Cats and rabbits

[Harvey7]

We hope to move to a rural area in the next six months. We have two outdoor cats, the rural area is full of rabbits, how do they get along ?

Tks Harvey

 

[reb]

I have seen cats kill young cottontails. The cats have nothing to fear from the rabbits, tho.

 

[Wil]

19 years ago when we moved out to our rural home we had cottontails and pheasants all around the area, now with all of the "outdoor" cats and dogs allowed to run rampant I have seen one pheasant and one cottontail in the past 3 years.

19 years ago we counted 13 different phasants one Saturday morning sitting in our back yard.

People are not protective enough of the natural rural wildlife.

And I have owned and loved my own dogs and cats but kept them at home.

 

[txdon]

Our cat will chase after a rabbit and the rabbit will run. I haven't seen what happens when the cat catches the rabbit, if he does. Our cats, one a transplanted city cat, roams free but never goes more than about 50 yards from the house. I would think the baby rabbits would have the same demise as mice.

 

[ToadHill]

I had a friend years ago that had a black cat that weighed almost 20 lbs and wasn't fat. He used to bring rabbits home and leave them on the porch steps about once a month.

 

[Soundguy]

We have barn cats and small dogs ( and big dogs ) Once in a blue moon the cats or a big dog will catch a juvenile rabbit. the small dogs on t e other hand ( jack russle terrorist and a papillion and a couple beagles ) .. now they will catch bunnies right and left..

soundguy

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid, our cats were strictly outdoor cats; my dad never allowed a dog or cat into the house. And occasionally, a cat would bring a rabbit home, so we felt sure the cat had killed the rabbit. I recall reading that cats would sometimes kill rabbits, but that they had to stalk and sneak up on them because, if the rabbit saw the cat coming, the rabbit could easily outrun the cat.

 

[jinman]

We have lots of feral cats in our area. We also have lots of rabbits and more squirrels than you can count. When I first bought this place, it was pretty uninhabited and I hardly ever saw a bunny or squirrel. What I did see a lot of was cougar, bobcat, and coyote tracks. Now that the area has become much more populous, the cougars and bobcats have really thinned out. The feral cats have increased and so have the populations of bunnies and squirrels. The field mice population seems to be about the same. My impression is that feral cats and domestic animals are far less a threat to the rodent population than a healthy amount of natural predators. As a matter of fact, I see more rabbits and squirrels killed by cars on the road than by the cats. I'm sure cats find nests and take young rodents, but the larger animals seem to escape.

My wife told me that she did see a roadrunner with a big fat lizard in it's mouth yesterday.

 

[Jimbrown]

Plain and simple the cats will catch some of the rabbits. Mine catch jack rabbits twice there size. eat what they want and give the rest to the dogs. I don't the dogs ever caught a rabbiit.

 

[MossRoad]

The cats have nothing to fear from the rabbits, tho.

Oh, yeah?