just a couple questions.....

[Baxter]

I have a couple questions foreveryone. My first one is if 1 frosted mini-wheat a day wouldharm my bunny, Chewie. He now knows when I get my breakfastand sit on the couch and he comes over and steals a miniwheat out ofthe bowl and eats it. I only ever let him have one but it issooooo cute. I like the little morning ritual we havedeveloped and I don't really want to stop it unless it is really badfor him!!!!
I was also wondering about bunnies and cats. My room matejust got a kitten and she has really taken to my bunny. Thekitten likes to chase my bunny and I am having trouble figuring out ifhe is having fun or if he is scared. They do laps of myfamily room and it looks like they are having fun.Occasionally I see the odd Binky thrown in so I know that Chewie isenjoying himself but I worry that he is really scared sometimes. Is there any way that I can tell?

thanks so much

 

[Haley]

Hey there!

With regards to the frosted mini-wheat, I would really limit those.Maybe like one a week (and scrape off the frosting). I dont really knowhow bad they are, but I know they are high in fiber and sugars.

I know how you feel though, this winter, I went through a mini-wheatcraze where that was all I ate for breakfast. My boys wouldcome up to examine what I was eating..I would bite off the frosting andgive them one to much on. I cut it out though when I put them (andmyself!) on a diet. I realized that as cute as it was, it wasnt goodfor them.

My suggestion would be to grab a little bit of a healthy snack(lettuce,parsley) and give him that when you eat breakfast. Then he'sstill getting a treat and you still have a little bondingsessionin the AM.

About the cats..I know cats and rabbits can often bond. The main thingis 1. to be sure that you're always supervising when they play and 2.that the cat is either declawed or wearing "soft paws". Just keep aneye on your bun...you will know if he's scared by his body language(ears up..eyes wide, stomping etc). I think supervised play time isfine.

Hope this helps!

-Haley

PS..were gonna need to see some pics of Chewie and this kitty friend!

 

[naturestee]

I definately recommend Soft Paws claw covers,especially for kittens. Kittens sometimes take a while tolearn when it's okay to have their claws out while playing.Kittie could accidently hurt the rabbit, and cat scratches and bitestend to become infected. Even with Soft Paws, you'll stillneed to supervise them.

Have you seen this site yet? It's awesome for learning rabbit body language.
http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk_intro.html

And there's more info in Bunny 101 here:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12051&forum_id=17

 

[maherwoman]

I don't know enough about anything aside from basic bunny diet to give advice about that...

But about cats and rabbits, I have two kitties that are just over 2yrsold, and they get along quite well with my buns.

Like Haley and Naturestee said, just make sure to keep the claws eithertrimmed or in Soft Paws (or Soft Claws, same thing just differentname). Kitty claws can greatly injure a bunny, even duringplay, so it's good to be sure they're at least trimmed. I hadmy kitties wearing Soft Claws when we first brought Maisie home in Feb,and now that they're used to her and have learned their limitations(with both Maisie and Mama), I just keep them really welltrimmed. I recommend if you have a kitty under two years old,that you keep that kitty in Soft Claws (or Paws) until their oldenough, and VERY well trained, so you can trust them around the buns.

Also, be sure to VERY well supervise them being around each other andwatch both animal's body language for any signs of unhappiness.

Another thing you should check out...we put something called HardwareCloth around each of our buns' cages to keep curious kitty pawsout. I REALLY recommend using it. You can find itat any hardware place (like Home Depot). Here's a picture ofit:

It's really great. You can attach it to the bunny cage(s)with zip ties, and it's quite easy to bend around corners. Besure to bend down any stray wires at the edges, though, as they can bequite sharp. It's helped our kitties and our bunnies quite alot!!

 

[missyscove]

Haley wrote:

2. that the cat is either declawed or wearing "soft paws".

