# Free roaming?



## Wenzie (Dec 3, 2018)

I have a bunny and she lives in a cage. I've heard rabits should be free roamed but in my house there is a dog and a cat. I don't think it would be a good idea to have two predators near my bunny. What do you guys think?


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## KR Smith (Dec 3, 2018)

Just start by doing brief periods at a time and see how she does. Then, slowly introduce the other animals but make sure your bun has a safe place to run to in case she gets scared. If all goes well, I progressed to having my rabbits out of their cages for the entire day within a week or so, but I still put them away at nighttime just for their safety and my sanity!

I also have a dog and 2 cats who do fine with the bunnies; in fact, they steal the dog's food from his dish right in front of his face and he just watches them sadly! Haha! It all depends on the personalities of the individual animals, start slow and see where it goes.

Good luck!
Kristin


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## Wenzie (Dec 3, 2018)

I am also gone the majority of the day


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## CharlieRae (Dec 4, 2018)

My rabbits do fine with my 4 dogs & 1 cat. They play with 2 of my dogs & my other 2 dogs ignore the rabbits. My buns are free roam, but I do lock them up when I am not home & at night, because they are destructive. They get let out first thing in the morning before I go to work for an hr or so, an hr over lunch & then all evening until bed time, 5-ish hrs. 
I first started with a small space, then gradually increased as they figured out the litter box situation.


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## Björnmor (Dec 18, 2018)

I got a bit of the same setup as CharlieRae. But we live with one rabbit and one dog only. Be patient and it is possible for sure.


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## Blue eyes (Dec 18, 2018)

It all depends on the individual dogs and cats. Many can be taught to behave properly around a rabbit. I have dogs as well but have made an effort to be sure the dogs are_ taught _how to behave. You don't want them to play with the rabbit the way that dogs play (mock predator behavior). They need to be shown what is acceptable. I think it is important to _teach_ the dog and not just put them together and hope for the best. It should be done with a plan and purpose.

Some dogs have too much genetic predisposition to be around a pet rabbit. *This *link explains how I've introduced my dogs and rabbits. The cage door to my rabbits' cage is open from morning til we go to bed.












This video are parts taken from an episode of Animal Planet that we were on with our then rescued bunny...and Newfoundland.


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## Björnmor (Dec 18, 2018)

I feel the need to correct myself, "possible for sure" might not be true. 
But it will FOR SURE take A LOT of hard work and time from you in order to possibly make it work. 

Agreed with Blue Eyes, need to be with a plan and purpose.


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## lavendertealatte (Dec 29, 2018)

Can't speak personally but I've seen it done. Check out Instagram famous CoffeewithSmudge, who besides being ridiculously adorable and uncommonly easily to handle, has a dog friend https://www.instagram.com/coffeewithsmudge/?hl=en


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## memakwed (Dec 30, 2018)

It really depends on the breed if it’s a good choice in your home. We have a schnoodle that is 19 lbs and some rabbits snuff her and follow her and others don’t have anything to do with her. I would not leave my rabbit out however if there isn’t a person home. Both dogs and wires would be a worry for me if I wasn’t home, but I’m a worrier. We’ve never had a problem with our cats and rabbits together. They get along well.


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## Orrin (Dec 30, 2018)

Our house cat is an avid hunter--a first class predator. Hardly a day goes by that he does not bring us a "present" of a dead mouse laid at our front door. Any kind of wildlife is not safe around it. Even so, we've raised two kits in the house with us with the cat looking on. Whenever he paid too much attention to the buns--as if he were ready to pounce on them--we would tell him "No!" He watches closely when we give the babes their treats or when they jump up on our lap. If the cat makes any kind of move toward them, he's corrected. 

It is working out. Even so, we don't take chances. We never leave the cat and the buns unattended. If we leave the room, the cat goes outdoors or gets confined to a separate room. He knows the buns are strictly "paws off;" but, we also know the cat will try to get by with the forbidden when he's not being watched. Again, we don't take any chances. I rate our experience as a happy success.


