neighbours cat chasing my rabbits

The boys got their first taste of grass today. They loved it!

I watched them for a few hours then popped out. When I came back, the neighbours cat was circling the run and pouncing at them.The rabbits were terrified and probably would have hurt themselves soon.

I'd love to leave the buns out for most of the day, but this cat is likely to come back. Any suggestions on how to prevent this cat coming in? Stop the rabbits worrying etc?

Seems a shame that they were so happy, and this cat will ruin in.

=/ you're right, that is ashame and it's not fair that potentially the buns get restricted in your garden for someone elses cat.

I don't kow much abut proofing/defencing though maybe some ideas on the Housing threads, though if you know the neighbours cat it is, maybe speak to them (eg find out if there's time of the days the cat is generally indoors. Might help, though it still risks another cat or animal bugging them all the same.

As I say, best bet will be looking at housing, maybe something yu can do to your garden/run to help make things easy to see etc.

It is very hard to keep a determined cat out your yard. I know because I have a fish pond and a neighborhood cat that loves to fish.i
We changed our fence from a 6 foot wood fence to a 8 foot vynel one. The cat could no longer climb the fence it is too slippery but she found her way under. We had to pack dirt along the outside of the fence but she managed to squeeze under the gates. I put an ammonia soaked towetowels under the gates for awhile that and coveringvthe pond with a fish net helped. I put the fish net on first which alone didn't stop her trying to get at them through the net. Everything has stopped her now for a few years.
The cat rescue that I volunteer cat uses predator netting over the top of there fencing to keep predators out and the cat in.
The only other things that I can think of is to sit out there with a spray bottle and spray the cat everytime it approaches the rabhits the conditioning will take a while.

All our neighbours have at least two cats, we have one of those huge water pistols outside our back door. I think ours is called a Blaster. It's huge and you screw a 1 litre coke/lemonade bottle full of water onto it. You then aim it and push the pump..It fires a huge spray of water across the garden. Cats don't like it. A few sessions of that and they tend to avoid our garden during the day. You can buy the pistols in shops that sell buckets and spades and Pound shops. I think ours came off eBay. Good luck.

I did consider the water gun. But the idea was to leave them out while i'm at work. They don't seem keen on hay but loved the grass, so it would be better for them. Not sure the water bottle idea would deter a cat for 8 hours?

If you're leaving them out unsupervised, you're going to need to invest in a good run. If the cat can get in, so can local foxes!

An aviary, run or a Runaround system, would provide the rabbits with the grass they love AND the security that no harm will come to them, they must have somewhere secure to run and hide too. I heard of a rabbit loose recently in the garden that got spooked with no where to hide, ran into a fence and broke its neck

Sorry you're having this problem. The other thing to remember is that with cat bites/scratches you often don't get a second chance - even small wounds are often infected and can prove fatal, so you really will need to play it safe. Any rabbit scratched by a cat should be taken to a vet immediately, imo.

Such a shame the cats will interfere with buns' freedom though.

A secure predator proof run with places to hide is a must.
You could try anti climb fencing or using a water pistol to deter any cats that might choose to enter your garden.

OP, I'm assuming that the rabbits were already in a run, rather than completely free ranging, since you mentioned in your post that the cat was circling the run and scaring the rabbits.

As long as the run itself is predator-proof then that side of things isn't a worry - if you need more advice on making sure it's safe, please do ask - I don't want to go into details now in case it's telling you stuff that you already know.

Rabbits think in different ways to us and so they don't know that the run is safe & that the cat can't get in though. When threatened, they feel much safer if they have bolt holes to retreat to...... enclosed spaces - tunnels, a cardboard box with a couple of exit holes, or a little wooden house for example, so I would try adding a few of those.

As it's likely to be the first time they've ever seen a cat I'm guessing (?) then it would have been pretty scary for them but you may well also find that, over time and with the reassurance of the bolt holes to hide in, they're not so bothered by the presence of the cat. My two used to be terrified of my cat (which in turn made her very interested in stalking them) but now they're used to her and pay her no attention, the cat's also lost interest.

I agree that in a secure run if there are hides then the rabbits will be ok. I frequently find the neighbours cat sat close to the mesh of the run and the rabbits sat the other side of the mesh next to it. Initially they hid when they saw cats, but they now seem to know that they are safe.

I put the rabbits in the run with a lot of hides as suggested. There was tarpaulin over 3/4 of the run and a tunnel into an attached hutch. I watched as the cat stalked up, then pounced. One rabbit shot into the hutch. The other just panicked and ran round. He suddenly then stopped. I scared the cat off, and my rabbit stayed still and unresponsive for ten minutes. I brought him inside and he snapped out of it.
Extra hiding places are going to work. I need to either stay sat with them or prevent a cat getting in the garden

Prevention is the best way, if you can. I don't get them now, also give the cat the scare of its life. That usually puts them off.

My next door neighbours is terrified of my lop, it made the mistake of startling him whilst he was indulged in his favourite past time - eating! he head butted the cat! it now gives him a wide berth and if he's in the garden, the cat goes the long way round.

BossHogg said:

My next door neighbours is terrified of my lop, it made the mistake of startling him whilst he was indulged in his favourite past time - eating! he head butted the cat! it now gives him a wide berth and if he's in the garden, the cat goes the long way round.

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I think our neighbours cat is scared of My bun too! They normally ignore each other but yesterday Mowgli ( the cat) decided to have a sniff around Petes run so Pete came over to have a look, they were nose to nose then Pete moved abit and Mowgli bolted!!

lindsay101 said:

I put the rabbits in the run with a lot of hides as suggested. There was tarpaulin over 3/4 of the run and a tunnel into an attached hutch. I watched as the cat stalked up, then pounced. One rabbit shot into the hutch. The other just panicked and ran round. He suddenly then stopped. I scared the cat off, and my rabbit stayed still and unresponsive for ten minutes. I brought him inside and he snapped out of it.
Extra hiding places are going to work. I need to either stay sat with them or prevent a cat getting in the garden

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It will probably get better once the cat realises he can't actually get at the rabbits. Make sure the run has a fine enough mesh that a cat can't stick a paw through!

How tall is the run? A run which is more like 3ft high than the average 2ft can help too, the cat will still be further away no matter which angle it tries to get at the bunnies!