I'm all for the softpaws, but please, do not declaw thekitty. Declawing is like removing the ends of your fingers,just past the last joint, so like cutting the end of your finger withthe nail off. It is extremely painful, and many cats show theeffects for their entire lives.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I've never heard of that with cats. I've heardthat it's quite humane to declaw them because of the way their paws arebuilt. The nails are retractable and therefore are not the only way acat can grip things (unlike a bunny who uses their nails all the time).It also means that a cat is not walking directly on the area where thenails are removed. I've never heard of a cat showing lasting effects ofdeclawing but that being said, I'd only ever declaw a cat's FRONT fet.Why? Because doing that prevents a lot of damage being done to anotheranimal but the back feet still have the ability to grab on and gripthings when necessary.

 

[missyscove]

http://www.declawing.com/

the "technical facts" section has lots of diagrams too, of what part they actually remove.

 

[maherwoman]

Oh! I didn't see that! Forsome reason, I dubbed in "trimming the claws" while I was readingit...what a goof! Yes, I agree, declawing is extremelypainful, and there are most often litter problems after due tosensitivity of the paws. It's really not worth it,IMO. No offence, Haley...I don't mean you're a bad person, oranything. Just giving my opinion, and my own experience withit.

Here's a great site that explains how to trim a cat's claws, if you'dlike to check it out. I usually use a regular, sharpfingernail clipper, but just today bought a guilletine type trimmer tosee if it is a smoother cut.

http://www.catscratching.com/htmls/article.htm

The site gives good photos for identifying where to trim,etc. If you have a kitty with dark nails, I would suggestgetting your vet to do the first trimming so you know for futurereference where the quick is.

missyscove wrote:

Haley wrote:

2. that the cat is either declawed or wearing "soft paws".

I'm all for the softpaws, but please, do not declaw thekitty. Declawing is like removing the ends of your fingers,just past the last joint, so like cutting the end of your finger withthe nail off. It is extremely painful, and many cats show theeffects for their entire lives.

 

[Kathy]

Having worked in a vet clinic, I've witnessedmany declawing surgeries. I wouldn't believe it one bit even if the vettold me that it's painless because truth is, it LOOKS painful (and itis). Whenever cat owners called in to make appointments to have theircats declawed, we always tried our best to persuade them not to do itand list off all the negatives. Some chose to do it regardless andthere wasn't anything we could do. If the vet refused, they wouldsimply just have it done elsewhere.

Declawing a cat is almost like having all the tips of your fingersamputated. I don't want to think about how that'd feel. The vetspull/cut the nails out and before they use surgical glue to glue thewound together, you can honestly see a huge hole. Ouch

There are occasions where "side effects" show up after the surgery,such as cat actingunlike its normal self and not using thelitterbox anymore. They aren't technically proven but there are manyheard of cases that link to the results of declawing. You don't want tobelieve this but owners made the decision to put their cats through thepain, cat doesn't cooperate with going potty afterwards, and ownerdecides to disown/give away cat after that. It's sad, really.

There's my 2 cents on the whole declawing topic. I say just trim thenails on a regular basis, provide a scratching post, and, of course,use Soft Paws

 

[Baxter]

Don't worry, I would never think of delcawingher. I worked at a vet clinic as well and after seeing theprocess it is not even an option. I am not at all worriedabout clawing. Cloe (the kitten) has never even tried toscratch Chewie. She bats at his ears sometimes but I like tocall them love taps. She loves to go in his cage and sit onhis little shelf with him while he eats and she even loves to chew onhis hay. I think she thinks she is part rabbit. Theonly time I worry is when they play chase. I know Chloethinks this is a great game but im not sure if Chewie agrees.He seems to be having a good time but I do wonder sometimes.He seemsto trust her more than he trusts me! Hewill be stretched out on his stomachand if I come over to seehim he will get up butif she come by, he doesn'tmind. Its super cute!!! I will try to getsomepictures but someonewill have to let me knowhow to post them. Thanks for all your answers. I amtrying to cut down on the miniwheats for my Chewie! I bought some plainshredded wheat with no sugar and he only gets half. Itsbetter for me too!!!!!

Michelle