Please help new bunny owner, few questions

Hello All
Just a few quick questions.....................
I have recently got a bunny, Pepsi. She's a dwarf lop, Grey about 2years old . Is very friendly and affectionate. She lives in her hutch in my garden, but when i get home from work she comes indoors and spends the evening with us she loves it, Runs around and does loads of binxies (i think thats right, Binxies???) :?
But I hate having to get her out her hutch, She doesnt like being picked up, Any suggestions? Also I hate putting her back and would love to have her as a house bunny, But at the mo im just introducing Pepsi & Bubbles (my cat) to eachother, there becoming more and more like friends every day. Does any one else have a cat and bunny, that have become buddies? Anyway, I'll get to the point...............................
Do you need to have a hutch in the house with a house bunny?, If not where do they sleep and where do you put there hay.
Do they not chew cables? I've heard bad stories, fingers crossed pepsi hasnt done it yet.
What do you do with the bunnies at night?

mmmmmmm Think thats it.
Thank You
oh and what a great website, Fab Idea :?

Hi and welcome, Lots of people have house bunnies most use Dog crates to house the bunnies in when there not at home or at night. Hay food and water can all be kept in the dog crate.

Bunnies will and do chew wires. You will need to bunnyproof your house hide all cables where she can not get them.

Cats and Rabbits can get along extremely well we have a cat and although my buns are outdoor they live in large enclosures which the cat can get into and he does go a visit the buns. One of my buns in particular (pan) he will go a snuggle up to XXXX

Rabbits are prey animals and therefore are not comfortable being picked up. You could just let her hop into her carrier and whilst she is in the house start getting her used to being cuddled, it will take time and it will have to be done slowly.

if she lives outside then technically no she isn't a house bunny, but it is good to bring in her in every evening. Some members, including myself use dog crates instead of hutches indoors, they work really well and the biggest ones are a nice size, providing the rabbit with plenty of room. There is a post on making a second level as well. :wink: You can use hutches, but they are harder to clean and smaller in my opinion, and there are also indoor rabbit cages, but they are far too small! :wink: Rabbits usually adjust well to living indoors and can be potty trained, it is easier if they are spayed to train them though. Is she spayed? If you are unsure about getting her spayed if she isn't then there is a post on the pros and cons of spaying. Of course a good vet must be found if you decide to go ahead. :wink:

Rabbits will chew cables if given the chance so you will have to rabbit proof the room and I wouldn't leave them unsupervised, they can chew funiture and stuff as well, they are like little puppies at times! :lol:

Oh and welcome to rabbits unitedm I hope you love it here as much as I do, it can be a very addictive site! :lol:

Hello Loulou, and of course welcome to the site.

My two buns live in my lounge, I let them run around whenever I'm in but when I am at work or in bed they live in a big dog crate.....



I made a second shelf for mine (instructions are in the Rabbit Car e Reference Section) to give them extra space but thats not essential, the crate was big enough as it was. So there is always hay and water etc in there, I also give them a small litter tray in their cage and a big one out of the cage.

As for wires and things, yes, you will need to bunny proof your house. I have boxed all the wires in behind the TV, so they're out of the way. I also have hosepipe on some cables - I know some people use cable tidy which sort of zips around the wires I think - I'm sure someone else can give you info on that.

I hope your bunny and your cat continue to get along, I've thought about trying this in the past, I'd be interested to know what the outcome is with them and if anyone else has done it.

Hi and welcome :wave:

I guess this weather its fine to bring bunnies inside as its warm outside and indoors. I don't want to put a dampner on anything but I read can't remember where :roll: that it isnt very good for a bun to experience drastic changes in tempreture for example.....


If a bun lives outside, in the winter he will have gained a thick fur coat to insulate him from the cold, so to bring him into a warm central heated house, he will over heat. And then after a few hours he will be put back outside in the cold.

I would suggest if you can, make her a perminant house bunny.

3 of my buns live in a shed and the other 2 live in a wendy house so even if its raining or cold we can still spend time with them.

thank you all for your help

Thank You so much,
Oh dear didnt think about the tempreture difference, good point thanks.
I want her to be a pemenant house bunny, But at the mo we're are all in a 1 bedroom flat, me, Pepsi, Bubbles (my cat), Pingu, snowy (budgies), my fish, oh yer nearly forgot and my hubby :lol: Luckily the flat has a garden so i can have all these wonderful animals.
So I havent got room for a dog crate Which is really anoying. Because I hate putting my bunny away.
You all seems so friendly and all your coments and pics have been and are, really really really helpful. Such a nice bunch of people thanks

Hi loulou

My bunny George lives in the house with me,hubby,2kids,2 cats and stuart little our hamster!
George has a wired cage with an opening so he can go in and out when he wants.You can buy them at pets at home...however I got Geoge his from Lil for £25,it was a special offer last week.You could go to ur local one and see if they have them.

I have 2 cats and they are ok with my bunny.You need to becareful that ur cats claws are not sharp incase the bunny has his eyes scratched.
At first i introduced them for short periods of time....then increased it.
I dont mind the bunny out when im there to supervise(am stay at homemum)...but when i go out i ALWAYS close his cage.Better to be safe than sorry!!
One of my cats is friendlier with George than the other...they chase each other but the cat can get a bit naughty,so we keep her claws very short.
Although,my bunny is fairly aggressive so he could probably give as good as he gets!

Hope you get Pepsis' living arrangments sorted.


Oh will add...about wires!George ate through my hubbys ps2 cables!!!
He used to eat wires constantly but now we put out boxes for him to eat and playing football with him...its his fave!!!
I just pointed out with a firm NO when he went to the wires so he has given up chewing them....well for the moment anyway!


