Saturday, July 17, 2010

Rabbit and cat - is the rabbit safe?


Dear George,
My name is Tutu and I am a lop-eared human - no, sorry, a lop-eared house bunny! My stable mate is Frederico the Cat. You may have met him already. I am 10 years old and he is a young whipper-snapper.
My humans seem to be very fond of him but he is a little b.....! I wish I could train him but he won't listen to me or obey anybody. Look at him in the photo. He thinks he's some great movie director!
What can I do? Can I trade him in? What do you think?
Hugs

Tutu


Dear Tutu

You have a bit of a problem.... Or you might have. Kittens brought up with house rabbits probably think of them as family and are probably going to be safe with them. Probably. That's the rub.
My attitude to rabbits, the natural cattitude, is to stalk, pounce, grab and eat them. In that order. It is literally hard wired into my brain. There's a neuroscientist, Jaak Panksepp, who has revealed that when you stimulate the seek-and-reward area of the brain, rats sniff and forage around, cats stalk and pounce. It's just the most enjoyable thing in life for felines. It is what a cat does.
So, your human shouldn't leave you alone with Frederico - just in case. (Any more than a large dog should be left alone with a baby or a toddler). Yes, it is probably safe almost all the time. But again it's that probably and almost. If you suddenly scuttled away extra fast, seeing you running might set off Frederico's chase instinct.
I don't think you should trade him in. As long as your human is sensible and doesn't let you play unsupervised, you will be safe. She should make sure that you are always in your crate or den when she is out of the house. Of course, if you were a giant rabbit, you could probaby chase and harass Frederico. But a French lop, which I think you are, just isn't big enough to turn the tables.
Cats and house rabbits can live together but only if the humans never forget that the cat is the predator and the rabbit is its prey.
Love (and I would love you in a gastronomic kind of way)
George

11 comments:

  1. FredericoJuly 17, 2010

    Dear George, I can not believe Tutu sent you a letter complaining about me! Even worse....she wants to trade me in! That's not fair at all!
    I LOVE TUTU! I'd never hurt her - I just want to play. And our humans don't EVER let us unsupervised (which I wish they will sometimes):-)
    They have a HUGE crate for Tutu and that's where she sleeps. And that's where she stays when they are not around. And I'm not allowed to "play dirty"! I'm quite jealous!
    Frederico

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  2. Our beloved Oscar LOVED baby rabbits, but never seemed to catch the adults, but we have brown rabbits that are kind of large. I don't know if the flop ear bunny is smaller than our adult browns. But, I'm with you not leaving the cat unsupervised around that little bunny. You don't want him to end up lunch for the cat one day. That would be heart breaking.

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  3. Dear Tutu....you are such a cute house bunny!
    Sooooo soft! I'd like to play with you too.
    Can I visit?
    Love
    Shumba

    PS. Frederico, it looks like you are very handsome (and relaxed)! May be I should really pay you a visit:-)

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  4. Tutu, you don look at all like the bunny that eats my tulips! Is it because you are a house bunny?
    Minnie

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  5. You are so French, Tutu! That's why you are so chic :-)
    Porthos

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  6. Tutu, you look so cute and small. And....Frederico doesn't look like a threat!
    It must be fun to play together.
    Love
    Fluffy

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  7. Dear Tutu, I read past letters posted by Frederico on George's blog.
    He thinks he's somehow related to the late Federico Fellini, the great movie director.
    That's why he thinks he's a movie director.
    I'm sure he loves you and may be he wants to make you a movie star! If both of you are under constant your humans supervision (it seems you are - grrrr!)....then you're safe.
    Tell you the truth....he looks quite relaxed and peaceful in the picture :-)
    Relax Tutu, don't trade him in! Have fun :-)
    Hugs
    Cayenne

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  8. I don't think I would eat a bunny....but I would play with one! I love shrimps!
    Diego

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  9. Dear Tutu. Under no circumstances trust a cat however well you think you know it. Remember the song "Never smile at a crocodile" and the words, " Don't be taken in by his friendly grin, he's imagining how well you'll fit beneath his skin." Kittens can be controlled as I controlled the Dottie. Cats, never!
    Love Harvey

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  10. Puss-PussJuly 24, 2010

    Dear Tutu,
    My word, you look absolutely delic--like a very pleasant conversationalist. I'll tell you what: you need a holiday from Frederico, and I daresay he could use one from you. A long one. Familiarity breeds contempt, and all that. Do come see me. I would be delighted to ea--have a lovely long chat with you.

    In anticipation,
    Puss-Puss.

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  11. Our ape Mum would love to have a house bunny or two. But she knows that any sweet bun entering this house would last all of five minutes. So, she sticks to visiting her friend who has two house bunnies, then comes home smelling of yummy bunnies.

    WW

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Help for cats whose humans show behaviour problems.

This blog is devoted to the study of human behaviour. We cats, who live with this sometimes unpredictable and always feeble minded species, can benefit from seeing their behaviour in its proper scientific context. The study of feline dilemmas, training problems, and difficulties with humans, can only benefit all of us. All of us train our humans - to buy the right food, for instance, but many of us do not have knowledge of how to improve our training methods. The human species is obviously not as intelligent as the cat, but nevertheless can learn quite a lot - if properly managed. Topics of interest include the use of claw and order, purring as a human reward, rubbing your human up the right way, when to bite, spraying as a method of making our wishes known, ignoring the human, human harassment, human inattention and sheer human stupidity. I welcome your questions. Photos can be sent via my secretary's website, www.celiahaddon.com This blog has been chosen as one of the top 50 feline blogs by Online VetTechprogramms.org