I am moving into a house with a back yard, so I was hoping I could just leave my rabbit out of his hutch the whole time and have free run as he was no way of escaping. But I am just wondering, maybe a daft question, my worry is cats. Do cats tend to attack rabbits? Or do rabbits attack cats if they were to come into their territory? My rabbit is a 2 year old unneutered male. He is not aggressive, and has a curious personality.

My 2 rabbits get along fine with our friend's cats when they are together, but i suppose it depends on the kind of cats that are around?

Yes they do and kill them, well my cat did a few times

Wild ones not pet ones

Are wild cats that common in built up town areas? Genuine question I'm not being cheeky lol.

No wild rabbit

My domestic cat hunted rabbits (wild ones)

Ah right I thought you meant wild cats! Hmm I might just have to leave him out in the yard when I'm in the house and not overnight then. I'd hate to wake up to a missing or ripped open rabbit.

My brother and his wife live in London in an old property with a back yard, not really a garden. They had 3 rabbits, 2 of whom were bonded and lived outside, the 3rd was bullied by the other 2 so lives indoors. Last year my brother went out for dinner in the evening, he had trouble getting one of the rabbits in the hutch so decided to leave the hutch door open, a decision he regretted when he came home later that night to an awful scene of death, really awful and distressing. My brother loved those rabbits. The rabbits were tortured and mutilated and the vet he spoke to said it was likely to be a cat attack because a fox would most likely have taken its prey away to eat - plus the back yard is surrounded by a high brick wall which only a cat would have been able to access over easily. My brother had seen some rather large cats in the area in the weeks prior to this happening.

Despite this event, my brother still loves cats in general and bears no ill will against the cat who killed his rabbits. He blames himself for not being more careful. The indoor rabbit was given a companion later last year who she bonded with and eventually they moved outdoors to the hutches, While my brother and his wife were on holiday the friend who was going in to attend the rabbits didn't secure the hutch one day and the companion rabbit was killed, the other older rabbit was unharmed and survived - she's now back indoors and my brother refuses to acquire any more, it's just too hard to keep losing them.

So yes, some cats can kill domestic rabbits.

Yes, cats will kill rabbits.

But foxes are as agile as cats, can climb and jump like cats and exist in rural and urban areas. They love a bit of captive rabbit.

So secure your rabbit before dusk and let it out after dawn. If you can't keep an eye on it, give it a secure hutch or run to protect it.

Thanks all! I will just let him out during the day then x

Foxes regularly kill more than they can carry off. It's one of the reasons some people hate them, as it seems so cruel and senseless.

Of course foxes do not think at that level, so we are attributing qualities to the fox that they don't possess.

It's actually to do with the history of foxes who in the wild and in cold climates will kill everything they can and then store what they can.

A tom cat of mine (long gone bless him) did once bring a hare home. Whether he killed it or not is another matter. There wasn't a mark on it, apart from it's ankles were worn to the bone where he had dragged it for (by the look of it) miles!

Please do keep the rabbits in at least a covered run.

I used to own an outdoor rabbit long ago. He was quite the escape artist in his garden run. Sadly he was gotten by a fox. I know this as I found his skull in the garden with everything else eaten away completely. I was gutted. My cat has also caught a wild rabbit to. So I really wouldn't suggest leaving any prey type pet outside unattented and loose at all.

foxes and cats kill day as well. Make sure he is in a run that is fox proof. Especially be careful of foxes digging under the fence.

I have cats and rabbits and I would not trust them together.

Unless your garden is fox and cat proof - so your garden will need some sort of overhead fencing as well as being secure around the sides - you'll risk your rabbits being killed each time you leave them outside unsupervised.

Our neighbours recently got 2 rabbits and the hutch is in their back garden which backs onto ours. There is a cat hanging around there all the time now and it's making horrible yowling noises in the early hours. I can only assume it's desperate to get its teeth into the bunnies. I own a huge greyhound which in turn is being tormented by the yowling cat in the driveway.

