MrsKU
New Member
Hi guys, i'm new and in desperate need of your advice.
me and my husband have a one year old mini lop rabbit, Kevin. He is actually 1 year and 2 months old. He was neutered in June. He's always been a bossy one and knows he can get his way. he is completely free range in the house so we never lock him in a cage and even when we are in work he was the roam of the living room to himself. he is not too naughty and doesnt destroy stuff. i think he views me as more dominant to him then my husband, as sometimes he can charge at my husband in a rather aggressive manner if my husband done somth he dont like. he bit him a couple of time too in the past. however, although he has been neutered a while ago now, in June, is still retained his boisterous character and donât take any unwanted âcrapâ from anyone (sorry for the expression). An example is that you canât pick him up and hold him for more than sheer seconds, he doesnât like it and gets out. If need be I managed to learn to flip his over on the back to clean ect.
Anyways, on Sunday night we got a baby kitten, Lily, she is only 8 weeks old and is absolutely tiny. Its been a nightmare. She is very cute and really wants to explore her new home. But Kevin noticed that sheâs there right way, started anxiously sniffing the air. And wouldnât lick me at first when I pet him. Then we put him in a cage and closed it and let Lily out and as soon as he noticed her he lunged at the corner of the cage towards her. That really scared us. As he is way too little to even try to defend herself, is so much smaller than him. When I read online and watched videos on you tube- none absolutely none of them prepared us for us. I thought everything would go fine. And I always thought that all mammals can smell and know when they are confronted with a baby. But Kevin doesnât seem to act like it. She weights 500grams (a bit underweight as she has ulcers on her tongue and its painful for her to eat, we only found that out after we got her). While Kevin is a big strong healthy buck at 1.6kg.
Anyways, so then we put Lily in a carrier cage and let them sniff each other like that. That seemed to work and then we let her out on the floor and Kevin didnât mind, he just lay flat on his belly with paws stretched out. But sometime I wonder how good is his vision? Sometimes I feel like he doesnât see she is in the room so behaves calmly- leading us to false sense of security that they are getting along, when Kevin is just actually oblivious so not aggressive. After that it seemed like the strong has passed and that same evening Kevin came up, calmly came up not charged, to Lily sniffed her nose to nose and then left. So I thought that he established his dominance and then got that sheâs a baby and let her be.
However, the next day (that is 2 day of us having her), me and my husband sat on the floor with Lily and then Kevin came up, he sat in the corner of the carpet, hunched up and then he suddenly made a growling sound and charged/raced up toward Lily!!! That seemed like an attack that might end in bloodshed on the part of the kitten so I grabbed Kevin and pressed him to the floor saying no (chin down on the floor- is a more submissive position that he sometimes goes into when he lets me do things to him that he doesnât like cleaning his years etc). and as soon as I let go he made a growling sound again and charged toward Lily again, so I had to grab him and put him in a cage. It was terrible and I feel devastated. The two days have been an utter nightmare. I want to keep Lily, she is adorable and as far as I know cats and bunnies can be the best of friends. But I donât want to be unfair on her or Kevin either. So I donât know what to do.
Please help! Please advise on how to make them get along together? What techniques should we be using if any? Is this a dead end scenario?
me and my husband have a one year old mini lop rabbit, Kevin. He is actually 1 year and 2 months old. He was neutered in June. He's always been a bossy one and knows he can get his way. he is completely free range in the house so we never lock him in a cage and even when we are in work he was the roam of the living room to himself. he is not too naughty and doesnt destroy stuff. i think he views me as more dominant to him then my husband, as sometimes he can charge at my husband in a rather aggressive manner if my husband done somth he dont like. he bit him a couple of time too in the past. however, although he has been neutered a while ago now, in June, is still retained his boisterous character and donât take any unwanted âcrapâ from anyone (sorry for the expression). An example is that you canât pick him up and hold him for more than sheer seconds, he doesnât like it and gets out. If need be I managed to learn to flip his over on the back to clean ect.
Anyways, on Sunday night we got a baby kitten, Lily, she is only 8 weeks old and is absolutely tiny. Its been a nightmare. She is very cute and really wants to explore her new home. But Kevin noticed that sheâs there right way, started anxiously sniffing the air. And wouldnât lick me at first when I pet him. Then we put him in a cage and closed it and let Lily out and as soon as he noticed her he lunged at the corner of the cage towards her. That really scared us. As he is way too little to even try to defend herself, is so much smaller than him. When I read online and watched videos on you tube- none absolutely none of them prepared us for us. I thought everything would go fine. And I always thought that all mammals can smell and know when they are confronted with a baby. But Kevin doesnât seem to act like it. She weights 500grams (a bit underweight as she has ulcers on her tongue and its painful for her to eat, we only found that out after we got her). While Kevin is a big strong healthy buck at 1.6kg.
Anyways, so then we put Lily in a carrier cage and let them sniff each other like that. That seemed to work and then we let her out on the floor and Kevin didnât mind, he just lay flat on his belly with paws stretched out. But sometime I wonder how good is his vision? Sometimes I feel like he doesnât see she is in the room so behaves calmly- leading us to false sense of security that they are getting along, when Kevin is just actually oblivious so not aggressive. After that it seemed like the strong has passed and that same evening Kevin came up, calmly came up not charged, to Lily sniffed her nose to nose and then left. So I thought that he established his dominance and then got that sheâs a baby and let her be.
However, the next day (that is 2 day of us having her), me and my husband sat on the floor with Lily and then Kevin came up, he sat in the corner of the carpet, hunched up and then he suddenly made a growling sound and charged/raced up toward Lily!!! That seemed like an attack that might end in bloodshed on the part of the kitten so I grabbed Kevin and pressed him to the floor saying no (chin down on the floor- is a more submissive position that he sometimes goes into when he lets me do things to him that he doesnât like cleaning his years etc). and as soon as I let go he made a growling sound again and charged toward Lily again, so I had to grab him and put him in a cage. It was terrible and I feel devastated. The two days have been an utter nightmare. I want to keep Lily, she is adorable and as far as I know cats and bunnies can be the best of friends. But I donât want to be unfair on her or Kevin either. So I donât know what to do.
Please help! Please advise on how to make them get along together? What techniques should we be using if any? Is this a dead end scenario?
