New bunny meets kitty - body language?

[BlackRabbits]

My new four month old Flemish girl came to live with me a few days ago. Right now I've built a big pen for her in my room, as I have two neutered, bonded smaller bunnies in the living room and NewBun isn't neutered yet. (I'm still thinking of a name for her) I keep my room closed at all times to keep the cats out. I keep a few small birds and some plants in there because the cats wouldn't leave them alone. I'm planning to introduce NewBun to the older rabbits once she's spayed and the hormones are gone.

Once in a while when I go in and out of my room, a cat sneaks in. Today it was Mitsou. She's a tiny Sphynx who is very friendly with the rabbits in the living room. She goes in and out of their cage and pen and shares hay with them, and they like her. Zelda comes up behind her and bunts her, and they groom each other. (pic)

As soon as Mitsou entered the bedroom, she went straight up to NewBun's pen, and NewBun eagerly went to meet her. The two sniffed noses, and NB seemed pretty excited, shaking her head and binkying a bit before going back to sniff at Mitsou again. Mitsou seemed excited too, her tail was held high. They sniffed and moved back and forth along the bars of the pen. I had a couple of things to do in the bedroom so I looked away for a minute.

I looked back and Mitsou was in NB's pen. NB ran right up to her, she was clearly excited and her ears were held straight up, sometimes tilted a bit forward. Mitsou was more interested in checking out NB's hide box, but she came right back out when NB tried to join her. However, NB started getting a bit pushy, and Mitsou backed off. I don't think NB was being aggressive, but I could be wrong.

I've seen Zelda chase one of the other cats out of the rabbit pen, that time she was grunting and growling and thumping. NB wasn't making any sounds, but she was pretty rambunctious, following Mitsou around and trying to push her with her nose. Finally she tried to bat Mitsou with her front paws, almost like she was trying to gather Mitsou closer to her. She didn't rear up to bat Mitsou. I wasn't sure if she was trying to play or being aggressive, but Mitsou clearly didn't like being batted by a rabbit who's three times her size, so I took her out of the pen.
(Sorry about the novel, I wanted to describe the situation clearly)

So finally my questions:
- Is the paw batting/boxing an aggressive move? Or do they do it in play as well?
- At 4 months of age, is it normal for a rabbit to be rambunctious and playful? NB gets excited when I enter the room and comes looking for nose rubs, before shaking her ears and prancing around.
- Could NB be lonely and that's why she gets rambunctious when someone approaches her pen? I make a point of going to see her several times a day, in addition to my usual trips in and out for other reasons.
- Is it a bad idea to introduce her to other pets (besides my living room rabbits) before she's neutered? I've read that baby rabbits who are friends with another rabbit stop getting along with them when they reach puberty. Would the same happen if she befriends a cat right now?

 

[Aki]

The interaction sounds pretty good to me. The puberty thing is more about rabbits with rabbits. Hormones can cause problems if your rabbit begins to try to mount your cats (which they might not like much... which might lead to scratching), but it really depends. I think you can let the cats see the rabbit, especially if she seems to enjoy the company, as long as you supervise closely enought to be able to intervene if the introductions go pear-shaped.
I personally find the introduction stage very stressful (I've had a Russian Turtle for two days and am currently trying to get my dog to ignore her... he understood that he can't jump on her but he follows her everywhere and lays down, putting his head just beside her and trying to lick her shell 'discretly' - I think it will be a few weeks before he loses interest).

It's completely normal for your newbunny to be excited and hyper. She's a baby, a baby with some hormones. Some rabbits feel it more than others. While Aki was always pretty calm, Tybalt spent his days running around, binkying and jumping (even climbing!) but it was like he suddenly felt tired while running around and he just fell over wherever he was, dropping like a bag of potatoes on his side or back (or ON Aki) and just fell asleep... before waking up all of a sudden and running around again. He did that until he was fully grown-up and it was pretty funny to watch. He is still this weird combination of rambuctious and lazy but it's not as brutal or 24/24 than before ^^.

 

[BlackRabbits]

When it comes to Mitsou, I'm more concerned with the other animal harming her than the other way around. She's fully grown, but only about half the size of a standard house cat. Mitsou tries to be friends with anything that moves. She's my only cat who doesn't try to break into bird cages or tear into the screen tops of reptile terrariums. She even tries to talk to flies on the wall, sitting below them for long periods mewing at them with her tiny voice. Whenever I hear her mewing for a long time, I go to look, just in case. This morning she was mewing at an escaped cricket which was hiding under a box. She's even making progress befriending my hedgehog, who huffs and raises his quills at everything that moves. And of course she loves the bunnies in the living room, who both sometimes groom her while she's grooming herself.

For NB my concern is that she may be lonely, so she gets too eager when she meets Mitsou. Mitsou knows to back off if the other pet does something that makes her uncomfortable. NB was eagerly following her and getting in her face, so she started to back off. I think maybe NB was trying to get Mitsou to come closer with her paws. I've never seen a doe with her kits, so I wonder if does gather their kits to them with their paws? I have a little dog who was used for breeding, she's friends with Mitsou and uses her chin to pull Mitsou closer, as if Mitsou was a puppy. Mitsou doesn't mind. My main concern is that NB is at least four times Mitsou's size and Mitsou doesn't have hair to protect her from scratches if NB gets carried away. Nevertheless, I'll let the two of them get to know each other under close supervision, now that I know NB is unlikely to become aggressive due to hormones etc.

I also gave NB a big stuffed toy last night, to cuddle. I saw her grooming it this morning, so I hope it helps to keep her company when I can't be in the room with her.