We've welcomed a kitty into our family! (LONG!)

[SnowyShiloh]

Well, our bunnies have a new brother! A super sweet and friendly stray kitty that we adopted from the animal shelter. We've been talking about getting a cat for literally years and finally took the plunge.

Our original plan had been to go through a local rescue because they were willing to help us pick a cat that they thought would get along with the bunnies and they offer a month long "trial" period so we could work out whether or not the cat would be nice with the bunnies. BUT this past summer our neighbor's brought home a lovely, wonderful, super friendly cat that they named Slob. My husband and I were instantly taken with him because he was so over the top friendly. The neighbors have a dwarf bunny and they said he and the kitty were the best of friends. Sadly, they did not take very good care of Slob. We offered to take him in and they said they would give him to us if they changed their minds. Then I was gone for nearly a month and when I got back, after not seeing Slob for a couple weeks, I asked the neighbors where he was and he had gone missing! Unfortunately, they did not care that their cat was missing and did nothing to find him. They said we could have him if we could find him, so I put up lost cat signs, called the animal shelter and the local cat rescues, and put an ad on Craigslist. After he went missing, his owners adopted a husky (which sadly was an even worse fit for them than the cat, but I won't go into that here) and have since moved away.

I got 1 false alarm call from someone (was the wrong cat), but other than that... nothing. That is, until the day before yesterday! I did my daily Petfinder search and there was a kitty that looked just like Slob, down to the last detail. He was brought in as a stray. I rushed over to the shelter to meet him and he is just as friendly as Slob. I can't know for sure if it's him or not since orange tabby cats with green eyes are pretty common, but we think it is him. Filled out the adoption paperwork yesterday (after talking to the cat rescue), he got neutered today, and we brought him home this evening. We have re-named him Declan.

We are in love with this guy already. He is SO SWEET and laid back! We are keeping him corralled in the bathroom until he heals from his neuter and has had time to settle. Plus I want to take things slow and let him and the bunnies have the chance to smell each other without actually seeing each other. The plan is to bring him into the living room with the bunnies in a few days and let him sniff them through their cages, then put him in the bathroom again (or else move him into the bedroom where he will have more space). We will gradually increase the amount of time that he is allowed to be near the bunnies, depending of course on how everyone handles it. Then we plan to take one of the bunnies out of his/her cage and hold him/her up to Declan so they can sniff each other. If that goes well, bunny will then go next to us on the couch with Declan, then on the floor... I am an extremely cautious pet parent so will be watching for ANY sign of danger from Declan or fear from the bunny. It is our hope that Declan will be friendly with the bunnies or at least just ignore them. We will never leave them alone together (or at least not for a long, long time).

If this doesn't work and Declan is hell bent on hurting the bunnies, we simply cannot keep him. Before we adopted him though, I called the cat rescue I have been working with (they've been keeping their eyes peeled for him and gave me advice on how to find him), and they have agreed to help us find him a new home if he can't stay here. If that happens, they will then help match us with one of the kitties from their rescue that will fit into our family well. We are very optimistic though that Declan will do well with the bunnies. He's so laid back! The shelter didn't have any rabbits, but there were a ton of guinea pigs and we let him go sniff their cages and he basically ignored them.

So, that is a VERY LONG intro for our new family member! We just adore him. He's such a nice kitty cat and we're so glad we've been able to help him out. He is so spoiled already with tons of toys and top of the line food. Everyone who has met him so far (people at the shelter and the vet) are amazed by how affectionate he is.

Has anyone else here brought a cat into their home when they already had bunnies? Do you have any tips for me? I have done tons of reading on cats and bunnies and I think this will work out!

Here is a picture of him, he has a derpy look on his face because of the flash:

 

[CosmosMomma]

Ohhh he looks just like my dizzeh! So cute. Does he have an eye infection or is that just the camera flash? It looks like his eye is really runny. Poor guy, how could anybody neglect an animal, let alone one with such a sweet face

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Used to have on just like that named "Tiger".

 

[SnowyShiloh]

CosmosMomma, very observant Last night he started squinting his right eye a little bit. You can see him doing that in the picture. He actually didn't have any discharge in the photo, he just has darker fur in the corners of his eyes. However, this morning he did have a little bit of discharge AND he has loose poop so I am taking him back to the vet in an hour to have him checked over. Apparently URIs are common in shelter kitties and the stress of the new home and surgery have probably upset his tummy. I made sure to buy the same food that they feed at the shelter so that hasn't changed at least.

If he does have a URI, we really did save his life because the shelter lady told me they automatically euthanize any cat with any signs of one!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Tonight is the big night! We're going to let Declan into the living room to meet the bunnies. He's already been in there a few times for less than a minute when he escaped the bathroom, but this time we'll let him visit for 15 minutes or so.

Decided to put Podge upstairs during the visit because he is a timid bunny and Declan already scared him on Friday. I took Declan back to the vet on Friday and had him in the carrier in the middle of the living room while I put on my shoes. Declan was yowling and that sent Podge scurrying into his bunny house. Then when we got back and he saw the carrier again (note: he could not actually see Declan), he ran into his house again, and again 30 seconds later when I walked past with the empty carrier. He has not reacted to Declan the other times he's been in the living room, it was just when Declan was obviously unhappy. Regardless, we decided we had the best chance of this going well if we put the bunny that might get scared somewhere else for the first meeting. Don't want to activate predator-prey instincts if he meets a frightened bunny!

We also decided to put a barrier up around Rory's cage. They will be able to see each other, but not get close enough to touch. Rory is extremely territorial around other bunnies. He's great with people, but goes into attack mode around rabbits and 3 of our bunnies have the scars on their faces to prove it. Obviously Rory would lose in a cat vs rabbit fight! Don't know how he will react to Declan so we just want to take away the possibility of him biting. Later on of course we will take down the barrier. We want this first meeting to go as well as possible.

