cat and bunnies

[Rosey]

So how do I keep from putting my cat in the dog house? haha.
My little kitten orion is driving me nuts! He is 8 months old andcurious. I don't think he would intentionally hurt Spring but it scaresme.
Do you guys let your bunnies out seperatly from the cats or what? I'mpretty sure the adult cats are not going to hurt spring, they are justcurious. I've let them sniff the box he rode home in and still have itout for them.
I have trained him to not use his claws and taught him it was notallowed and I have seen him put his paw in the cage but i'm pretty surehe didn't have his claws out. I rough house with him on purpose and hehas never used his claws on me. I did that with Sephie too for him toget used to being handled and because my daughter was so young at thetime, a little manhandled too. I can pull Orion's tail and he'll swatbut never claws.
Anyways I'm rambling but what do you guys do?

 

[undergunfire]

My kitty that I found one day, he chose to comehome with me and I hate cats:grumpy:disgust, comes into my room thenlikes to jump over the NIC panel fence and into the bunnies area. Iwatch him closely, but it's not enough. He thinks the bunnies aresomething he can swat at and chase. One day while I was watching him tomake sure he was just looking at the bunnies in their area, he decidedto wrap his paws around Mallory's head and try to twist him over ontohis side/back (like cats do when they play with other cats)....itscared the *$*&#^ out of me, so that was ENOUGH. He is veryplayful, so I don't trust him.

The other cat, my fiance's moms, likes to go in with the bunnies andshe will actually groom them. It's adorable to watch her bathe theirface and ears. I again, don't trust her though. I just don't trust thecats around any other animal besides cats, lol.


Those are the cats in my house though. They go outside and come inside.Maybe cats that stay strictly indoors are better with the buns? I amnot sure....I am sure someone else will have more help for you though.



- Amy:brownbunny

 

[naturestee]

My kittens are so-so with the bunnies.Oberon, my 10 lb New Zealand, loves them. Two of the smallerones like them, one is ok but shy, the smallest wants to kill thecats.:shock:

I have two kittens. One is about 1 year, the other is about10 months. I adopted them young and wanted to more or lessraise them around the rabbits, but they were too sick for the first fewmonths so I couldn't. They still do pretty well, although Ionly let them out with Oberon at the moment. I'm too busybonding bunnies together to work on bonding the cats to them.

Step 1: Keep the cat's nails clipped short, or better yet use plastic nail caps like Soft Paws.

Step 2: Harness train your cat. Then introduce himto the rabbit while he's on the harness. This will allow youto stop him quickly in an emergency, for example if he thinks he canwrestle with a rabbit like he would with another cat.

Step 3: Go slowly and carefully, and tell the cat "no" if heswats at the rabbit, even if his claws aren't out. He'll needto be taught that rabbits aren't toys.

I highly recommend putting hardwire cloth around your rabbit's cage sothe cat can't get get his paws in. It's cheap at hardwarestores, and you can just tie it on with zip ties.

 

[maherwoman]

I have two kitties (almost three years of age), and they used to try to stick curious paws in the cage.

Two suggestions:

1. Trim your kitty's claws. If you don't have anyexperience in this, let me know and I can send you a GREAT site thatexplains it (pictures and all).

2. Buy something called "hardware cloth" from somewhere likeHome Depot. It's a galvanized wire mesh that you can zip tieto the outside of the cage, and comes in sizes that have about 1cmholes in it (see picture below). We've put it around ourbunnies' cages, and it has just the right sized holes to keep kittiesfrom being able to insert curious paws. Just be sure to bendany cut ends, as they tend to be quite sharp (bend, as in like a hem).

Here's a picture of what it looks like:

Between those two things, and supervised time together, you should findthat it's a lot easier to have the two around each other.

Let me know if you need any additional help or advice, ok?

Hugs to all!

Rosie*

 

[ahri22]

I was nervous introducing our bunny to the cats at first...but soon realised that he scared them more than the other way around!

He was good friends with the youngest cat (seen together in my avatar),but the cat would try and play with him as if he was a cat, too, whichworried me a bit, as he'd bite the bunny around his face...(in afriendly way, but I was worried the bun would get hurt).

The bunny used to bail up one of the bigger cats, who'd have to fightto defend himself! One day the bunny had a bad eye infection (he was onantibiotic ointment for awhile and had to have injections every day forthree days, and he looked AWFUL), well, the silly bunny goes andcorners the cat, takes a chunk of the cat's fur out, and then gets anice scratch on the top of his infected eyelid for his troubles!!! Forthe next few days I had to separate the bunny from that cat, just forthe bunny's safety, even though it was the bunny who was instigatingall the problems!!

Also, the bunny did have the occasional scab/scratch on him, and I think it was from roughish play with the cats...

However, the cats never attacked him! As I said, one would play withhim, and another would defend itself against him, but there was neverany real aggression towards the bunny...if anything he was moreaggressive than the cats!

Still, it's a good idea to keep an eye on a bunny and a cat, especiallywhen they don't know each other well! I do think cats are more curiouswhen the bunny is in a cage...and they will put their paws in and tryand bat at the bunny, and may accidentally scratch and hurt withoutmeaning to!

Cheers
Fiona

 

[NZminilops]

My cats are great with my bunnies. Thebunnies and cats treat eachother as equals. Just this evening I hadJack and the two kitties (6 months and 3-ish months) all on the lawngoing crazy together. They will happily run and play for hours.

 

[Rosey]

Ok to watch very carefully and see then.

That wire stuff, how hard to cut and bend? I'd have to buy cutters I think but that might be a plan.

 

[naturestee]

I have wire clippers in the house, so I just used those. It bends very easily.