Two cats and a Rabbit

Dog and Cat

Well, lets see, I have two cats, named Gypsy (the girl) and Djali (the boy). Their names were inspired by Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame which I saw while I was searching for names. They are brother and sister and are currently nine months old. Both are quite affectionate with people and each other and with the rabbit. They are both medium longhaired and mostly black with white paws and tummys (he has a white nose, she has a white chin).

Djali attacking the Feather Toy Drinking Kitten Gypsy, preparing to battle the evil Laser Printer

The rabbit is named Bryansk (I named him not long after watching a documentary on the battle of Stalingrad on the Discovery channel. It is a Russian city. I suppose one can draw some conclusions about my ability to name things.) He lives in the house. He, like the cats, is quite affectionate. If you hold your hand near the floor (at his head-level) and make scratching motions, he'll run over and stick his head under your hand for scratching. He seems to like the cats as well. He is a fun, but somewhat difficult pet. He needs constant monitoring when he is out of his cage; he chews anything and everything that strikes his fancy and he chews and chews and chews until the object is quite clearly *chewed*. Not to mention that he eats carpet. The following picture could stand a bit of editing, but I thought I'd include it as is for now.

Baby Bree with Carrot

Playing Kitten

All three animals are quite friendly and affectionate and seem to enjoy each other's company most of the time.

It is interesting watching the rabbit and kittens interact. The rabbit is patient and just sits there as the kittens pounce on him and nibble his ears (they're kittens after all-they pounce on *anything* that moves). If he gets tired of being a cat-toy, he hops off. But he really does seem to like them.

The female cat is interested in the rabbit, although for the first day or two, she spent most of her time watching him and hissing in abject terror if he so much as looked at her. The rabbit would then hop up to her in curiosity (wondering what the noise was about), causing her to hiss and arch her back threateningly, all of which was totally missed on the rabbit, who would just look at her curiously. After a couple of days, she calmed down and now she plays happily with him.

The male cat is especially fascinated with Bree (as my mother calls the rabbit). Bree is a messy eater, and Djali eats whatever rabbit food gets kicked, knocked or pushed out of the cage (food pellets, hay, rabbit treats, etc). The male cat imitates rabbit behavior-apparently he once observed the rabbit chewing on a book and, for a while, took to chewing on books himself (I was glad when that phase passed). I moved recently, and I took the rabbit to my new place several hours before I took the two cats. When I finally brought the cats home, they were quite nervous about the new environment. Before too long, the little boy cat found the rabbit cage, where the rabbit hopped over to him they could sniff noses. All three animals seemed much more comfortable after they realized that the others were there.

And, yes, the girl cat now holds a grudge against my printer for savagely attacking her by spewing paper at her while she was standing there (on the printer), minding her own business...

Update - Dec 99

Well, the kittens are no longer kittens. They are now adult cats, but they behave pretty much as described above. They still love to play with the rabbit.

As for the rabbit, he's been neutered but seems none the worse for wear. He's as stubborn as ever.

As for the object of Gypsy's ultimate hatred, the laser printer, it has since died an ignoble and deserved death (her opinion, not mine). Two ink jet printers carry on the hated printer legacy, however, and Gypsy is plotting the best way to remove these two infernal devices from the world.

Djali is Djali. He still likes to sit at my feet when I'm at the computer and gnaw on my toes. A very annoying habit, but one he seems to enjoy greatly.