PuppMarachella
New Kit
Hi everyone,
Back on this forum as you folk were extremely helpful when I was bonding my new rescue rabbit to my widower lionhead.
Last year I adopted a kitten. He grew up around rabbits and even sits like a bunny. He has got very little hunter instinct, and although sometimes he is curious, he never gets too close to them - one could say he's even terrified.
Unfortunately one of my rabbits passed 6 months ago, and I had to find a companion for the surviving one. We adopted a lady mini lop, and we did let the rescue know that there was a bunny friendly cat in the home.
The pets are never together unsupervised, and have separate litter areas / feeding areas. However, when we are in the living room, we are all together. This has never been a problem, but since we finished bonding, we started noticing the rescue rabbit getting increasingly more territorial and aggressive towards the cat.
She chases him away, then does poop and pee to make the territory. The cat goes into hiding when chased, and returns after 5 or 10 minutes being careful and avoiding her.
We always try to prevent this if we spot it happening, but I got distracted while I was preparing a meal and unfortunately she bit the cat.
I found some fur and a little bite on his hind leg and now I fear for the worst - meaning this will become increasingly violent and dangerous for the both of them. I think the rescue hasn't been entirely honest with us and they just wanted to get rid of a bunny, as they told us she was very avoidant and shy around cats - and that she could live in a horn with cats. As they also lied about one of her health conditions, I wouldn't be surprised.
We love the cat, and want to protect him. We also are aware that the surviving bunny's mood and quality or life have significantly increased since he found another mate - so we are at an impass as to how to manage this.
Any ideas on how to try and coexist more happily? I am told some people used spray bottles to deter bunny attacks, and that stops things in the long run - but I am not sure.
I don't have the space to keep everyone separate, as it would mean permanently exclude one or two of the pets from our daily life - and it wouldn't be fair on them all in terms of enrichment and space (the other room is very tiny).
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Back on this forum as you folk were extremely helpful when I was bonding my new rescue rabbit to my widower lionhead.
Last year I adopted a kitten. He grew up around rabbits and even sits like a bunny. He has got very little hunter instinct, and although sometimes he is curious, he never gets too close to them - one could say he's even terrified.
Unfortunately one of my rabbits passed 6 months ago, and I had to find a companion for the surviving one. We adopted a lady mini lop, and we did let the rescue know that there was a bunny friendly cat in the home.
The pets are never together unsupervised, and have separate litter areas / feeding areas. However, when we are in the living room, we are all together. This has never been a problem, but since we finished bonding, we started noticing the rescue rabbit getting increasingly more territorial and aggressive towards the cat.
She chases him away, then does poop and pee to make the territory. The cat goes into hiding when chased, and returns after 5 or 10 minutes being careful and avoiding her.
We always try to prevent this if we spot it happening, but I got distracted while I was preparing a meal and unfortunately she bit the cat.
I found some fur and a little bite on his hind leg and now I fear for the worst - meaning this will become increasingly violent and dangerous for the both of them. I think the rescue hasn't been entirely honest with us and they just wanted to get rid of a bunny, as they told us she was very avoidant and shy around cats - and that she could live in a horn with cats. As they also lied about one of her health conditions, I wouldn't be surprised.
We love the cat, and want to protect him. We also are aware that the surviving bunny's mood and quality or life have significantly increased since he found another mate - so we are at an impass as to how to manage this.
Any ideas on how to try and coexist more happily? I am told some people used spray bottles to deter bunny attacks, and that stops things in the long run - but I am not sure.
I don't have the space to keep everyone separate, as it would mean permanently exclude one or two of the pets from our daily life - and it wouldn't be fair on them all in terms of enrichment and space (the other room is very tiny).
Any advice is greatly appreciated.