I know foxes kill more than they carry off, my mum's hens were all killed years ago when a fox penetrated their hen-house but only a couple were missing. In the case of my brother's rabbits neither of the rabbits was eaten. In fact, only one of the rabbits was mutilated, the other rabbit was dead behind a shrub where it had been hiding - but my brother says it died from a heart attack/shock because the 2 rabbits were very attached to each other. The vet said the attack bore all the hallmarks of a cat attack in that cats like to torture their prey and don't always eat it. Cats had been hanging around the area but my brother has never seen a fox there. I get plenty of foxes round where I live. Of course, it could have been some other predatory animal but my brother lives in a fairly built up area in south London.

The rabbits were killed by a predatory animal of some sort because the hutch was left open after dusk. It was my brother's fault and he doesn't blame the torturer because he accepts that it is part of nature for certain animals to behave like this. He has always loved cats and I think he would like a cat but doesn't think he has suitable outdoor space and he's quite near a busy road.

Rabbits need to be safely locked in their hutches come nightfall,

My cat Fred often brings home dead wild rabbits unfortuntely. He brought home 2 alive once, luckily I managed to save them.

So do my cats this last week has seen the wild rabbit population diminish by at least six rabbits

Don`t know how to stop them unless I keep the cats locked indoors all the time.

Two sides to this IME.
When I was young we had a large male un-neutered rabbit who was also an escape artist, all our neighbours knew Smokey and we always found him, sometimes roads away. Our male neutered cat hated evenings when Smokey was let free in the house as he would chase after him and try to hump him. The poor cat had to escape to the top of the tv or bookcases as Smokey could climb to the back of the sofa, the cat's favourite place.

Years later I went to see a Siamese kitten, I wanted to see the mother and we waited ages until she reappeared under a fence, dragging a dead wild rabbit larger than herself. My cat (the Blue Point Siamese) never caught a rabbit but her daughter made up for it as she went to live with my aunt who had a B&B in the country, she surprised a few guests dragging dead catches through ground floor bedroom windows in the middle of the night.

In a town centre yard a rabbit would probably be more vulnerable to foxes but I would not discount cats, either way the yard needs at least a net overhead and brick walls to protect the rabbit.

My cats love killing rabbits. It's a nightmare, i'm always worming them and rescuing baby rabbits off them (babies seem to be the ones they like to tease the most).

theres no way we could have a pet rabbit my cat would would have it straight away and i have warned all neighbours - hes brought dead and alive ones home over the years from the fields and it really does sadden me.

but thats my cat, some cats get on very well with rabbits. i would be inclined to get to know the neighbouring cats abit better before you risk leaving you pet outside.

and i agree with another poster who said your rabbit will need to be secure during the day too if unsupervised..... my cat brought home rabbits at all times of the day.

hope it works out

1) your rabbit will become aggressive. He's not reached rabbit puberty yet (usually around 3 years), so unless you plan to breed from him, get him neutered.
2) my cat catches, kills and eats wild rabbits. Not really sure, if a cat is that way inclined that they really give a monkeys about wild or domestic...
3) friends of mine have garden roaming rabbits and cats that get on great. So not all cats are terrors.

Cheers! I wasn't sure whether to neuter him because he doesn't come into contact with any other rabbits... but obviously I don't want him to become aggressive. He's quite shy at the moment.

He's more likely to spray urine around if you don't get him neutered, especially if you are moving him to new premises that he'll want to mark as "his territory". It's kinder to have him neutered.

And as rabbits are very social animals, once he's been neutered you might want to look at seeing if you can bond him with a spayed female. There are lots of spayed adults in rescues.

They can be incredibly affectionate to each other but bonding has to be done carefully so if you do think of doing that, research bonding rabbits. This is quite an interesting link.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/multiple.html

Yeah, get him done. He will get aggressive at some point, whether he's around other rabbits or not. And as mentioned, he will start spraying. Stinky...

Ewww can do without that!