Are they always this messy??

Hello! My family and I have recently adopted two sweet rabbits from the shelter. They are nearly 3 month old brothers, weighing just over 3 lbs each, and are pretty sweet and generally calm and happy to be handled. Just last night one of them was hopping from one to lap to another for cuddles. We've built them a 8 sq ft cage and a little "patio" off of it, but eventually would like to give them more free space in the living area of our home. For now it's not bunny proofed enough, and they're not yet litter trained.

So I have a few questions. Does any have any tips for acclimating rabbits to cats? We have two cats and I'm hoping to get them used to each other. The cats come up the cage and the rabbits sometimes stick their heads out and they've bumped noses a couple of times. When we're holding the rabbits and the cats come to sit by us we start petting them so they have a positive association with being calm around them.

Finally, are they always going to be so messy? I know they can be destructive, but I guess I didn't anticipate them to repeatedly trash their cage! They drag their food over and dump it over on purpose. Same with their hay. They pick it up and drop it until it falls and then they spread hay out everywhere and mix it with their pellets. It's either let their cage look terrible or clean it all day and I'm not sure which we should do. They like to move their litter box around, too. I did attach it to the cage but they work at it until it comes loose and then start dragging it around.

ETA one more question! Any suggestions for how to determine their breed/breeds? Is it not especially important? I'm mainly wondering how big they might get. They seem a bit large to me already for being under 3 months old.

Post some photo's that would hepl us guess some breeds :3

Also as for them being messy, I find it comes down to finding different ways to keep them from destroying their cage.
I'll post a few of the ways I have given my bunnies a better life while also keeping the mess to a minimal

You can buy feeding dishes that attach to the side of the cage. If you use a big enough litter box, you can either put the hay right in the litter box, on the opposite end of where they usually pee, or put a hay rack above the litter box. This will also help litter train them as they can poop and pee as they eat their hay. Try a snap clip, carabiner, or even a zip tie, to attach the litter box to the cage so they can't move it around.

I'm not sure about cats. I do know that you have to be really careful about biting and scratching, as the bacteria can be deadly to rabbits. You will definitely want to supervise your cats around your rabbits. There are people on here that have their cats and rabbits around each other, and they do just fine together.

Vosify - Yes, please! I would love to see your ideas. Once they're up and active I'll get some pictures. Right now they're lazing around in their little covered area.

JBun, I'll look into dishes that attach. It's just like they want stuff to be everywhere. I plan on being very careful where the cats are concerned. We're taking cautious tiny steps for the moment.

I second JBun.

-Dishes that attach to the side of the cage (Lots of different kinds)


-Keep food close to litter box (Bunnies like to eat and poop.)


-For hay use a hay rack/and or 'Dig Box' So they can destroy and move the hay around all they want > Its contained muhahaha


So far thats all I have... I'm sure others will have way better idea's

ALSO!

-Treat ball. I put a portion of their pellets inside so as they push it they can eat. Entertainment and food haha.


-Small animal Kong (I put little slices of their fruit inside) You could also stuff with pellets or veggies.


Hope this helped some. I can't wait to see photo's!

I have 3 cats around my rabbit. I've never had an issue. I have litter box problems, but that's another story. Anyway, i wouldn't force the cats and rabbits to be next to each other. You may think its positive to have a cat on one side and a bun on the other, petting both of them; but chances are the buns would be scared of the cats. You always have to keep in mind that rabbits are prey animals and cats are predators, so sometimes cats are scary. You just have to let the cats and rabbits meet each other on their own and let them get used to each other. That's what I've done with both of my rabbits. My first rabbit loved my cats, they loved her too. My baby bun now, is still working on being brave enough to walk up to a cat.

As for being messy...yes, they're always messy. We have to take measures to prevent the mess. I attached the litter box to the side of the cage, food bowl too, for my first rabbit. She would walk away with anything that wasn't hooked to something else. Haha. The baby isn't that bad. But sometimes i think they just like to wallow around in hay and forage for pellets. Is the hay in the litter box? I think its part of being a bunny parent, dealing with mess. Haha. You'll get used to it!

Congrats on your two new buns and yes we would love to see pics!

I second getting bowls that attach to the cage. As you get acclimated to your new buns, you can try different things to help keep the cage as clean as possible. But, generally speaking and just being honest, rabbits are VERY messy but youll get used to it and probably grow to laugh at it. It's a very common thing to joke about that when you deep clean a rabbits cage, get everything organized and just so, it doesnt last very long because bunny will destroy things again in the blink of an eye

I have bowls that attach and water bottles. My hayrack attaches to the side and has metal wires to keep it contained as much as possible but hay is a never ending battle. I swear you'll end up finding it everywhere! Haha

I find proactive cleaning works better for me. I scoop out the pee part of their litterbox twice a day and I'm constantly hand picking up hay and keeping things as organized as possible. But it's kind of second nature to me, not bothersome at all. I'm a bit of a neat freak, though, so keeping up with cleaning rather then letting it get bad suits me better. Also, white bar soap as been a great deterrent for me. If you rub it on whatever they are chewing/mouthing it usually prevents them from going near it again. Except I wouldn't put it on their food bowls

I also wanted to add that just because they are brothers does not mean they will stay bonded. As their hormones kick in, fighting could start. You will want to get them neutered as soon as possible to be able to keep them in the same cage. But even after their neuter you could still have problems. Male/male bonds are definetly possible but same sex bonds statistically are more prone to problems. So be prepared to possibly needing to cage them separately if fighting should occur.

