How do you social a cat around bunnies?

[Hermelin]

Maybe not the correct place to ask the question under but my bunnies are used to cats.

All other cats that have been near them have always been quite natural because of how they behaved with grooming them, Sleeping, cuddling and no play. I’ve never had to do anything between a cat and my bunnies. It just naturally happened that they behaved friendly. The cats that weren’t friendly where always chased away. Bare in mind I never owned a cat before. The cats have been my neighbors cats.

I have built it up to Loke being in a harness while Fenris jumps freely around. Today I saw Loke being triggered into play or hunt mood when Fenris was doing her zoomies & binkies near him. Of course I stopped that behavior the moment I saw him crouch down. The distraction I made stopped Loke to focus on Fenris and he was back to just sniffing and ignoring her while she went on with her normal binky self.

The normal behavior he’s been showing around them are just observing and sniffing them. Most of the time he will just meow at them and then give a sniff that’s all he does. I’m taking it slow between them and I’m rewarding the good behaviors while stopping the bad.

 

[CrazyChickenGirl]

I did similar things when socializing our cats with my rabbits. My rabbits have a enclosure in a room that neither cats nor dogs ever get to go into though so my socializing them was just for when they were under supervision. One thing that you can do so that Loki doesn’t have to wear a harness is keep a spray bottle in hand, if Loki does something that you want to discourage then you squirt him. That’s how I trained our kittens (they were around 4 months old when I started) to behave with my rabbits.

 

[Momma Luvbun]

I feel that animals in a house, if treated fairly and shown the same love tend to understand that they are family not food.
I had a feline who was missing for 4 years before I got him back. In the year just before, I decided to get my black beauty as a 12 week old kit so she was a year old when we brought our feline back home.
I had a week of work and left my feline in my bedroom set up with food, water and litterbox while Peps was out in our apartment. Once the weekend came it was open door policy.
Took my feline a bit to come out and when he did, he ran back into my bedroom (baby gate to keep bunbun out).
Eventually he came back out to the living room and came for a couch cuddle.
Well low and behold Peps was a lovey girl and she loved cuddles with mom too, so up she came. And then it was face to face introduction! They actually did very well and I was left impressed and kinda shocked.
Sure my feline gave my bun a few meows and a tap tap of the paw but no aggression. The following week of work, I kept Olly in the bedroom and opened my bedroom door when I got home. This helped him come out more and more and by the end of the month they were best of friends. I later brought in a rescue for peps to care for and love.
After she passed I got Olly and Peps' widowbun a new lady, and Olly loved her just as much as he did Peps.
Now my widowbun and Olly got along, but Olly only gave the ladies kisses.
Olly passed in August and now it's just my buns and I.

I guess the moral of my story is that they need time for supervised interaction and to be shown that they are all loved and we are all family.

A photo of my late Ollyfree guardian of his Bunnies

 

[Moonshadow]

With my first bunny Bandit (dwarf hotot mix 1.5-2lbs), we had only one cat when we got him at about a year old. Our cat Buddy (around 6-7) had no interest in hunting animals (although she did make an exception in hunting crickets and praying mantises). She had a purely respectful and cordial relationship with Bandit. If they were passing each other in the hallway, the cat and bun would look at each other, sometimes touch noses, then carry on down their own paths doing whatever they were originally doing.

We got our second (and current cat) Nikko when Bandit was 3-4. She was around 7-8months old at the time. (My uncle found her in NYC in a park in a thunderstorm a month or two earlier. He couldn't keep her because he was allergic to cats). Nikko was young and very curious about Bandit. We carefully watched her as she pawed at him and he (being a confident little bun) snorted back and did warning lunges if she went too far (we also intervened if she seemed to get to rowdy). In the end, they became friends. They'd chase each other across the room, cat would chase first, then it reversed and Bandit chased her. Then they'd lie in sunbeams a few feet from each other or the cat would sleep above in a chair and the bunny would sleep on the carpet right beneath the chair. (We have photos and I'll post if I find them)

Buddy and Bandit have passed away. When we got Min-Min (Netherland dwarf in profile photo) last year, we still had Nikko though she's now 17-18years old. Our bun wants to play with her but unfortunately at this point she's too old to want to deal with his youthful energy. He runs and jumps in front of her to try to get her to react but she just goes into the back (where he can't get to her) to sleep. When she inevitably passes in a year or two, we may look into getting another cat~

 

[Moonshadow]

Sorry posted my previous message in the wrong 'cat related thread' and can't remove it so now have the same post in two threads.

Meant to just say in this thread keep going with rewarding good behavior and just general monitoring! You seem to already have a good idea on how to go about getting them to socialize with each other. Curiosity and normal behavior is a good thing in both cats and buns so if they are both acting like that toward each other, its a good sign. I'd just keep doing what you're already doing and hope they become good friends/companions as they spend more time together!

 

[Hermelin]

Sorry posted my previous message in the wrong 'cat related thread' and can't remove it so now have the same post in two threads.

