My eldest wants a bunny for her birthday in December. I have tenatively said yes provided she adheres to certain rules like doing her homework every day. She’s eight and I think this will be a good way to help teach her responsibility. We have two grown cats. The plan is to keep the bunny’s cage in her room. Will it be okay if we play with the bunny in the living room with the kitties around? Should I get her a baby rabbit or a full grown pet instead? Any opinions about dwarf rabbits? Would it be okay if we bought the bunny from a local pet shop? I know about puppy mills. Are there similar “bunny mills?” Should I adopt one from a shelter instead? Either option is fine with me.
I don’t know if rabbits and cats get along, especially adult cats, which are much less adaptable than kittens, but I’d suggest having a cage for the rabbit, where he can live, and let him out to socialize with the humans after the cats have been shut in another room for the time being. My oldest son has a rabbit and that’s what he does. No muss, no fuss.
Eta: now I see where you said about the cage, but just keep his everything in there and just let him out for short periods of playtime.
We have two large cats and one very small mini rex bunny. They aren’t mortal enemies, but they do tend to need supervision. The bunny tends to get a lot closer than either cat would like (he’s nosy, heh), and the one that came to us still posessing claws has been known to swat him now and then to get him to back off.
Doing a good job of socializing a bunny which is good for his/her general level of happiness will probably cause more cat problems, actually, because they’re less fearful and more likely to go near the cats. This was certainly true when we compare him to the last bunny, who was afraid of us and the cats both.
elfkin477, do you socialize a bunny by handling them a lot?
The kitties are not declawed. I clip their claws once a month at home. They are indoor only. I put them in the basement at night but otherwise they roam the house. We thought about getting another cat but as I work at home I would probably be the one to care for it and bond with it. The other cats will interact with her but they follow me around all day long and clearly regard me as Alpha Pussy. My eldest wants something she can care for and call her own. Do bunnies bond with people?
Any rabbit will live primarily in the living room, her room and my home office. I would supervise it very carefully as we also have a baby.
*”Rabbits may be easy to love, but they’re not quite as easy to care for.
Rabbits are social creatures and wonderful companions to people who take the time to learn about their needs, but unfortunately, many shelters take in more than their fair share of homeless bunnies.
To learn about providing temporary care for these adorable creatures in your facility, check out books and web sites on rabbit care.
This quick set of reminders will give you the basics. …”*
Cats and rabbits sometimes get along, but I wouldn’t leave them together unsupervised. Ours did fight sometimes.
Remember you can’t really house train a bunny. Also, remember that they gnaw. Ours survived biting through a 120v lamp cord while the lamp was on. Yours might not.
A well-acclimated rabbit is a wonderful, cuddly pet. One that doesn’t get enough attention and grows up semi-wild may bite or kick.
Yep. But not really by holding them, which scares them, but sitting in an arm chair or recliner and letting them play on your lap. They’ll climb on you, maybe up you, and eventually decide that you’re not going to eat them. This is good, because it’s a whole lot less of a struggle when they do manage to jump down (and they will) because they might hop about a bit because they’re not ready to be back in their cage but they won’t be running for their lives, convinced that you’re going to hurt them when you do catch them. Buddy will usually put himself back in his cage if the door is left open, so only herding is required rather than grabbing.
Turns out that they’re a lot smarter than anyone much gives them credit for if you get them comfortable to be around people, and enjoy playing with toys (pine cones, newspaper, paper towel rolls, mostly they enjoy hopping around with them in their mouths) and like attention. If you do decide on getting one, let me know and I’ll track down both the toys and edible treats lists.
You might also consider a “playpen” like Buddy has - a roll of thick chicken wire fencing, the one with small rectangular segments like this, clipped together into an oval with a canvas painter’s tarp or small rug underneath to protect the floor from drips and droppings - so you can have him/her out more when you can’t keep a close eye on it. Buddy will try to get your attention by showing off with his toys, and the cats have 0% interest in getting in there with him.
All good advice. Thank you. I will definitely consider a shelter rabbit provided I can find one nearby. Holding the bunny a lot should not be a problem because I work at home and no one cares if I work with a bunny in my lap. I can easily block off my home office and deny the cats access periodically if necessary. I’ll have to look into making sure the cords are property stored away. We have to do that anyway once the baby starts crawling.
We’ll probably get one. My daughter has brought up the subject three times this week. She’s a vegetarian animal lover who wants to be a vet so I figure this should be good for her.
Is it better to get a baby or a full grown rabbit?
I don’t know if claws are an issue, as a cat that wants to kill will use it’s teeth. We had two cats and a rabbit when I was younger. One cat didn’t care about her. The other took off after her once or twice so supervision was necessary. On the other hand, the rabbit was an ill-tempered thing, so she acted very aggressive towards the cats. An angry rabbit “grunts,” for what it’s worth.
Probably depends on the rabbit. Mum has a feisty Dalmatian Rex named Jasper, and when my cats came to visit he just charged at them (because that’s the only speed he has) and they panicked and ran from him. He spent the rest of their stay trying to befriend them. When I stayed over, I’d wake in the morning with two cats and a rabbit sleeping on my bed.