Hope that helps.

Leesa.

Hi
yeah Pepsi and Bubs are getting friendlier, Its hard because Pepsi just loves Bubbles so much i think she thinks she's another bunny. Every now and then she will run over to her, or if bubbles comes in the room she will run at her, I think she's thinking "arr bubbles long time no see, yippee lets play" :lol:
The cats like mmmmm No way!
I do have to be careful because Bubbles was a rescue cat and is a real mummy's girl, sleeps on my pillow every night, so i dont want her to get jealous. Or to be scared of the bunny.
If i give my bunny attention i normaly have to stroke my cat at the same time, But there getting there. Like you said it does take time, and i would never leave them alone. There getting there they were both in my front room last night laying about a foot apart and didnt take any notice of eachother.

Sooty and Lolly are in a big pen together made with pen panels from RR website. You could use a biggish carrier as a house in the pen and then it wont be associated with "bad" things. How much indoor space do you have to keep the cat away in another room for a while?

I'm going to hijack this thread for a moment (that's twice in one night), I heard some story about mating btwn. cat and rabbit. They even have a name for it called Catbit. The outcome is an animal that hops but his ear is like cat.

So I always thought cat and bunny can't live in the same house if one is a male, the other is a female. Has anyone heard of this Catbit story?

hmm, not sure about the catbit?? maybe someone is winding you up, genetics are very complicated!!!

I keep my house bunny in a large indoor cage (it's as big as a large dog crate but with a deeper tray to kep his beeding in!!) I put him out in a run in the garden during the day and he runs around downstairs when I'm home, He's in to everything tho. I've put my cables through some hosepipe but he still chews up my rugs and dvd covers when he can reach them!!! It makes you a tidy person having a house bunny, cos you can't leave stuff on the floor!!
I've also got two dogs and two cats, the rabbit is boss of them all, I supervised them all very closely on first introductions but now they all seem to live and let live!! The rabbit even turfs the cats off their radiator bed!!! I still feel guilty tho about him being on his own, so he's going to be castrated on Weds (eek!!) and then I'm going to look into getting him a friend!

xx

Hello! I have four houserabbits, two of which have no cage at all. Instead they have a towel laid out on the floor which is like their "area", it has their food bowl and water bowl on it, as well as a litter tray in one corner and a bowl of dried grass. Originally I bought a cage as that's what Miles was living in (he was my first bunny), and shut him in there at night to stop him doing damage. Eventually though, he learned that chewing cables and eating carpets was wrong - I told him off with a squirt of water - and now he stays out all the time with Miffy.

What I would say is protect your cables (JML cable tidies are great for this and only £5 each), and watch for them burrowing into the corners of your carpet - I put down blocks of MDF in the corners and edges as these are cheap and last forever! Also, make sure Pepsi is litter trained before you move her in, or you might have to follow her around with some pretty strong carpet cleaner! :-D

If you want to keep a cage as well, here's a picture of my other two house bunnies China and Rocket - they live in a cage and puppy pen (cost £75 in total) which gives them lots of space without having to worry about cables etc. Of course they still come out for cuddles!!



Good luck, and if you have any more questions, please ask.

AMETHYST

Hi
I dont have much indoor space we're in a 1 bed flat with garden, But the cat goes in the bedroom if she gets scared, I have no room to put a dog crate, will hopefuly be moving soon then she can come inside!
My cat is a girl and so is Pepsi, they dont not get on just Pepsi charges at the cat whenevr she sees her, then runs around doing loads of binxies (or is it binkies?) Little monkey, I dont want my cat to stop coming in when the rabbits out because she's to scared. I do make a fuss of her, so she doesnt fell left out.
I have lamintate floor, so not to bad if she wee's. But i also have a big fluffy rug in the middle of the room and her fav trick is going to the corner of the rug and then rolling it up for me. Fingers crossed she hasnt chewed any cable, Just a cardboard box and i give her some toilet roll holders.

A Catbit is impossible . Someone was winding you up!

Genetically their chromosomes couldn't pair properly to create live offspring even if a cat or rabbit were actually able to get their "bits" to line up enough to mate properly. Usually the rabbits will try and show they are dominant by mounting the cats but they don't actually try and mate. It would be rare to see a cat mount a rabbit.

Cats and rabbits have complementary body language. If a rabbit is groomed it thinks it is boss and if a cat grooms it thinks it is boss so when a cat grooms a rabbit they both think they are boss (I got that from the house rabbit society website).

Caz

If I did see a "rabbit" hoping in the wild park, a rather large rabbit, at least 12+ lb., and his ear is very tiny, like car ear, what kind of rabbit would that be?

For those who concern about cable being bitten, get a water rubber hose with thick wall, so if the diameter of the hose is say 1.5", then there is no way for the rabbit to open his mouth wide enough to bite thru the hose. It is still slightly possible for him to bite the surface, but the round surface is so slippy that he can't really bite on it.

hi

that would be a rabbit that sadly lost its ears in an accident - not a 'catbit' - a horse can mate with a donkey because they are from the same order genetically - a cat and a rabbit are from totally different classes of animal - one is a carnivore, one is a lagomorph - it's impossible for them to produce a 'mule' .

Re: hi

elve said:

that would be a rabbit that sadly lost its ears in an accident - not a 'catbit' - a horse can mate with a donkey because they are from the same order genetically - a cat and a rabbit are from totally different classes of animal - one is a carnivore, one is a lagomorph - it's impossible for them to produce a 'mule' .

Click to expand...

Sorry I had to chuckle - I know you mean't that metophorically but I just had a picture of the proud mummy cat and daddy rabbit rocking a baby horse in a crib :lol:

I think I should go back to bed

Caz