Meant to just say in this thread keep going with rewarding good behavior and just general monitoring! You seem to already have a good idea on how to go about getting them to socialize with each other. Curiosity and normal behavior is a good thing in both cats and buns so if they are both acting like that toward each other, its a good sign. I'd just keep doing what you're already doing and hope they become good friends/companions as they spend more time together!

Thanks for the reply, I’m taking it slow and I only allow him to interact with Fenris because she’s the daredevil among my buns. The others will only sniff and back away while Fenris can do binkies, zoomies, go right up to him etc. So I felt it was better to use the bun who is active and to let him get used to her movements and behaviors.

While the others can just observe and be calm. In January I’m supposed to bond all my buns into a trio.

 

[Plumpedbunny]

Personally I would be weary about a cat with a rabbit. It all depends on many factors, each cat is different. I've witness situations in the past where bunnies had to be rushed to the vet because the bunnies chased and humped the cat and the cat has attacked them. I'm not saying this would happen but I don't want to condone it just encase.

 

[Hermelin]

Personally I would be weary about a cat with a rabbit. It all depends on many factors, each cat is different. I've witness situations in the past where bunnies had to be rushed to the vet because the bunnies chased and humped the cat and the cat has attacked them. I'm not saying this would happen but I don't want to condone it just encase.

They are never with each other without supervision. Now Loke will always run away or jump up onto a spot safe away from the buns. Specially after Fenris nipped him while with Tyra & Freja they ignore each other and do their own thing. They can greet each other but they do their own thing.

When I’m away the buns are in the room while Loke roam the apartment. If I hear Loke meowing or sounds distressed, I hurry into the room because it means that he’s stuck somewhere because of Fenris. Fenris is a little bossy, she’s even bossy towards humans and the other buns.

But it becomes easier when they can at least respect each other. Now I’m lucky Loke have a low energy and super kind. So it’s working out, we just have a bit of drama from Fenris sometimes but we are training on it. Specially that it’s not okay to nip us when she want us to move instead of jumping around us. Not a good behavior around kids and something Loke don’t like either but he moves out of the way.

 

[Moonshadow]

They are never with each other without supervision. Now Loke will always run away or jump up onto a spot safe away from the buns. Specially after Fenris nipped him while with Tyra & Freja they ignore each other and do their own thing. They can greet each other but they do their own thing.

When I’m away the buns are in the room while Loke roam the apartment. If I hear Loke meowing or sounds distressed, I hurry into the room because it means that he’s stuck somewhere because of Fenris. Fenris is a little bossy, she’s even bossy towards humans and the other buns.

But it becomes easier when they can at least respect each other. Now I’m lucky Loke have a low energy and super kind. So it’s working out, we just have a bit of drama from Fenris sometimes but we are training on it. Specially that it’s not okay to nip us when she want us to move instead of jumping around us. Not a good behavior around kids and something Loke don’t like either but he moves out of the way.

Bunnies are so fierce sometimes. You’d think it would be the other way around especially with a cat

 

[Hermelin]

Bunnies are so fierce sometimes. You’d think it would be the other way around especially with a cat

They can be really fierce. My parents have been watching my buns for 2 days in the apartment checking them twice a day because I’ve been away.

Turned out they forgot locking Fenris cage properly, so she opened her cage and had been free roaming when they got home to the apartment. I’m so glad nothing happened because I know how harsh Fenris can be towards Loke and even though he’s super kind and tolerate a lot. He also have a line when he had enough. Still not figured out where that line goes but only time he acted fierce was after the vet x-rayed his tummy and did tests on him. Brushing his teeth, trimming nails, bathing, holding him, forcible giving meds or cleaning his ears. He’s reacted that he dislike it but let me do all that to him without meowing or even try to get away forcible from me

During supervision they have been roaming around together for 6 hrs up to 10 hrs. Mostly the buns will stay in the bunny room while Loke keep to the living room & kitchen.

But it’s also the reason why I wanted to socialize them if accidents happened. If Loke didn’t have the personality he have, I would of found him a new home.

 

[Moonshadow]

They can be really fierce. My parents have been watching my buns for 2 days in the apartment checking them twice a day because I’ve been away.

Turned out they forgot locking Fenris cage properly, so she opened her cage and had been free roaming when they got home to the apartment. I’m so glad nothing happened because I know how harsh Fenris can be towards Loke and even though he’s super kind and tolerate a lot. He also have a line when he had enough. Still not figured out where that line goes but only time he acted fierce was after the vet x-rayed his tummy and did tests on him. Brushing his teeth, trimming nails, bathing, holding him, forcible giving meds or cleaning his ears. He’s reacted that he dislike it but let me do all that to him without meowing or even try to get away forcible from me

During supervision they have been roaming around together for 6 hrs up to 10 hrs. Mostly the buns will stay in the bunny room while Loke keep to the living room & kitchen.

But it’s also the reason why I wanted to socialize them if accidents happened. If Loke didn’t have the personality he have, I would of found him a new home.

Seems to me like your progress is going great and Loke is definitely in the right home