunnies and cats living together

Bebopy

Warren Veteran
Hey all! :wave: Its been quite some time. I hope all is well with everyone.

I wasn't sure if this belongs in housing or if it was okay in rabbit chat so I apologize if I put this thread in the wrong place.

I recently have been asked by my lovely OH to move in with him. I'm really excited about it and plan to start packing soon. However I have a problem that could really damper the situation. Here is some background: I haven't had any bunnies for a couple of years due to me being in college and lack of funds. Now that I am out of college and trying to get my career on track I plan to start saving up to adopt 2 bunnies. The goal was to make (wherever I was living) a few rooms bunny proof and let them run around. Now that my OH has asked me to move in I'm terrified getting any bunnies because he has 2 cats. :( He knows how much having rabbits again means to me and he realizes that cats can harm bunnies. If anyone remembers my old threads you know that I really don't like cats and I would not trust his cats to be around my rabbits. His cats are still young. They both are 3 years old.

I have thought about several ideas and wanted people's opinions.

I was thinking of taking one bedroom and let that be the bunnies room. I would personally like them to have more space, but I would take out everything in that bedroom and let them have the whole room to themselves. This maybe a stupid question, but is there such thing as a cat gate? Cats are so sneaky I know they would jump or squeeze through any normal baby / dog gate. I would hate to close the door to the bunnies room though. The cats get so curious they would destroy the carpet trying to get in their room. They have done that to my OH and I before where I would close our bedroom door and they would be scratching at the door and tearing up the carpet.

I was also thinking of building a shed. The house my OH has now does not really have a garden / back yard so the shed would really occupy a lot of his yard. I have had bunnies outside before, but I'm not too keen on this idea for 2 reasons. The first one being I always had rabbits outside and I really, REALLY want them to be inside the house now. The second one being, when OH asked me to move in he also discussed possibly even moving to a different house eventually. I would hate to build a shed and then move.

Any other ideas you guys have I would greatly appreciate. Its hard to think that I may never have bunnies in my life again when they brought so much joy to me in the past. :cry:
 
Welcome back :) congratulations on your exciting news.

I would think maybe there are ways around it, like, for example, could you build an aviary into a space room, with appropriate doors, small mesh, etc, so effectively an outdoor enclosure, but indoors? You'd need, minimally, enough for one side, but might need two sides worth of aviary panels. It could be a good way to keep them safe and secure but also inside.
 
I wouldn't consider bringing rabbits into a house with cats unless you had a double door/airlock situation. ie you have at least two doors separating them and could close one, make sure no-one sneaked through before opening the other. Even then you would have to be extremely strict and make sure both doors are always closed.
 
Could you maybe keep the door to the rabbits room closed, but bring them into the living room on an evening to be with you and locking the cats in the kitchen for an hour or two or something?

I have cats, and they aren't interested enough in the rabbits to attempt to get near them. Infact, one of the cats is scared of the rabbits and just avoids being near them entirely.
 
Hey Sky-O!! Good to hear from you and thank you! :D

I never thought of building an aviary inside! That is a good idea! I wouldn't have to go all out like I would have to on a shed. This is why I need smart people of RU to help me! :lol: I will definitely be discussing this with the OH to see what he thinks. Thank you. :D


Welcome back :) congratulations on your exciting news.

I would think maybe there are ways around it, like, for example, could you build an aviary into a space room, with appropriate doors, small mesh, etc, so effectively an outdoor enclosure, but indoors? You'd need, minimally, enough for one side, but might need two sides worth of aviary panels. It could be a good way to keep them safe and secure but also inside.
 
That is a good thought Stator. I will definitely keep this in mind. :wave:


I wouldn't consider bringing rabbits into a house with cats unless you had a double door/airlock situation. ie you have at least two doors separating them and could close one, make sure no-one sneaked through before opening the other. Even then you would have to be extremely strict and make sure both doors are always closed.
 
The only room I could see them being locked in would be the laundry room, but honestly I don't think they'd like that very much. They would kill the door with their claws. However I could always talk to my OH and see what can be done. His cats roam around the whole house except the garage.

I could possibly only see one of his cats not being bothered by bunnies, but the other one I can definitely see him harming them.


Could you maybe keep the door to the rabbits room closed, but bring them into the living room on an evening to be with you and locking the cats in the kitchen for an hour or two or something?

I have cats, and they aren't interested enough in the rabbits to attempt to get near them. Infact, one of the cats is scared of the rabbits and just avoids being near them entirely.
 
Have you thought about the garage? Some people keep their rabbits in there, although obviously you have to secure the room in the same way and make sure the garage door never opens!
 
It would not work. My OH has a smaller garage and its enough room to keep his truck, tool chest / box thing (Its huge its almost my height and I'm 5' 11" :shock: ) , and a refridgerator. He keeps his ladder under his truck because he doesn't have enough room on the sides of his truck. :lol:

Have you thought about the garage? Some people keep their rabbits in there, although obviously you have to secure the room in the same way and make sure the garage door never opens!
 
You could put a mesh/screen door on their room? You could still see in but the cats wouldn't be able to access the bunnies.
 
Thats a good idea, BattleKat. I will consider this as well. :D

Thanks for all your ideas guys. This is really making me feel better about the situation. :wave:



You could put a mesh/screen door on their room? You could still see in but the cats wouldn't be able to access the bunnies.
 
Have you thought about the garage? Some people keep their rabbits in there, although obviously you have to secure the room in the same way and make sure the garage door never opens!

This assuming of course you dont put the car in there? Depending on the size you could possibly give them half and use half as storage. Is there a window to it though?
 
I would use an aviary double door system in the spare room :wave: there would be 2 doors made of mesh so the cats cant reach through and hurt the buns and you can enter the room without the cats being able to slip in aswell :)
 
Thank you Georgey! :D I really like the aviary ideas. I will have to pass all this info onto OH!! :wave:


I would use an aviary double door system in the spare room :wave: there would be 2 doors made of mesh so the cats cant reach through and hurt the buns and you can enter the room without the cats being able to slip in aswell :)
 
Hey Webble! :wave:

It wouldn't work. The garage is way too small.


This assuming of course you dont put the car in there? Depending on the size you could possibly give them half and use half as storage. Is there a window to it though?
 
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