Hi! Does anyone out there have cats and bunnies living together? If so, is there anything special to pay attention to? Do bunnies ever get tempted to eat cat food? If so, does it make them sick?  Also, are there any tips or keeping buns out of cat litter boxes, or for keep buns from exiting cat doors?

Thank you!!

i know that there are some buns that prefer the company of a cat than another bun. i found a lady that needed to find a new home for her 2 buns but the problem with one of them is that the new home didnt do her well because there were no cats. but there were other buns but she didnt like them too much. funny huh? sorry couldnt help you much.

I do not have cats and bunnies living together, but i do know that sometimes rabbits will eat catfood and yes, it is bad for them.   Since cats are excellent leapers to tall counters, shelves etc, you might find a place high up where only a cat can get to to feed them.

As far as their litterbox, you may need to get a litter that they can both can use if a bunny insists on going into the litterbox.  As far as keeping buns from exiting cat doors, I have no idea how to prevent it except for blocking off the area where the cats can come and go from. 

I'll check around for more info and see what I can come up with, and if you find some valuable tips elsewhere, please come back and share what you've learned so we can all benefit.

 

Hi! Today I think I learned just how small the rabbit world is got a reply from another volunteer at the Bunny Bunch who saw it in some type of journal, where my request for info had been posted by BinkyBunny, SO full credit of this post goes to BinkyBunny (and maybe you can edit so the text looks correct?) Thanks so much for the info.  I had a hesitant adopter with cats, but now she is ready to adopt the buns!!

NOTE FROM BINKYBUNNY: - EDITED THE ORIGINAL CUT/PASTE BELOW TO MAKE EASIER TO READ: It was also paraphrased to tighten some of it up, and to give credit to the members from ETHERBUN who offered these answers in THEIR forum.

REGARDING CATS AND BUNNIES GENERAL INTERACTION:

Etherbun member has 3 cats and a bunny. 

Their bunny is *not* free-roaming all the time. He has a cage,

and 2 x-pens attached to that cage, which give him about 15 square

>feet that is all "his".  He does have room to run around in the rest of the house

for about four hours with the other cats, but he is never left unattended with them.

 1. How do you keep cat food out of your bunny's way.

[she suggests]  either feed the cats in a different area or pick up the cat food

so the bun cannot get it whenever the bun is out.

2. Litterbox issues:

The bun should have his/her own separate box in his/her own

area. I would not suggest they share litter boxes. One thing that

can be done to block access is use an x-pen to "gate" around the

litter box area. That way the cats can still jump into the area over

the x-pen, but the bun cannot.

3. Cat Door Issues.

It's definitely not a good idea to use a cat door with a bunny roaming freely.

The etherbun member also said they wouldn't recommend that a bunny and rabbit live

freely like that together, both open roam all the time. If a cat

door is used (sometimes they are installed and cannot be

uninstalled), then again, I would block the bun's access to the cat

door (with an x-pen or some kind of gate) so that the cat can

continue to get in and out when the bun is roaming, but the bun

cannot.

You can find x-pens at Petsmart, Petco, or online. They come in many

different sizes. The small ones work well in our apartment.

LOL!  I was just coming to post the answers from Etherbun, a great yahoo group to get answers without a lot of chit chat.  Quick and easy.    I also put some calls into some rabbit/cat owners and I'll continue to update.  You still have to take what anyone says with a grain of salt and research a bit to double check answers, but all in all it's another great resource.

Another reply from Etherbun came in too, here's the information:

Regarding cat food issues, the Etherbun member said she used "cat dishes that are metal and fit into a base that raises the bowl up. Buns used to pick out of the food bowl until [she] purchased that."

Regarding the litterbox, she found that covered litterboxes solved the problem, but just note that some bunnies don't mind and actually enjoy going into the covered litterboxes.  (mine don't) but we have members here that do .

Regarding the cat door - her experience with outdoor cats was that they still have their stalking instinct and can be dangerous for bunnies, as well as tthey can bring in parasites and diseases from outdoors.   -  but ultimately the point that the cat door just is not safe for a rabbit, unless it is in a place where the rabbit can never get to it.

So I'm learning right along with you about all this stuff.  (love learning new info - just makes us brainy bunny nerds!

Oh, MooBunnay, I almost forgot. Cats can scratch a bunny even in play, so tell the prospective adopter to be very careful about watching that as a bad scratch from a cat can do some damage and cause abscesses. Cats can bat through pens and some cages, so the adopter needs to keep her her cats behavior in check if she finds they do that.

You probably also already know about this article from the House Rabbit Society on how to introduce rabbits and cats, but just in case you don't here it is. http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/...bbits.html

I have 4 cats and Jessica, the dwarf bunny.  My cats tend to ignore Jessica, most of the time.  Sometimes the youngest cat, Wolfy, gets excited when she runs around.  He will sometimes chase her or smack her butt.  He doesn't use his claws on her.  None of my cats use their claws on her.  They've never used their claws on anyone (human or otherwise). 

Most of my bunny problems have been w/ litterbox use.  Jessica likes to use the cats' litterboxes.  I changed from scooping litter to yesterday's news to make it safe for bunny use.  She is not free-roaming.  Anytime we tried to let her roam, Jessica would pee on the couch and the cat bed.  So she is caged during the day.  She has a litterbox in her cage.  We let her roam under supervision.

We have a pet gate at the living room doorway.  It is short enough for my cats to jump over (I have 2 obese/old cats) and has a little doorway I can open when Jessica is cages.  The cat food bowls are in the kitchen, attached to the livingroom.  The kitchen has a tile floor, so Jess doesn't roam into the kitchen (she's not fond of the tile). 

Bunnys are vegetarians and Cats are carnivores...therefore buns should NEVER eat cat food.  Even if your cats get vegetarian food, there is a meat additive within the food b/c they are true carnivores.  2 of my cats show interest in Jess's food, but since it is in her cage, they've learned not to go into her cage.

Other than that we all get along VERY well!  I've had my cats for a long time and I feel confident w/ knowing their nature.  I am sure that they would not harm Jessica and when she did free roam we never had any problems.  One of the cats stays upstairs anytime Jess is out and about.  She would free roam regularly, but I'm not comfortable w/ her litterbox skills.