So my plan is basically to let Declan out of the bathroom and let him explore as he desires. He can go in the kitchen or living room and may or may not be interested in the bunnies. We will give him lots of praise for being gentle with the bunnies. If he tries to scratch the bunnies, he will be reprimanded and put back in the bathroom. If he tries to jump on top of their cages, he will be reprimanded and put on the floor. If he tries again, then back in the bathroom. I read that it's okay if the cat sits on the rabbit cages, but that's not something I'm comfortable with. I think that would scare my bunnies. Later on when they're all friends he can sit on top of their cages, but not right now!

Any other tips for me?

 

[irishbunny]

Congrats on the new family member! I'm not sure if it's just my internet being weird, but I can't see the picture it says it's been moved or deleted.

 

[irishbunny]

Also just wanted to add I have four cats, and we never had any issues between them and the rabbits. It's actually more the cats being scared of the rabbits since rabbits will just run up and sniff them whereas cats are more cautious. My cats just avoid the bunnies.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Grace, the picture is showing up fine for me!! Yeah, what you said is how I expect it to go. Declan is a laid back kitty and I'm not anticipating problems between him and the bunnies

Still trying to decide how to introduce him and Rory. My first thought is to hold one of them, but Rory has shown himself to be defensive of me in the past and that could just make things worse. Maybe I will put Rory in the carrier and then bring cat and bun into the bedroom so they can sniff each other in a more neutral area and Rory can't bite since the bars on the carrier are too close together!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Just completed the cat/bunny introductions They went pretty well! I think the barrier around Rory's cage and putting Podge upstairs were both good ideas. Rory thumped once when Declan came over to his cage and definitely was on high alert. Phoebe thumped at Declan twice (once when he meowed and once when he lay down in the kitchen and bumped a chair) and was also very alert. Ned and Declan sniffed each other and Ned actually didn't seem scared. Mabel and Max noticed Declan but didn't really look bothered- their cages are up off the ground so they didn't get up close and personal with him. As for Kerensa, I don't think she even noticed Declan was there

As for Declan, he was a very good boy. He sniffed the bunnies a little but was more interested in sniffing and exploring other things, and was startled at the thumping. We kept tonight's meeting to about 10 minutes and will do it again 2 or 3 times tomorrow as well

 

[agnesthelion]

He is so cute! Congrats on the new member of the family and glad the introductions went well. Sounds like you are doing everything right. What a good bun/cat momma

 

[Pie]

What a lovely cat. ^^ I have brought rabbits into a home with four cats, and haven't had too much of an issue. I wouldn't leave them unsupervised though, because my cats get a little nervous when the rabbit gets into personal space.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Day 2 went pretty well! Declan was out twice, for an hour each time. He continued to ignore the bunnies for the most part. At one point he was lying on the floor staring at Phoebe in her cage from a couple feet away, then jumped up suddenly and meowed, and I leaped up to intervene if necessary, but when I got up he stopped and looked at me. I don't think he was about to go after her though, I really think he was just getting up or was going to sniff her or something.

I left Podgie downstairs for today. He did pretty well with Declan. Ran into his house a couple times to start with and was definitely jumpy, but improved a lot during the course of the day. At one point, Declan came over to sniff Podge's cage, and Podge surprised us by lunging towards him Pretty funny coming from our timid little guy! He didn't come close to biting or anything, but he didn't hide which was surprising.

We only had 1 thump, and that was from Rory soon after Declan came into the living room this morning. There was a rather tense bit though- Declan got around the barrier from behind (complicated to explain the setup) and was squeezed between the wall and Rory's cage, in a spot about 4 inches wide. Rory was on high alert and stared at him the whole 3 minutes or so but thankfully did not try to bite him! Declan was unconcerned the whole time and thankfully came out on his own since it's in a spot I can't reach.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thought I would update! Declan is doing quite well with the bunnies. He spends about 12 hours each day in the living room with them. For the most part he ignores them, just sniffs them every once in a while. The bunnies are getting used to him, too, and none of them look nervous anymore when he is out and about. They DO tend to run over to sniff him if he comes over to their cage, but I think that's just a rabbit thing. Rory is of course acting a bit aggressive. It's interesting, it took him a lot longer to approach Declan than the other bunnies- for the first week he would hang back and glare at Declan, I could tell he was unhappy- but now he runs up to the side of his cage, too.

He did do something kind of disturbing with Mabel- her cage base is translucent so he could kind of see her, and he went over and was pawing at the base from underneath. I think he was reacting to her movement rather than her though, because he has met her up close and personal in her cage (stands up on his back legs and they sniff each other) and showed no particular interest.

Also, on Friday night, Rory got a teeny tiny scratch on his lip. My thought of course was that Declan had scratched him, but I was there the entire time and did not see Declan get close to him. He was high on catnip for a while and was playing in a box a few feet from Rory's cage for a while so maybe he scratched him then? I don't know! There has been absolutely no sign of aggression from Declan with Rory before OR since, so I just don't know. In any case, the scratch was all healed up within 2 days if it gives you an idea of how mild it was, and Declan won't be getting catnip for a while just to be safe.

Today Declan met Kerensa out of her cage, it was the first time he's interacted with a rabbit without the cage bars between them. He was lying down on the couch and I brought her over. Let them sniff each other (okay, Declan did all the sniffing) while I held her. He sniffed her a bit and then went back to sleep. I will probably do this with all of the bunnies over the next couple of days, then go to the next step of letting a bunny actually hop around, with Paul and I present and ready to spring into action if necessary.