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## afaubl (Dec 30, 2018)

Hi,
I have two ofy rabbits free roam in my home along with 3 cats and two large dogs. My dogs and cats seem to understand the difference between the rabbits that live in our home and the wild rabbits outside. I have had no problems. Blue eyes, one of my dogs looks a lot like yours .


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## ShaunaDarling (Jan 1, 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUSfEor0VihlL4fMt-VlLgQ

Lennon is free roam and lorelei is a firm believer in free roaming buns 
good luck.


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## Imbrium (Jan 1, 2019)

We don't have dogs, but in general, I back others' advice that it depends on breed/prey drive of the dogs as well as proper training. Blue eyes has some great advice in this department.

As for cats, honestly, I'm iffier about that. It definitely depends on the cat, but even the laziest (in my case 17 year old) cat has been known to swat at a rabbit who pushed it just a little too much... and cats' claws (and teeth) harbor bacteria that can make scratches/bites especially dangerous. A cat who is just 'playing' could accidentally claw a rabbit just as easily as they can you (especially since rabbits have very thin and sensitive skin). This thread highlights the dangers of cats and rabbits. Even with veterinary treatment, cat scratches are far too often fatal to rabbits - for that reason, I recommend not allowing cats and rabbits together unsupervised. If you can't supervise the rabbit/cat interactions, I suggest limiting them to separate rooms.

We've got 4 (2-3 year old) cats these days and 3 rabbits. For some reason, the cats will chase and stalk Alice like she's prey (perhaps it's her lop ears?) but don't tend to show any interest in Nala (our lionhead) and Layne (our 8 lb potato of a polish mix). That said, we still make sure someone's in the room and keeping an eye on things when the rabbits are loose unless the cats are locked in another part of the apartment - better safe than sorry, you know?


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## TerriK (Jan 1, 2019)

A warning story: We have two dogs. One is extraordinarily tolerant of children and other dogs. We can hold our buns and she will not bother them. However, we adopted another dog from a shelter and one of our buns was at table height outside of her cage and we didn't expect trouble but he jumped up and tried to take a bite out of her tushy. Miss Bun had a bare spot the size of a quarter where he'd ripped out ALL of her fur.

Needless to say our buns only get floor time when the doors are closed to their room. Instead, I built them a "condo" that is about 55 square feet in size so they can chase each other around.


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## Kristy A Williams (Jan 2, 2019)

Be wary, I lost my beautiful angora boys to my dogs Christmas Eve. Make sure your dogs can’t push their way into your habitats or play areas. I’m still devestated and actually considered surrendering the dogs. Dogs will be dogs and bunnies are prey. Hard lesson to learn


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## A & B (Jan 3, 2019)

Kristy A Williams said:


> Be wary, I lost my beautiful angora boys to my dogs Christmas Eve. Make sure your dogs can’t push their way into your habitats or play areas. I’m still devestated and actually considered surrendering the dogs. Dogs will be dogs and bunnies are prey. Hard lesson to learn


Oh my gosh that's terrible! I had a dog that ate my chickens and I was devastated. I'm praying for you


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## Kristy A Williams (Jan 3, 2019)

Thanks it took me a week to clean the room and get ready for new bunnies, cried most of the time. My boys were so sweet


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## samoth (Jan 19, 2019)

Blue eyes said:


> This video are parts taken from an episode of Animal Planet that we were on with our then rescued bunny...and Newfoundland.




Wait, what? You family and buns were on TV? That sounds like it needs its own thread on RO


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## ShaunaDarling (Jan 19, 2019)

samoth said:


> Wait, what? You family and buns were on TV? That sounds like it needs its own thread on RO


AGREED


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## Jackelope (Jan 19, 2019)

They can get along sometimes when everyone is calm, but if something startles your rabbit and he/she starts acting like prey, such as darting across the room, it can be very exciting for a cat or dog. The calm dynamic can fall apart in an instant. I wouldn't risk leaving them alone with access to each other.