Cats do carry a bacteria that is dangerous to rabbits. So be careful with introduction and always supervise. There are several people, though, that have cats and rabbits who live in harmony. It just depends on the individual animals.

They sure sound like sweeties if they are coming over for scratches and pets. Welcome to the world of rabbits and to RO

I'll read through and respond to more stuff in a moment but I just wanted to say I would never, ever force them near each other! That's not my plan or intention at all. If the cats are curious and get close, one of us pets them so they don't feel threatened or jealous of the rabbits getting attention. That's all. I'm not trying to force them together, just don't want to foster or create any issues.

Welcome to RO. I second everything on here, they are messy and they never get really out of this, you just have to minimise what they can mess. We laughed on one of the blogs about people telling us that you´ve got hay on your hair or your jumper or some other place. I´m always carrying stray pieces of hay and also hair everywhere. I do a deep clean on my enclosure every Sunday and it looks so nice when I¨ve just finished but by Sunday night, there´s hay there again and I just keep on top of it by cleaning up as I go along.

My boys lived together from little but the hormones will eventually kick it at puberty and they will probably scuffle. You may also find that they spray and poop everywhere and neutering will stop this habit as well.

Having said that, bunnies are just so great and if they´re letting you cuddle already, that´s really good. We´re all biased as we just love our bunnies. Enjoy yours and post the pics...that´s another thing we love just seeing everyone else´s buns.

The main concern with cats & rabbits is the rabbits' eyes can get scratched & infected & perhaps have to be removed. I assume this can be prevented by putting plastic caps on the cats' front nails.

Oh I love your hay box Vosify! I think I will try that for Melody.
Petals spreads her hay eveywhere! It drives me crazy somedays but.
I know that if I clean it she will just spread it all over the place again.
I just leave it now unless she pees on it.

Georgie's got a very specific idea of how her house should look. Which isn't at all the way I think it should look. So each week when I do my thorough clean up on her cage, I reset it the way I want. She spends the rest of the day rearranging it to HER specifications. I just figure it's good exercise for her and sweep up around the cage but leave the cage itself alone except for daily litter box cleaning, food delivery, etc. Then the next week we do it all over again. It funny really if you imagine them huffing and going 'mooooom, that's NOT where that goes!' like teenagers.

!!! We got some dishes that attach to the cage and as my daughter was trying to attach the food dish one of the rabbits ran over and yanked it from her hand! He drug it across the shelf and then threw it over! There's food EVERYWHERE now.

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions, plus reassurance that it's normal for them to be messy! It's one thing if that's normal for them (although I'd certainly prefer to minimize the mess) but I really don't want them to have a messy cage if that's not usual for them. I feel a bit bad about it to be honest, but don't want to mess around in their domain too much.

They were neutered about a week ago. If fighting becomes an issue, I intend to create two separate cages with a sort of shared courtyard for them to interact in. Does that sound like it will work? Doesn't seem necessary for now at least.

Love the dig box! And I love the idea of them as teenagers trying to correct what we do. That's kind of what happened when we tried putting in the new food dish. He was NOT having that.

And finally, here's a picture of Carrots (name is still tentative.) He's the smaller of the two, though not by much, and he's a little shyer. His brother is white with dark eyes but for some reason I couldn't seem to catch a good picture of him.

We love bunny pics and he´s so cute, I love his colour. They are messy little things and do love to reorganise all the good work you´ve done. I go mad with my three but I´ve now learned to live with it and just enjoy the first few moments on a Sunday when it looks pristine before I put them back in there. It´s just how they are and I work round it. Hope you can get a pic of the other one, I just love seeing everyone elses bunnies, they all have their owe cuteness.

Thanks, I love his color, too. And his ears.

Here's the bigger brother.



Yesterday he was super social but today he was more reserved until this evening. He zoomed around the cage for a bit, got mad about the new food dish, threw the tunnel off the second level, then took a long nap. Now he's up and in a better mood. He was just hopping around their patio and trying to rearrange it. Not the stuff in it, but the structure itself! I think he might be a control freak.

Aww they both are so lovely! I love the picture of the one flopped out both gorgeous colors. Glad you found us here. Will be looking to hear more from you!

Thanks.

I just love white rabbits and he looks so cute flopped out. I also look forward to hearing more of their adventures :biggrin2: