Cats and Rabbits?: An Unexpected Good Match!

Through the years, my hubby and I have shared our hearts and our home with a total of eight cats and five bunny rabbits. Never ever have we had a problem with either species getting along with one another. Strange, right? I mean, felines and rabbits being known as predator and prey?

I suppose it is all in how you view it logically. For example, our cats have always seemed to treat our rabbits as if they somehow knew that they were part of the family. Now, eventhough our cats are and have always been 100% indoor pets, I have no doubt in my mind what-so-ever that had they seen any sort of rabbit running around in our back yard that their predatory instincts would immediately kick in and that poor bunny would automatically be prey!

Why is this so? Well, for one thing the cats enviornment has a lot to do with how they react to rabbits. How you introduce them to one another, how they share territory within your home, how aggressive the cat OR bunny is, etc. Cats out in the wild naturally tend to be solitary animals where rabbits are known to be social and stay in their own little groups (afterall, being prey there is usually safety in numbers).

But, domestic cats have been living with us for so long that they have adapted to being around us and/or other animals and therefore tend to be much easier to handle, if properly introduced, around newcomers and even get a bit lonesome for the company of others whether it be ours or another animals. Such has been the case with our critters. What seems like such an unlikely match is more often than not a really wonderful companionship ...

I have found a great link to an article about the relationship between cats and rabbits from House Rabbit Society. Here it is:  
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/cats-and-rabbits.html

 

My nephew Dustin with his female dwarf bunny "Sydney" who was one of our rescue bunnies back in 2011.