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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Cat & bunny mixed signals

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    • micky
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        Thanks so much in advance to anyone who can share their stories about bonding resident cats to new bunnies! I’ve found a lot of detailed info on message boards here and elsewhere, but nothing that exactly matches my situation.

        Summary of my question for those who don’t want to read a novel is this: Once a cat has menaced a bunny—not attacking (not given the chance to do so), but spitting, growling, and hissing very aggressively—is there any hope of ever safely allowing them both to be free-ranging in the same space at the same time, unsupervised? Is there anything people have tried in this situation that worked? This is a (previously resident) cat who has also calmly nose-bumped this (newly adopted) bunny through the pen on several occasions, and basically doesn’t object to the bunny at all when he’s in the pen.

        And the lengthy background:

        My 10-year-old cat Oliver lost his kitty companion last year to old age. He had lived with her since he was a kitten, and has also lived with up to 6 other pets at various times, so since I work all day I worried about him being lonely (and also lethargic and increasingly chubby). I knew he wouldn’t accept another cat, so after a lot of research I thought I’d see whether he might bond with a bunny. So I adopted Philo, an adorable Flemish Lop mix who is pretty much the same size as my cat. The rescue guessed he might be about 3 years old, but they weren’t sure about that. I took Philo not only because of his total awesomeness, but also because although he is neutered, he sprays all other rabbits he comes in contact with, so he needed a home where he’d be the only bunny, and I thought that would increase the odds that he would bond with Oliver.

        Philo has a 4×8 ft. pen (2 doggy crate combo) in the middle of the living area, and for his first 2 weeks in residence I kept it draped in blankets and sheets so Oliver could hear and smell him but not see him. After intense interest for the first few hours, Oliver was totally uninterested for the rest of the 2 weeks. When I finally took the sheets down, he came over right over for a good look, but then again lost interest right away. Philo was completely unfazed by the uncloaking of the pen, and still is totally unintimidated by Oliver.

        For the next 2 weeks, I let Philo out two or three times a day for as long as he wanted while Oliver was secure in another room. My hope is that he can be a free-roaming bunny, and even though he seems to love his pen (it’s pretty swanky, I have to say) and does lots of bunny flops in there, he’d obviously prefer to range free. A few times, I put Philo in another room and let Oliver walk around his empty pen and smell things, which he obviously enjoyed, but only for a minute or two before he wandered away.

        Then, once Philo had been here for a full month, I let him out while Oliver was dozing in his favorite spot on the couch, after he’d just had a meal. Oliver definitely noticed that (big eyes!), but he just watched, and after Philo hopped back in the pen of his own accord, I went and shut the door and Oliver didn’t even get up. All good, right?

        Not so much. The next time I tried that, Oliver got REALLY upset, spitting and growling, ears back, big tail. I was holding him, so I just picked him up, grabbed some treats, and brought him to the other room and stayed in there with him for a half hour or so while he calmed down (it took a long time for him to stop freaking out—I think he was totally terrified). I figured that I rushed things, and that I would wait another two weeks before trying again.

        But since then I’ve been so confused by the mixed signals that Oliver is sending. The day after the freakout, he stopped by the pen and had a long nosebump with Philo, and then a few hours after that, Philo hopped down from the second story of his cardboard castle and Oliver spun around and hissed and spat at him. Then the next day they’re back to nosebumping. Most of the time Oliver doesn’t even react to Philo when Philo is in the pen, no matter what kind of noisy craziness is happening in there. If I give Philo a treat right inside the wall of the pen, and give Oliver a treat right outside the wall of the pen, they’ll both snack away, faces about 3 inches apart, without either even acknowledging the other.

        Philo has been great, and a total diplomat—he doesn’t run or even react when Oliver hisses (I honestly can’t remember what he did during Oliver’s freakout, since my attention was on containing the psychocat), and often when he notices Oliver coming he flops down on the floor, which makes him totally nonthreatening. I can’t see any signs that he’s stressed or bothered at all by the intermittent hostility he’s getting.

        But I am worried about Oliver. This was supposed to be good for him eventually, not something that would drive him bonkers! And I’m worried that his growling and spitting (which was super, super intense, like I’ve never seen him do before, with that weird low moaning thing that cats do when they’re really PO’d) might be a sign that these two are never going to be able to be free in the same room at the same time. 

        If that’s the case, I need to know it sooner rather than later, so that I can let the rescue know that I’ll keep him as a foster while they work to find him a home where he can be free-roaming, which he clearly wants. He hasn’t been here that long, and while we have definitely bonded, he’s such a friendly, mellow guy that I think he could handle another transition to a loving home.

        Essentially, my question is, do I need to face up to reality with this, or could the relationship be fixable with time, patience, and maybe some techniques? One post I saw somewhere suggested I might have been wrong to take Oliver away when he got so aggressive, and that I should have let them make contact and see what happens. (I did clip his nails right before.) Would people agree with that? I don’t know that he would have attacked, but I’ve never seen him so upset. 

        I know that this is a bunny forum, and of course I want what’s best for Philo, but I really love Oliver too, and I’m worried that I’ve done him wrong!  Thanks again to anyone who’s had a similar situation and is willing to share the results.


      • Cinnabunn the bunny
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          I guess the real question is how does your cat react when confronted? since its your cat whose reacting poorly i would lookup guides on how to bond two cats since fixing this behavior is similar.

          I would say that i got pretty lucky bonding my bunnies and cat. I did the same thing as you where i got them used to smells then sight then i fed them next to eachother before introducing them in a shared space. My cat is pretty tolerant of a lot of things so it was actually my bunny boy who was the trouble maker. He would charge her and evey would run away and occasionally swat back but never hiss.

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      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Cat & bunny mixed signals