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introducing cats to rabbits?
- Thread starter Jens
- Start date
batian
Young Bun
i have been very lucky in that my cats and rabbits all get along.the only advice i can give is to do much the same as you would with 2 rabbits.take it slowly and never leave them alone until you are as certain as possible that neither will come to any harm.while i know there will are some that will advise not to do so,there will be others that have.
below i have posted a photo of my sadly now 2 bridge bunnies with treacle.
below i have posted a photo of my sadly now 2 bridge bunnies with treacle.
I just wanted to bump this up for you as I have seen quite a few pictures on RU of cats and rabbits together even pictures of cats that have sneaked into the rabbit cage.
I had a rabbit as a kid that was fine with our cats and vice versa. I was too young though to remember how we introduced them. The rabbit was bigger than the cats though.
I had a rabbit as a kid that was fine with our cats and vice versa. I was too young though to remember how we introduced them. The rabbit was bigger than the cats though.
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madcatwoman
Mama Doe
My 2 outdoor rabbits have to contend with my 4 cats
Holly cat in summer regularly sleeps in the rabbit shed, much to the disgust of my rabbits:lol:
My biggest cat is scared of the rabbits. In summer the patio doors are open and the cats and rabbits just mingle. Ive never had any issues other than the rabbits chasing the cats 'off their patio:lol:
My original rabbits were both over 4kg as I felt that it was a safer option for the cats to be smaller than the rabbits.
My current bunnies are 2kg and I havent had any issues. Ive had different cats too during the time that weve had rabbits. The age/sex/temprement of the cats has made no difference to how theyve reacted to living with bunnies.
I did have some photos of my bridge bun Tommy asleep in front of the fire with the cats (before I knew about not bringing rabbits in and out in cold weather)
Holly cat in summer regularly sleeps in the rabbit shed, much to the disgust of my rabbits:lol:
My biggest cat is scared of the rabbits. In summer the patio doors are open and the cats and rabbits just mingle. Ive never had any issues other than the rabbits chasing the cats 'off their patio:lol:
My original rabbits were both over 4kg as I felt that it was a safer option for the cats to be smaller than the rabbits.
My current bunnies are 2kg and I havent had any issues. Ive had different cats too during the time that weve had rabbits. The age/sex/temprement of the cats has made no difference to how theyve reacted to living with bunnies.
I did have some photos of my bridge bun Tommy asleep in front of the fire with the cats (before I knew about not bringing rabbits in and out in cold weather)
I did have eleven bunnies and nine cats but now sadly only have nine bunnies and five cats (the others have all gone to the Bridge).
My cats and buns get on fine and always have done. Pippa, the last cat to join my furry family turned up as a stray and thinks she is a rabbit. When I have had baby rabbits I have kept them away from the cats but once they are of a reasonable size they all live together unsupervised. I've never introduced them as such but if I ever did adopt another adult cat I would watch him or her carefully to start with. Pippa was a six month old petite cat when she turned up and immediately realised the rabbits were friends.
My Bridge Cat Millie with George
A bit blurry but George with Pippa
My cats and buns get on fine and always have done. Pippa, the last cat to join my furry family turned up as a stray and thinks she is a rabbit. When I have had baby rabbits I have kept them away from the cats but once they are of a reasonable size they all live together unsupervised. I've never introduced them as such but if I ever did adopt another adult cat I would watch him or her carefully to start with. Pippa was a six month old petite cat when she turned up and immediately realised the rabbits were friends.
My Bridge Cat Millie with George
A bit blurry but George with Pippa
Jens
New Kit
thanks everyone i've had cats and rabbits in the past and they have always got on but like mentioned above i was 2 young to remember how that came about! i guess ill just have to do it slow and see how it goes, i love the pics everyone put up! i have one of our old bunny laurel and our (well my mums i suppose!) now 18 year old cat tasha 
i just dont know how it all started lol
i just dont know how it all started lol
Jens
New Kit
when our rabbit died (in the pic) the cat in the piccy tasha, walked into the garden about a month later gently holding a young rabbit she had found down the wild bit out the back of the garden! it was completely unharmed (except for being a bit shocked obviously) she just walked up to my mum who was in the garden and dropped it at her feet! we obviously put it in a box and let it out were it came from and it just hopped away, but it was as if she was saying here you go i got you a new one =P and this is a cat who it is nearly impossible to get things off like mice rats bird and so on so it was really weird!
BigBunnyBenji
Mama Doe
I introduced my Benji to the cats straight away really. I mean, he is in the main room of the house, so I couldn't really keep the cats out, it is their home too.
My cats haven't harmed him, but they will give him a whack if he approaches them too fast and they don't like it. It startles them, so they kind of just tell him to back off. I think it is largely due to size though, they won't try attack him because he is bigger than them as a giant, they are quite scared of him. One of the cats hisses at him because she doesn't like the way he runs after her. :lol: Them whacking him doesn't really seem to phase Benji though, because he continues to do it. If it hurt him, he would obviously not go near them anymore.
Before we got April, Benji was absolutely desperate to snuggle up with our cats, but they weren't having any of it. They just swat him away. :lol:
April is a different story though. Because she is a normal sized rabbit, the cats do see her as prey, and I have seen one of them trying to hunt her. They'd never catch her as she's too fast, and I'm always there or Benji protects her, she hides behind Benji and the cats leave her alone.
When I first got her, they were a pain for trying to watch her and hunt her, so I kept them out of the room, but now they don't bother. A couple of them (I have five cats) follow her when she's in the bushes sometimes, but they do that with both of the rabbits, they never actually pounce or anything. They have learned now that they aren't allowed to hunt her, I think they just like pretending to hunt more than anything. They seem to hang around a lot more outside when the rabbits are outside.
My advice would be to let the cat in but only supervised, if it tries to chase your rabbit, stop it or spray it with some water. I know cats hate water, but they have to learn not to do it. I personally, have a little activity pen thing meant for kids, and if one of the cats tries to hunt April, I put them in there for 5 or 10 minutes to teach them not to do it.
My cats haven't harmed him, but they will give him a whack if he approaches them too fast and they don't like it. It startles them, so they kind of just tell him to back off. I think it is largely due to size though, they won't try attack him because he is bigger than them as a giant, they are quite scared of him. One of the cats hisses at him because she doesn't like the way he runs after her. :lol: Them whacking him doesn't really seem to phase Benji though, because he continues to do it. If it hurt him, he would obviously not go near them anymore.
Before we got April, Benji was absolutely desperate to snuggle up with our cats, but they weren't having any of it. They just swat him away. :lol:
April is a different story though. Because she is a normal sized rabbit, the cats do see her as prey, and I have seen one of them trying to hunt her. They'd never catch her as she's too fast, and I'm always there or Benji protects her, she hides behind Benji and the cats leave her alone.
When I first got her, they were a pain for trying to watch her and hunt her, so I kept them out of the room, but now they don't bother. A couple of them (I have five cats) follow her when she's in the bushes sometimes, but they do that with both of the rabbits, they never actually pounce or anything. They have learned now that they aren't allowed to hunt her, I think they just like pretending to hunt more than anything. They seem to hang around a lot more outside when the rabbits are outside.
My advice would be to let the cat in but only supervised, if it tries to chase your rabbit, stop it or spray it with some water. I know cats hate water, but they have to learn not to do it. I personally, have a little activity pen thing meant for kids, and if one of the cats tries to hunt April, I put them in there for 5 or 10 minutes to teach them not to do it.
