How do you know if your rabbit is being playful,aggressive or curious with your other animals?

[foreverblue127]

Hello,

I am having a hard time trying to figure out if my rabbit is being friendly or kinda pushy with my cat. My cat is trying to become friends. That in itself is rather strange. He does not like other cats and only tolerates dogs. Loves people though. Now it seems he is enjoying having the rabbit around. The cat runs around the furniture and through the kitty tunnel which the bunny also uses. All the while the rabbit chases him.He almost seems to like him too much if you know what I mean.:confused2:

He follows/chases any animal that goes by. I went to let my four BIG dogs out and they went stampeding out the door with the rabbit in close pursuit. Is he being territorial or is he trying to play? It seems with the cat he might be playing. I am not sure with the dogs. He needs to learn to stay away from them. Two my dogs I trust while the other two are never allowed out of my line of sight when the bunny is out playing.

 

[Amy27]

Both of my rabbits have chased my cat. One time one of them did it out of aggression. It was right after I brought a second rabbit home. When she did it she really chased, grunted and lunged at the cat.

The other times it really isn't even fast running when they chase the cats so I know they are just doing it for fun. They will hop after them, making the cat run and then the bunny is done. She doesn't like chase the cat through the whole house. However for me, even though the rabbits are doing it as fun, the cat does not think it is fun. So when I see it, I put a stop to it. The rabbits don't do it much anymore. I was more concerned about the cat feeling trapped and attacking the rabbit out of fear. I have one cat that is afraid of everything.

When my buns do this I would say NO! in a stern voice and then get up to stop the chasing. If my cat didn't mind, I would let it go on. But like I said above, I can tell my cat does mind lol.

Though my buns were not aggressive, and I think they found it fun. I still think it was a territorial thing. If they could chase the cat anywhere they want, they think they are higher up. They've got the control if the cat is scared and runs.

If I was you, I would probably try to stop it. I think it would be hard for your rabbit to understand I can do this with the cat and not the dog. I would also be worried about your cat getting tired of it one day.

 

[Flash Gordon]

Petunia chases my cats to fight them...she is very aggressive to them and if they dont get out of her way fast enough they get hit head on by her ..very hard!..so i stop it also ,,all my buns chase the cats out of the room ..its a control thing like Amy said ....as for ur dogs and the bunnies ..i dont let my dogs in the same room with my rabbits unless my bunnies are caged...EVER!!.if u even have an inkling that u dont trust ur dogs then please dont let them be in the same room...ive heard horror stories where people said the same thing u are and it happens so fast ,,and when dogs are in chase mode they dont hear ur commands i dont care how trained they are.....i would not be as concerned about the cats as i would ur dogs....its not the dogs fault either ..its instinct ..u cant control instinct...ur bun relies on u to keep him safe..please dont trust the two together.

 

[foreverblue127]

Thanks for the advice guys. The only time the rabbit and the dogs are in the same room is when I take them out to go the the bathroom. We have a living room attached to the dinning and I block the rabbit into the dinning room with a fence. The dogs have to go through the dinning room to get to the back door. That's the only place I have for him were he can roam free. The cat really seems to want to play, but your right things could go wrong. I will put an end to that too.