Familiarizing your Bun with a... dog? cat?

[Astro_Girl]

Hi everyone!!

Although i do not have a dog living with me, i make trips now and then down to my parents house and i bring my little bun with me of course! We set up a nice room for her, and she does great on the car ride, and falls back into her normal routine pretty quickly. My parents have 3 shih-tzus, one of them is mine! She is gentle, never barks, blind, and just the sweetest dog ever.

I have really only let my dog in (not the other two), because i know she's completely harmless, and Molly, my bun, doesn't seem to mind. Last time, Molly even went up to my dog Peanut after a bit, nose to nose, and then hopped away.

How do you guys have your bunny become comfortable with your other pets? Is there some specific strategy, or is it just slow time and patience?

I'd like to one day not have to keep my little bun in that room, and have her wander around (after bunny proofing of course) the house. I'd really love to see her run around and binky and consider it a familiar second-home.

I've seen lots of bunny and dog/cat combos! So i know it can be done!

btw, my bunny is not spayed yet, idk if that matters, but my dogs are all fixed of course.

 

[JBun]

I'm bumping this up for you. I don't have cats or dogs though, so don't really have any experience to offer.

You could also do a search to find other threads where this type of thing is discussed.

 

[FreezeNkody]

It takes time. Fortunately my rabbits get along with my other animals (3 dogs, 2 cats) I just set boundaries my dogs knew that they weren't toys. It's hard to say what I did, because I just let my rabbits run around with the dogs in kennels first. Some rabbits may not even like the dogs or vice versa.

 

[Aubrisita]

My one lab Lilly could care less about the bunny, my other lab Bubba can not be trusted around small animals. He has a much higher prey drive. My cats love the bunny and my piggies. They have grown up with them so they are comfy with them. I kept them at bay til Stache (my bunny) seemed ok with the cats and now he likes them. He even lets Tonks groom him.

My advice would be to take your cues from the animals. Watch body language and just go slow. Good luck!

 

[Imbrium]

It really comes down to the personalities (and prey drives) of your specific cats/dogs. The only experience I have with my own rabbits and a dog is my next door neighbor's little poodle-looking mix, Max. Max was raised with cats and we all feel he seems to think he IS a cat, lol.

I took my bunnies over there and set them up in a pen in her kitchen once because their bond had broken, I needed neutral territory to work with them in and she adores my bunnies. Max was obsessed with the bunns and constantly investigating through the pen bars, but wasn't trying to attack them - he was just curious as hell . He and Nala touched noses a time or two. The bunnies wanted him to GTFO, though, as they'd thump whenever they thought he was being too nosy.

As for cats... I lost my "heart" kitty a year and a half before I got my bunnies. I got the bunns because I couldn't stand not having any animals in the house but I still just wasn't ready for a new cat (also, the house was way too cluttered at the time for me to trust a cat in it). I wanted something that was similar to a cat, though (something large enough to snuggle even if I had to wait for them to be in the mood, full of personality and not a dog) and one day I arbitrarily woke up determined that "I'm gonna get a bunny today!".

I felt like I might still want another cat during the bunnies' lifetimes and contemplated the best way to go about it if I ever did. My gut instinct was that the best/easiest/safest option (aside from a very old cat that wasn't much of a hunter any more) would be a kitten that was smaller than my rabbits. Two rabbits vs one kitten when they had the size advantage seemed like it would probably intimidate the kitten and teach it that bunnies weren't playthings. I suspected that even though the kitten would obviously get much larger than my < 5 lb bunnies, it would never get over that first impression of the bunnies being bigger.

I ended up testing both theories when I ended up in a relationship with my best friend and moved in with him and his two cats - Roo, who turns 16 in January, and Dusty, who is around 14 months old now. Roo's a massive beast of a cat, but has no interest in chasing bunnies around. When my pets and I first showed up, Dusty was smaller than Nala (my 3.5ish lb lionhead and the bossy one of my bunns). Nala laid down the law with her in no uncertain terms, lol, and Dusty was *terrified* of my bunnies (Nala, especially). She eventually got used to them and I caught her "stalking" Gaz a time or two when I briefly tried free-ranging the bunnies (who proved too naughty to be trusted), but she never actually pounced and always stayed 5+ feet back from her. To this day, a thump and a glare from Nala will send Dusty running away.

