Cat's Behaviour Towards Rabbit?

[kittens mom]

The hunting instinct is in all cats, no matter how well fed. The Ladies never lack food, but any lizard, moth or bug spotted has at least two cats on it. The one that ends up with the prize growls at all the others to try to keep them away, but it can become a free-for-all to see which one can frolic it to death.

The neck biting I see is usually just a way to show dominance. I see all of them biting and being bitten. Usually, the biter slobbers on the bitee leaving wet fur. Yuck.

Well fed cats might be a tad lazier and rabbit is real prey compared to the little critters. The neck biting is natural behavior it's the concern of what it can lead to. Even if this situation works out it's important that everyone realize that for every one that works there is one that doesn't. Aside from the rabbit being injured their back legs are extremely powerful and could easily rake a cat up severely.

 

[NewYork1303]

Any multiple species situation is going to be one that has to be managed. Whether it's having a cat and a beta fish or a cat and a dog. I know rabbits and cats can get to be good friends, but as with that story about the dog and the cat there is always a risk.

I have gerbils in my home and a tarantula. Both are situations I have to keep any eye on. Keeping everything supervised is very important for sure even when an animal is securely inside of a cage or tank.

 

[catspaw66]

Well fed cats might be a tad lazier and rabbit is real prey compared to the little critters. The neck biting is natural behavior it's the concern of what it can lead to. Even if this situation works out it's important that everyone realize that for every one that works there is one that doesn't. Aside from the rabbit being injured their back legs are extremely powerful and could easily rake a cat up severely.

I have seen pictures of cats that tangled with a buck bunny and had their stuffings kicked out.
The Ladies do go after larger prey. Birds and field mice that get into THEIR screened-in porch are also dispatched with glee. If they could get out, they would go after the squirrels and rabbits that are so close, but unreachable.

 

[sailon]

Okay, so, I've had my male cat since he was around 7-8 weeks old and it's almost been two years. He's quite quiet normally, so the behaviour he had been displaying is odd. The other day, I went out and ended up coming home with a rabbit who is 13-14 weeks old. My cat was quite curious about the rabbit and kept sniffing the cardboard box (which had the rabbit and some hay in while I was setting up his cage). After the cage was set up, my cat came in and sniffed the rabbit, before meowing. He didn't seem to have any violent intentions, so I brought the rabbit out for a closer look. I let the rabbit explore a little and my cat wasn't too far behind. The cat ended up letting out loud meows every time my rabbit moved away from him, and he also started to groom the rabbit when they were sitting together. When the rabbit was on my bed and the cat was on the floor, he had to reach his body up and seemed to always have the rabbit in sight, and would stare at me when I was going to pet the rabbit. Now, my cat keeps meowing at the door constantly, trying to get in. I shut him out because I have my rabbit's cage open in my room, and the cat can't stay in here forever, as he needs to eat and drink and use his litterbox too, which is all downstairs.

But even though I don't know what he's doing, there's another part to the behaviour that really concerns me. If he's sitting with the rabbit and grooming him, but then the rabbit tries to wander away, the cat will let out a really loud meow and then go to bite the back of my rabbit's neck.

This doesn't seem normal. Does anybody know what my cat is doing??

How did this relationship ultimately work out?

 

[Elfilou]

Woah I'm quite curious as well

 

[GalaxyRose]

Well, they get along fine. Ben still likes to sit an observe Loki, and he even tries to get the poor rabbit out of the cage, as if he's trapped (Loki can get out on his own -.-) and he's mainly protective over him. The mounting is definitely just a show of dominance, and he's mainly stopped doing that.

Actually, recently my family and I went on holiday to Spain for a week, and Loki had to go to my dad and Ben to my best friend for the week. The day after we had got home, we went to get our animals. We had gotten Ben first, and actually, when we got home, he immediately went upstairs to my bedroom - he was looking for Loki! He was quite disappointed to see that the bunny wasn't home yet, though, and decided to sit on the downstairs window and wait. But when Loki got home too, he went straight for him and cuddled up to him, which was adorable!

So, in my eyes, the relationship worked out well! They have a very special bond

 

[Norachan]

That's great. I'm glad everything worked out well.

You're going to share some cat and bunny snuggling pictures with us, right?

 

[daisyd]

Yes please to pics

 

[sailon]

S

Well, they get along fine. Ben still likes to sit an observe Loki, and he even tries to get the poor rabbit out of the cage, as if he's trapped (Loki can get out on his own -.-) and he's mainly protective over him. The mounting is definitely just a show of dominance, and he's mainly stopped doing that.

Actually, recently my family and I went on holiday to Spain for a week, and Loki had to go to my dad and Ben to my best friend for the week. The day after we had got home, we went to get our animals. We had gotten Ben first, and actually, when we got home, he immediately went upstairs to my bedroom - he was looking for Loki! He was quite disappointed to see that the bunny wasn't home yet, though, and decided to sit on the downstairs window and wait. But when Loki got home too, he went straight for him and cuddled up to him, which was adorable!

So, in my eyes, the relationship worked out well! They have a very special bond

So happy to hear this! I'm afraid I was among those that thought the situation might not end well. Glad I was wrong.