Ideas.thoughts.suggestions

[Scoutshouse]

Hello,
My fiance and I of course have two bonded baby's Scout and Hera. My fiance has been wanting a cat for a long time. I was thinking of getting her a cat or a kitten perhaps but I am a little nervous of how this could effect our buns. I have read articles about cats and bunnies having fantastic relationships, but since this is new to me I wanted to see what the experts here think about the whole idea. I am hoping that someone here has some advice on the subject to help me decide if its the right thing to do or not.
Currently of course our buns have a cage that they can freely go into where they feel safe, as we do not bother them in the cage. I would imagine this is good because if they are scared for any reason by the new family member they may retreat to there home. Before we moved to our own place a friend had a cat and they all seemed to get along just fine in fact the cat seemed more afraid of Hera and Scout. Anyway I am just looking for a little advice anything at all is much appreciated.

 

[woahlookitsme]

There are going to be varying answers on this question but its really going to come down to the personality of the cat and its prey drive. My cat has been around rabbit since I adopted her at 6mos of age. She has been taught to leave the bunnies alone and instead loves to climb on their outside hutches an watch us as we feed. My brothers cat however is not taught anything and his prey drive is pretty high. I would never leave any prey animal alone with a carnivore but never his especially. He creeps an stalks the rabbit. Since I have started teaching him not to mess with the buns he has gotten better but I trust my cat more than his

My cat is not a big cuddler with other animals so she rarely goes over to the buns. They love to come to her and smell her, she only walks away when they try to go under her. She is a pretty laid back cat

 

[whitelop]

I have three inside/outside cats. One with an incredibly high prey drive. They all get along with my bun, who has near constant free roam of the kitchen. The bun is obsessed with the cat with the high prey drive, but my cat just grooms the bun. They all get long really well, but its an exception not a rule. All of my cats were introduced to the bun later in their lives, I just have really easy going cats.
You could maybe get an older kitten, so you would be able to teach it more easily. Or you could get an older cat that has maybe been around smaller animals before. They say that long and lean cats are more outgoing and social than stockier cats, so maybe get a fat cat and it won't mess with anything. hahhaa.

 

[BugLady]

I think bringing home a kitten that will grow up with the buns will probably be ok, especially with careful attention and training. Though you never really know how a cat will react to a rabbit.

I grew up with two cats (since I was 3), and when I was about 12 my family got a rabbit. She was a house rabbit, and even though our cats would catch and eat wild rabbits, they were terrified of her! Perhaps because she was huge (10+lbs). Stumper (the rabbit) really wanted to play with the cats and would run up to them, but they would run away from her. At the time we thought it was funny, now I feel bad because Stumper just wanted to snuggle!

 

[JBun]

I don't have cats, but I've read that you have to be really careful about cat bites and scratches with you buns, as they can be very dangerous because of the bacteria on a cats claws and teeth.

 

[irishbunny]

I've never had an issue. I have four cats, two with very high prey drives and they've always ignored my rabbits. They are actually kind of nervous of them and when the rabbits run up to them and sniff them, they tend to back away slowly. I actually have one rabbit who has free reign of my garden, and every now and then feral cats and neighbour cats come into the garden and they never give him a second glance. I've personally never heard or seen a cat to attack/kill a domestic rabbit before, bar baby rabbits. Unless you have a very small breed of rabbit like a Netherland Dwarf, then I wouldn't worry about it. A kitten might be very curious and try and play rough with the rabbit but as long as you supervise and don't leave them alone, it should be fine. Plus the rabbit will probably teach the kitten a lesson by biting or scratching at it. You might have to supervise the rabbit around the kitten instead

 

[ldoerr]

I found a stray black kitten the Monday before Halloween and took it in. It is constantly putting its paws into their cage. He watches them all night long. Yesterday while the rabbits were running around my room I brought the kitten in on a leash and harness to see what would happen. Shiny Things came to see what was going on very fast and was very curious about Midnight (the kitten). When the rabbit touched the cat, the cat jumped.

I think that my kitten is high pray drive so will be taking things very slowly with introducing him to the rabbits. My kitten also likes to play rough with me and bites me constantly and often times hard. (He also licks me like a dog many times a day and will give me a tong bath).

As people have said. Some rabbits and cats can get along. I can imagine that there are quite a few that would not get along.

 

[missyscove]

There are certainly stories of cats and rabbits getting along, but I would make sure your rabbits are in a place where they can be completely closed off from a cat (I'm imagining them "retreating" into their cage and a cat following them). Sometimes it's necessary to put a finer mesh over the cage wire to keep their paws out of the cage. As a rule I wouldn't leave a rabbit and a cat alone unsupervised (just like how I allow my roommate's dog around my rabbits and he sniffs them and seems to enjoy watching them, but they are never alone together.)

 

[ldoerr]

So an update. I let my cat in the room with my rabbits while they were running around. The cat was not on a leash or any way to secure him. I did have a spray bottle just in case. He got along great with them. Pretty much ignored them or they played with him. No fights, no noise, no drama and I was able to do stuff on the computer while it was happening to destress myself (I have a final early Thursday morning so I should be asleep and not on here, O WELL).

So for me at least it looks like my cat and my rabbits will be getting along. I know that this is only the first day though. The cat spent most of the time in the rabbits cage, sometimes with a rabbit in there even. (My kitten is FASCINATED with hay and likes to eat it even). I will be keeping a close eye on them though and not leaving them together unsupervised.

 

[Imbrium]

there are tons of stories of kitties and rabbits getting along - domestic cats do seem to easily learn that bunnies in the house are NOT play-things or critters to attack. that said, they should always be supervised just in case and any scratch or bite, no matter how small, should receive immediate VET attention.

here's an old thread on the dangers of cat bites and scratches - they can be fatal to rabbits!
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f14/dangers-cats-rabbits-please-everyone-read-basils-story-68997/