Cat Introduction to Rabbit

[grandparemington]

hey all.

i have a broken tort holland lop, about 8 months old. i got her in february and she is the sweetest little thing ever. she constantly gives me kisses and greets me when i walk in the door. i have not had any issues with her until now.
about a week or two ago, my roommate got a kitten. he is also very sweet, but i just now introduced him to the rabbit (henrietta). at first, trotsky just sniffed henrietta and followed her around. everything seemed to be going alright.
but the past two evenings they have spent together (granted, these are the second meets since the original short hello) have been awful. henrietta will not stop charging at trotsky and has actually scared him from entering the room. i’ve tried keeping her in the cage while he sniffs around, but she isn’t getting used to him. she did the same thing with my girlfriend’s cats when they had to stay here for a week and a half.
i’m not sure what is going on, but i want/need them to get used to one another and hopefully(!) become buddies.
any advice? it’s really upsetting me that she is acting up like this. trotsky is not agressive in any way.

thank you!!

[Roberta]

My cats and rabbits like to interact, well all of the rabbits and some of the cats, Twinkletoes is 20yrs old and can’t be bothered and big wuss Jebediah gets the vapours when approached by the ferocious long eared monsters Mummy lets live in the house. There is charging but it’s generally excitement. When Bilbo enters the play pen and sits on the day bed they all gather round and take turns trying to eat his tail. If Finn Gall hops in they all charge madly towards him, not aggressively they are just so excited he’s there but it’s all just a bit much for Finn who takes off thinking he is about to be attacked. Now Finn just sits outside the playpen and plays through the bars, Pipi and Blossom love to chase his paws. I suppose my question is does the charging seem aggressive or just exuberant ? Any one that saw mine for the first time would think it was a mad stampede when it is in fact a good natured mass welcome to the short ears.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Shes protecting her territory. Is she spayed, if not, she will be more aggressive and territorial.

I have cats and rabbits and my rabbits are definitely the dominant ones in the relationship. Especially, my Mini-Rex. He likes to kick the cats off the couch and chase them out of the room.

Perhaps, treat the situation as if you were bonding 2 bunnies. Introduce the kitten and Henrietta in neutral territory. This might help the aggression. Do small sessions at a time. Im pretty confident the aggression will lessen. The bunny just feels threatened and is reacting accordingly.

[RabbitPam]

I think a bunny is less likely to welcome a bond with a cat than with another bunny, so you may end up having just tolerant acceptance, which would be good enough for a peaceful household. It sounds like your bunny will be in charge, but the kitten may learn to accept that, and if demonstrated, the bunny could calm down with established dominance. Definitely get her spayed before expecting any sort of compromising behavior from her. Read up on the bonding section here to learn more details on how to proceed as LPT wisely suggests.

[grandparemington]

henri has been fixed, so i know that isn’t the issue. i suppose i could try to introduce them solely in neutral territory since trotsky has been in my bedroom (where henrietta freely hops during the day). thanks! i’m still open to other suggestions.  

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