Cats pose an inherent risk to bunnies no matter how well they seem to get along, though, because cat scratches and bites introduce bacteria that can be deadly (more info). All it might take is the bunny pushing the cat into a defensive swat or nip. Our cats always go for that swat rather than trying to bite if they're pissed off and we keep "soft claws" nail tips on them, so I feel the risk they pose to the bunnies is very minimal and I'm comfortable having them all in the same room if we've got the bunnies out of their pen.

The main reason my bunnies aren't allowed to free-range is the cats. I didn't try free-ranging them until we'd been here a few months and I gave everyone a couple weeks to adjust to the new set-up... but things got progressively worse instead of better. The bunnies terrorized the cats and the cats spent most of their time hiding in our bedroom because the bunnies had taken over the living room. They would eat the cats' food, post up at their food dish, post up in the cats' litter box (which has wood pellets that are bunny-safe, not clay cat litter), you name it. When the sinus infections we had at the time started to clear, we discovered that the bunnies had been peeing on all the cats' things (beds/pads, furniture, etc.). That was the last straw - bunnies went back to living in a pen.

Here's a good site about introducing bunnies and dogs - http://www.rabbit.org/journal/1/dogs.html

 

[GardenSpots]

As others have said, it depends on the personalities of the animals involved.


I have 2 dogs, both with high prey drive as that is a trait I specifically look for in a dog as it makes training more fun for me. It makes training with toys much easier and I like the interaction that provides. That being said, my dogs hike off leash and have been taught not to chase wildlife, so even though they have strong prey drives, it can be controlled. So, knowing I can depend on them not to chase critters, I knew I would be successful integrating the bunny into the household if I took the time to work with them.


The first week I had the bunny I had an expen set up so the bunny could roam one part of the house while the dogs had the rest. I did not let the bunny out unless I could be concentrating on observing the dogs 100% of the time. I wanted to be able intercept the dogs at the point they were THINKING about interacting inappropriately with the bunny. The one dog I knew was going to be more difficult than the other as her absolute favorite thing to do at the pet store is to stand for hours watching the rodents. She thought Petsmart had opened a store in the living room! I did have to correct her on two occasions in those first couple of days, but not since (and I have had the bunny since the end of April).


Once the dogs attitudes became sort of non-chalant with the bunny on the other side of the gate, then I put one dog in a crate and took the other one on leash into the bunny's area and the dog got lots of rewards for interacting positively. I did this with both dogs separately. We did that for a few days and then did the same with the expen put away and bunny free roaming the entire living room. Eventually we graduated to the easier dog off leash while the other remained on leash, and then both dogs loose with bunny running around.


After the inital 2 weeks, all three have been running the house together when I am home. You do need to use common sense. I do not leave the dogs and bunny loose together ever. If I am going to be out of sight for more than a couple of minutes the dogs go with me or the bunny goes in his condo. They are still dogs and he is still a rabbit. We do live very peacefully together. My dogs did have a lot of foundation training as far as wildlife goes long before I introduced the bunny to the household though, so it was just a matter of teaching them that the resident bunny is the same as the wild bunny (deer, squirrel, etc.) we happen upon and chasing is off limits.

 

[Imbrium]

I wanted to be able intercept the dogs at the point they were THINKING about interacting inappropriately with the bunny.

Reading pets' minds is *such* a useful skill, and not just for this sort of situation! From what I recall, dogs seem to take it in stride... cats, rabbits and sugar gliders, however, are noticeably displeased when you read their mind and thwart their naughtiness .

 

[Stephankne]

I'm having to leave my rabbit with my mom while I go out of town for a few days- similar to you I'm interested in how to bond them with her pets (two dogs and a rabbit) even though he won't seem them all the time or often.

The dogs and cat should be okay with the rabbit because they've been around them before (I had a rabbit for 5 years up until about 2 years ago when I moved out)

However I'm worried my new skittish bun will freak out and run and the dogs will (by instinct) chase him which will make it worse...

My other rabbits were really calm and my new guy is afraid of everything