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## Blue eyes (Jan 19, 2019)

^^ I'd submit that it still depends on the dogs. Here our rabbit is darting across the room several times...


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## Blue eyes (Jan 19, 2019)

samoth said:


> Wait, what? You family and buns were on TV? That sounds like it needs its own thread on RO





ShaunaDarling said:


> AGREED



Ha! Thanks!
I wish I could find the episode online. It was from a series called _Animal Planet Rescue Heroes: Phoenix_ which was later re-named _Animal Cops_. It was in 2005/6. I have a copy on an old VHS tape which isn't good quality. The clip I've posted is just a portion of what aired that had included us. And I only got that by holding a camera in front of the TV while playing the crappy VHS tape. (sigh) Guess I assumed it would always be readily available online.


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## Morgan_McComsey (Jan 20, 2019)

Our two floofs. Nahko the mini lop is free roaming all day and night with our cat Gidget. There visits were supervised at first. We made sure that she knew that he’s part of the family and not food. We let him free roam a few hrs at a time while we went on short trips to the grocery store, etc. and now I can say I trust him and Gidget completely to be alone together. It’s pretty great. Nahko feels more confident in his space bc he now feels like the house is also his. Just be sure to have all things he likes to chew away. Nahko like cords so those are either tucked away or protected. Good luck!!


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## leighann7 (Jan 20, 2019)

Tawny is completely free roam and has been since I brought her home. I don't even have a cage and she sleeps on my bed. We have 2 dogs and a cat. There aren't any problems, not between any of them. The cat is an idiot, but he's sweet enough. They get along fine, Tawny rules the roost.

BUT...this is only because, from the moment each animal joins our family, they are not allowed to be anything other than sweet and loving. They've never been allowed to chase, so they never have. The cat has never been allowed to swipe at anyone. Which has it's downsides, as he will not hunt mice. Trade off, I guess.


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## ravenmoore36 (Jan 20, 2019)

Hi. My two free roam our one bed flat.
We use play pens (Amazon) and cable guard to protect what we don't want damaged.
In both rooms it's bunny bunny bunny centred .


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## Bailey ❤️ (Jan 21, 2019)

Kristy A Williams said:


> Be wary, I lost my beautiful angora boys to my dogs Christmas Eve. Make sure your dogs can’t push their way into your habitats or play areas. I’m still devestated and actually considered surrendering the dogs. Dogs will be dogs and bunnies are prey. Hard lesson to learn



Oh Christmas Eve?  I am so sorry.

We lost our sweet Bailey the day after New Year’s to GI stasis from eating some suspect leaves at the park on a walk. Earlier that week, our cat snuck into her playpen and she hopped out, so he got excited about the chase. When we got home, we found patches of her fur all over the living room, and she was hiding under one of our recliners. It made me so sad, and so mad at our cat, I even thought about rehoming him. The whole predator/prey thing is such an unfortunate plight. Try as we might, we want to socialize our animals and hope they “do the right thing” but we forget their instinct to hunt is very easily triggered


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## Jenny Durling (Jan 21, 2019)

My cats used to fear the rabbits and run away from them. One of them is simply curious now but the other tries to attack the rabbits and swipes at them. So now we have cat time and rabbit time completely separately!


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## somebunnylovesme (Jan 22, 2019)

My bunny free roamed before Lenny the bunny was born. I had a cat that adored my bunny but the bunny wasn't crazy about her. The cat thought of the rabbit as another cat. The rabbit didn't quiet understand that cat was playing and the rabbit would just kick and punch the cat in the face and the cat would just take it. My rabbit didn't want the cat around all the time, so I had to have a separate area for bunny play time and another area for cat and bunny cuddle time.


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