can a cat and a rabbit be friends?

[magicstorm101]

I have my rabbit Tenshi. (He's a male,and most likely around a year or so) he's pretty even-tempered,and is hard to anger. He does well with strangers usually.

Then,there's Jamie. He's a 3 month old kitten,and he's new to the home.he's only been around for a short time,but he's gotten use to the place.

Jamie is very interested in Tenshi,and likes to sleep on top of his cage,and lick his face through the bars. Sometimes he runs up to the cage to get the rabbit's attention,and runs away,expecting Tenshi to chase him(althought the rabbit only sits there awkwardly in the cage,watching him).Tenshi isn't too crazy about the little tiny predator roaming around his place,but tolarates him to a point. He sniffs Jamie a lot,and doesn't like it when Jamie plays on top of his cage. (Once he repeatedly jumped on the cage,rolling and rattling it,and Tenshi gave him a warning nip.) For the most part though,he seems to have a neutral tolarace for the kitten.I haven't seen any aggressive signs aside from the nip.while Jamie wants the bunny to be his playmate.

I've seen a lot of cases where rabbits and cats have been friends,and since nothing has really soured their neutral relationship,I thought id give it a try. I know there's know sure way to make sure they become friends,and that they might not ever become friends.I also know that it might take a long time,especially with the age gap. But how do I kinda 'set the playing field' for them? How do I slowly get them accustomed to each other?

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

In my situation I feel that the best thing was that they got used to being together by not being too close. There has to be boundaries set, by you, to ensure each animal has a safe place they can call their own. This means making sure that your cat doesn't EVER go into the rabbits cage and that the rabbit isn't going into the cats bed.

Other techniques I've used and continue to use are feeding, playing and petting them while they are in the same room together. This becomes a positive association to both animals that makes them feel like only good things happen(eating, petting, playing) when they are together.

If it were me, I'd try to keep the cat off the cage. Limit their direct interaction together and make sure that they are never left alone. Kittens are way too unpredictable, especially as the grow into their teenage years so to speak.

What you don't want to happen is that they get into a fight. The consequences can be bad for both physically and mentally. It's easier to have them bond with each other slowly, rather than them have a fight, and then want nothing to do with each other. It's a lot harder to move forward in the trust and bonding if there was an altercation.

 

[njbunny]

My cat loves my bunny but he looks at him more like a cat and wants to play with him like a cat. Spot just sits there and could care less about my cat but I still monitor them when spot is out free roaming. If my cat seems to be getting too crazy I bring out the cat toy and burn off some energy with him before letting him by Spot again.

 

[missyscove]

My roommate has two cats who want to play with the rabbits, but they play with teeth and claws when they play with eachother and I am sure they'd hurt the rabbits. As it is they reach their arms through the baby gate in my doorway and swat at the rabbits.

I would never leave a rabbit alone with any animal of another species without supervision. Cat bites are nasty and full of bacteria and can easily kill a rabbit.

 

[Aubrisita]

Tonks and Ollie are my two 8 year old cats and they are more concerned with stealing bunny and guinea pig hay. They could care less that there is usually a bunny or three guinea pigs running around my room. When they were kittens, I had a very dominate male piggie that made sure to let them know their place. We have never had any issues...thanks Spike.

 

[Michelledickerhoff]

I have 2 female cats which I had before I got my male rabbit. My rabbit would not stop humping the girl kitties! It got so bad he was spraying the whole house and even sprayed me! I had to get him neutered, which helped a lot he rarely tries to hump them anymore, when the 2 cats play and chase each other my rabbit (bun buns) tries so hard to get involved and play too. I'll see the 2 cats run by and then him hopping right along behind them! It's so cute!

 

[PolishRabbitmama]

I just started to let our 4 mos old Mason play around the cat. My oldest cat is 2 and the youngest is 6 mos. We won't be letting our 6 mos old play when Mason is out. Bush dwellers do better I would think than a tree dwelling cat. My bush dweller is actually afraid of Mason. We watch carefully when the cat and bun are together. So far the bush dweller ignores Mason. First time out my tree dweller tried to attack so we put her up and away. After awhile I hope the cat will like Mason. Because she never has tried to hurt my degus.Which she pretty much ignores. My kitten just wants to eat the degus.