Rabbits and other peoples cats

Question
Hi Lee,

I have got two baby rabbits -  they've had their injections and are ready to go outside, I took them out on their leads yesterday and a neighbours cat came and had a look, the cat is a friendly cat towards me, but I have no idea how it will act when we're not there.  Obviously the rabbits will be in a hutch, but they have no fear and are very naive and small compared to this cat.  Should I try and introduce them to one another, there is no real way of stopping this cat from coming into our garden.  

Thanks for your help.

Answer
Follow up addition:

I should also mention that cat saliva is extremely damaging to prey animals.  It is designed to cause infections so that if the attack doesn't kill, they will eventually die from an infection.  Cat saliva has extremely nasty bacteria in it.  And it is on their claws as well as teeth as they lick their paws.  If they are lucky to get a swipe at a bunny or a little nip on them, they will develop a serious infection.

Lee

Hi,

personally, I would not keep them in the hutch knowing the cat is out there and familiar with your yard (considers it his territory).  Domestic cats that are let to roam outdoors also hunt.  The difference between feral cats and domestic cats are that feral cats kill prey quickly, domestic cats will play and torture the prey before killing it (think it's a toy).

SO given that, plus given the fact that rabbits can die from fright of predators without even having to be touched by them, I would not put your rabbits outdoors.  

Indoor house rabbits are excellent pets.  The only thing you need to do to keep them indoors and litterpan-trained is to get them spayed/neutered by a good rabbit vet when they hit sexual maturity.  Once this is done, they will revert to their good litterpan habits and you will have excellent pets for indoors.  You don't have to give them the entire run of the house, most people give them a room or a couple rooms - gating off sections of the house, or part of a room (and not necessarily 24 hours access either).  YOu could, if the hutch is clean, bring it indoors and that could be their cage inside, and then for part of the time, you could let them out wherever you want to let them exercise, then at night, get them back into their house for the night.

To find a good rabbit vet near you (not all vets are, you need to have surgeries done by good rabbit vets), go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.  If you are out of the USA, there are links to international listings for rabbit vets.

Lee