Would this be unfair to my house rabbit?

feelinggood_2

Bit of a dilema.

I have an indoor rabbit. He has free run of the downstairs most of the day (when I'm around) and a large cage for night time. He spends most of his time in his cage though, lazy thing. He is 2 years old and we adopted him 6 months ago. He is a lone rabbit, will not bond with other rabbits.

We took him to my parents for christmas, we were there for a week. At first, he got very frightened when the cat was around, but after a couple of days, he didn't mind the cat - if he walked past, the rabbit would run over and sniff him.

Sister in law is desperately trying to give us her cat. She doesn't want it any more. She doesn't like it and never has, but brother stood firm and said he was keeping it. Seems she has won and the cat must leave.

They want us to have it, but I don't know if it'd be fair for the rabbit. We have an open plan downstairs, with no room to shut the rabbit in. That means the cat would always be around him, even at night. While he'd be safe in his cage, would it just be upsetting or stressful for him to have a cat around?

I don't know what to do. I'm very sad at the thought of this lovely cat (female, about 6 years old) going somewhere horrible or being in an unfriendly home, but I don't know if it'd be fair to my rabbit.

Piggles12345

Perhaps you could introduce the rabbit and cat at first?

Have the cat stay for a couple of days- your rabbit may react to it the same way it did to the Xmas cat!

Maybe you should tell your sister in law that you will take the cat for a trial period, but if it doesn't work out for you, then she will have to take it back.

However, if the rabbit didn't mind the Xmas cat, it will probably not mind your new cat either! Cats are quite solitary animals and if your rabbit doesn't make it feel threatened in anyway then there seems to be no reason why they can't co-habit in beautiful harmony!

grace1990

Although alot of people would think cats and rabbits wouldn't get on, this isn't always the case, most cats will ignore rabbits.

4li5on

If it was us with our house bunny, I would say no. That is my opinion based on our bunny.

He is very terratorial and he rules the roost. For something else to come into his 'kingdom' would not go down well. I think, if we had 2 rabbits or a cat and a rabbit we had got at the same time, there wouldn't be a problem, but we've had him 2 and a half years from being 8 weeks old.

Like posters above have said, try it, but in our situation, I certainly wouldn't!

clutterydrawer

I would be reluctant to leave them together unsupervised for such a period of time. couldn't you keep them separate in some way eg confine the rabbit to one room overnight.

sleepymy

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't leave a cat unattended with a rabbit, it may not end well. I wouldn't even leave our old moggie with the pup when she first came because she was so small he could easily have off'd her!

If bunny spends most of his time in his cadge you could maybe consider an indoor run for him for when you're out of the house. Even a couple of old kiddy playpens off freecycle joined together with a wire lid, something that could be folded away when you're there?

Tabatha_Kitten

When we had rabbits our cats used to watch and protect them whenever they were out in the garden.
Same with our dog. He is really protective over "his" cats.
I think its all about "family" and "pecking order".
Anyone elses cat, or the wild rabbits down the field.....different matter entirely !!

UKTigerlily

I've had Cats with Rabbits with no problems, my French Lops used to have the garden to themselves to run in 24/7 if they wanted, we've also had Dwarf Lops with the Cats with no issues & a Guinea Pig.

Maybe take the Cat for a trial weekend & see how it goes. I have Rats with a Cat in the same room & they get used to the smell, many many people with Rats have a Cat about & they all adjust. My one Rat will run to the bars if she sees the Cat to get a good look!

I can't see there'd be a problem unless the Cat's a prolific hunter & the Rabbit a baby or a tiny breed, in which case it could be considered prey. My own Cat isn't a hunter but you know yours, if it's the type to try to catch pidgeons & large prey maybe not, most won't see it as dinner tho!