not a cat, but a baby bunny

[Diane Viau]

My daughter went to her grandmother's for a few days and came home with a baby bunny.

I think Libby is jealous. At first she just went crazy. She was jumping on everyone and on the kitchen table to get a peek at the new creature. After a few hours of the bunny being in the house she would sit by the cage which is still on the table and whine. She stis there waiting for it to move and as soon as it does she jumps up on the table.

If we leave the room she on our heels, but runs back to see if the bunny is still there and runs back to us. She won't leave us alone.

We've been giving her lots of attention so she doesn't feel left out.

If anything her barking hasn't been as bad. Right now she's only barking when she sees someone outside or wants to grab our attention. She's not barking for the sake of barking.

Is there something we can do for her to understand this isn't something she can play with and that it's not going to take her place?

Should I worry of her peeing in the house because another animal is here or because she's jealous??

Diane

[Jody Bidlack]

Be careful with too much attention. If she whines and cries at the bunny, and the you give her lots of attention, she may feel that she is being rewarded for the behavior. I would just treat her normally and let the novelty of the bunny pass.
Jody

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Hi Diane~

I agree with Jody, I think acting like the bunny is no big deal is a good idea. I would also teach Libby what you want her to do in the presence of the bunny. I would teach my dogs to lay down when they were near the bunny cage. I would teach this so it was automatic- oh the bunny is on the table, time to lay down & wait for a really yummy treat! If you want me to elaborate on the best way to teach this let me know...

My daughter went to ther grandmothers for a few days and came home with a baby bunny.

I think Libby is jealous. At first she just went crazy. She was jumping on everyone and on the kitchen table to get a peek at the new creature. After a few hours of the bunny being in the house she would sit by the cage which is still on the table and whine. She stis there waiting for it to move and as soon as it does she jumps up on the table.

If we leave the room she on our heels, but runs back to see if the bunny is still there and runs back to us. She won't leave us alone.

We've been giving her lots of attention so she doesn't feel left out.

If anything her barking hasn't been as bad. Right now she's only barking when she sees someone outside or wants to grab our attention. She's not barking for the sake of barking.

Is there something we can do for her to understand this isn't something she can play with and that it's not going to take her place?

Should I worry of her peeing in the house because another animal is here or because she's jealous??

Diane

[Luciann]

Well we had bunnies too and our dobbie was very curious about them. he would get under the cage the first week or so and sniff their feet. if we let them out in the yard after about a year and he was use to them he would lay under the tree in the grass and just watch them. The last bunny we had died of old age and Monster (the dobbie) went to it and keep trying to nudge it to get up and then moped around since he was unhappy the bunny did not get back up. Monster is now in doggie heaven

[Amber]

My situation wasn't with a bunny but with a hedgehog. Precious was VERY curious about the hedgehog, the same way Libby is with the bunny, except she didn't bark. She would just look into her cage every time the hedgehog would make a sound or right before bed (kinda like she was saying "Goodnight"). Every time the hedgehog would make a noise and Precious would go into "alert" mode right before running to the cage, I would say "hedgehog" (after Precious learned what "hedgehog" meant) and Precious would go back to whatever she was doing and would leave the hedgehog alone. She would still tell her "Goodnight" though.

Could you do something like this with Libby? Eventually Libby, like Precious, will see that the bunny is no big deal and that it is nothing to obsess over.