Advise needed - introducing a kitten and bunnies!

SnowDancer

I'm hoping someone can help advise me. I apologise in advance for how long this is but i want to give as much relevant information as possible.

For the last two years we have owned two rabbits. The first was a Christmas present for my son. He was about three years old. A few months later a friend asked if we would take another one in. His owner had just died. I was told it was female but we later discovered it was also male. This rabbit is older - about 11 now I believe. Unfortunately the two rabbits do not like each other. They will fight if in close contact and as a result they have to take turns being out in the garden while the other spends time in its own hutch. Usually they are alternate day by day. While not ideal, this system has been working fine for the last number of years. There is one large cat in the area who 'visits' sometimes but both rabbits have never been injured and seem happy in general.

Last week I took in a 7 week old kitten. The owner (a neighbour of a work colleague) had a few they couldn't find homes for and was going to let them loose (or so i was told - i never met them). My friend in work was trying to find homes to try and avoid this. I did some research about introducing a kitten and rabbits and from what I read it can work well if the kitten is introduced while young so i decided to give it a go. We've had the kitten for five day. He's great. He has only been in the house so far and hasn't yet to be introduced to the rabbits. The kitten spends a lot of the time in the kitchen which shares a glass door with the back garden which is where the rabbits are. When the rabbits are out in the garden they drink from a bowl. 2 days ago I noticed the water in the bowl was yellow. The same happened yesterday. I wasn't sure what it was. Today there was rabbit poo in the bowl so I now know the yellow stuff was urine!

The kitten is there little bit nervous so I wanted to give it a week or 2 to settle in before introducing its the rabbits. I've no doubt that it's the kitten in the house that has caused this behaviour in the rabbits. I think it's only one of the rabbits that have done this I'm not 100% sure. I'd like to be able to make the transition as easy as possible for the rabbits as well as for the kitten.

I really want to make this work so would be very grateful for any advise. Again sorry for the length!

ShaShaBear

SnowDancer wrote: »

I'm hoping someone can help advise me. I apologise in advance for how long this is but i want to give as much relevant information as possible.

For the last two years we have owned two rabbits. The first was a Christmas present for my son. He was about three years old. A few months later a friend asked if we would take another one in. His owner had just died. I was told it was female but we later discovered it was also male. This rabbit is older - about 11 now I believe. Unfortunately the two rabbits do not like each other. They will fight if in close contact and as a result they have to take turns being out in the garden while the other spends time in its own hutch. Usually they are alternate day by day. While not ideal, this system has been working fine for the last number of years. There is one large cat in the area who 'visits' sometimes but both rabbits have never been injured and seem happy in general.

Last week I took in a 7 week old kitten. The owner (a neighbour of a work colleague) had a few they couldn't find homes for and was going to let them loose (or so i was told - i never met them). My friend in work was trying to find homes to try and avoid this. I did some research about introducing a kitten and rabbits and from what I read it can work well if the kitten is introduced while young so i decided to give it a go. We've had the kitten for five day. He's great. He has only been in the house so far and hasn't yet to be introduced to the rabbits. The kitten spends a lot of the time in the kitchen which shares a glass door with the back garden which is where the rabbits are. When the rabbits are out in the garden they drink from a bowl. 2 days ago I noticed the water in the bowl was yellow. The same happened yesterday. I wasn't sure what it was. Today there was rabbit poo in the bowl so I now know the yellow stuff was urine!

The kitten is there little bit nervous so I wanted to give it a week or 2 to settle in before introducing its the rabbits. I've no doubt that it's the kitten in the house that has caused this behaviour in the rabbits. I think it's only one of the rabbits that have done this I'm not 100% sure. I'd like to be able to make the transition as easy as possible for the rabbits as well as for the kitten.

I really want to make this work so would be very grateful for any advise. Again sorry for the length!

I wish I could give some advice - I had a cat and rabbit who were very much in love (and as some of our home videos suggest, very romantically involved with one another) but my parents were responsible for the introductions, and I'm pretty sure they just let the kitten into the kitchen when Benji was out of his hutch. Stupid I know, but they got lucky.

catgalway

I also had a male rabbit & female cat living together...rabbit was with us first & kitten came 10 months later..they slept together in the cat bed but it was the rabbit who looked for the contact..and yes...he was very attracted to her at times;)..we had a stray female cat as well & when she was pregnant the rabbit made a nest in a litter box with grass & his own fur...such a gentleman:D we just let them share the kitchen (supervised) & they took to each other fine.