My brother’s cat was also intimidated by Jasper, and until then we thought he feared no living creature. Since my brother moved to a farm, his cat has gone semi-feral, living off the land and subsisting primarily on a diet of wild rabbits that he catches and kills, but he never dared lay a paw on Jasper.
Actually yes you can really house train a bunny (looking across the room to prime example #1 passed out beside his litter tray).
You do need to be aware of chewing and bunny proof anywhere the rabbit is able to get to… You will need to provide adequate chewing things for the bunny - Hay is the most important. Apple wood or willow is good.
I doesnt hurt to remember also that undesexed bunnie tend to have shorter lifespans than desexed ones.
My favorite rabbit info link is for the House Rabbit Society. The book “Rabbits for Dummies” is extremely helpful as well.
Important general recommendations:
Feed alfalfa hay until the rabbit is spayed/neutered, then feed timothy hay. Spaying/neutering is good for their temperament and to reduce the risk of health problems later in life.
Rabbits should have access to hay and water at all times. Refusal to eat for more than (IIRC) a few hours may be an emergency situation.
Check the above link for recommended greens and prohibited foods. They should get a couple cups’ worth of greens per day, in general. If in doubt, find some kind of not-iceberg lettuce.
Litterbox should be changed daily whenever possible, as damp conditions can lead to sores on the soles of their feet, as can hard/barred cage floors.
Take the rabbit to a vet that knows rabbits. The vet needs to know about things like rabbits being unable to vomit (should not be fasted before a blood draw; hairballs can be rough on the GI system and might need some OTC laxatone-type product to help them through) and how to do a dental checkup.
Rabbits do not like being held up in the air. They are prey animals by nature and this makes them scared to be held up like that, as if a predator is about to carry them off. A scared rabbit may struggle hard enough to fall and/or injure his own back. A startled person who gets an accidental nip may drop a rabbit. So as cuddly and adorable as they are, your daughter needs to understand that rabbits should be petted on the floor or on a chair/couch.
Electrical cords are probably in grave danger from your rabbits; my guess is that they look like enticing stalks of grass and rabbits are programmed to try that out. Some have no apparent interest in cords, others will snip through anything. This ranges from expensive to potentially deadly to the rabbit. I either keep cords out of their way or protect the cords with things like hard plastic cable “bundling” tubes from the organization section of computer stores, intended to keep a mass of computer cables tidy. Some pet stores like PetSmart carry plastic tubing (slit down the length) that contains bittering substance, which discourages nibbling too. I also bought some hardware cloth from a hardware/home improvement store (you can find it near the chicken wire), which you can stand on its end and tuck/wrap around areas that contain a lot of cords, if you want to let the bunny run free-range.
At this moment I have my two rabbits running happily around the living room, with the dining room blocked off with the panels of their playpen (link below), and the entertainment center’s delicious electrical cords blocked off with a panel of hardware cloth tucked around its edges. A thick plastic cable bundler protects my laptop’s power cord. I know my rabbits are cable-snippers, so I do have to do this with them. They’re running around happily, and one keeps coming up from behind my chair, licking at the back of my calf, then running between my feet and zipping across the room.
I made this kind of cage. Very easy, sturdy if you do enough ziptie reinforcement, and can be “remodeled” as needed with some snipping.
I bought a small animal playpen with mat bottom and put my new rabbits in it, then laid on the floor next to it, on my belly, and talked softly to them. I also slid lettuce leaves and cilantro sprigs through the bars while talking, so they quickly learned that I meant them no harm and that I can provide them with goodies. This kind of socializing really seemed to help, as even some people who owned rabbits in their childhood say they’ve never seen such friendly behavior from rabbits. One sits in my lap contentedly and loves me to pet him; he’ll headbutt my hand until I do! The other sits next to my husband on the couch for petting.
They’re almost 2 years old, and have been healthy aside from one needing a little tooth-grinding at the vet every 3 months due to some misaligned teeth in back. Eating lots of hay keeps their other teeth (the properly aligned ones) ground down appropriately. I got them as young rabbits, so they needed to be neutered, and that was pricey (but cheaper than spaying at least); getting a shelter/rescue rabbit will probably get you an already-neutered/spayed rabbit.
I forgot - ours are indoors only. Outdoors risks exposing them to things like fleas, ticks, predators, infectious diseases that might be carried by pests, their food/water being eaten by mice, etc., not to mention climate that their coat may not be suited for. Domestic rabbits may also have issues with heatstroke over temperatures in the high 70s or so (I forget the exact range), as their coats are different than wild rabbits, and they do not have a cool burrow in the earth to hide in during the heat of the day.
A word of warning, my Mum’s cats regularly bring home dead wild rabbits that they hunt and kill in the adjacent farmland. The cats are neutered house-cats, nothing special about them. Yours is a different situation but I’d definitely advise keeping a very close eye on things to start with.
Go to YouTube and search for rabbits and cats, you can see a lot of cat and bunny, boxing matches. Who knew rabbits were so tough? Except of course for that one rabbit who always wins. <hint he’s a cartoon>
I can easily block off my home office and deny the cats access periodically if necessary. I’ll have to look into making sure the cords are property stored away. We have to do that anyway once the baby starts crawling.
