Conference misery::feline_v1

    Hartz makes a spray called NO in outdoor and indoor strengths. 
    However, it's for dogs and cats.  (Or against them.)  I don't know
    if a rabbit would find it repellent, but it's cheaper than $6.00
    and available in supermarkets.
    
    I have two cats and my former neighbors had a large domestic rabbit.
    The cats would occasionally chase the rabbit, but the rabbit would
    also occasionally chase the cats.  These are most indoor cats, seldom
    bagging anything more impressive than a moth; they certainly never
    looked on the rabbit as prey.  However, more outdoor cats my family
    has had have certainly caught BABY rabbits.  On the whole, I'd say
    you were pretty safe introducing a kitten to a grown rabbit, but
    not vice versa.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    A bottle of Tabasco sauce might do the trick...you'd have to be
    careful of the sauce and let it dry on the cord - it *does* stain
    if it drips on, for example, your white carpet.  If it doesn't work,
    you can at least make chili or Hunan-style food!
    
    A guy in our group has a rabbit and a cat - the rabbit chases the
    cat around the house.  You'd have to be careful with a small kitten
    and a rabbit since a rabbit's hind legs are quite strong (as you
    know, no doubt) and he could gut out the cat pretty easily.

    --Louise

    Tabasco works real well for cats. if you have trouble with
    that try cayenne pepper.
    
    

    Re token cat question:
    
    In a cat book whose title escapes me at the moment, there was a
    (true) story of a woman who looked at the body structure of cats
    and rabbits and on that basis thought they could interbreed.  To
    quote as best I can, "So she introduced some rabbits to her cat.
     The cat got along fine with his new friends, but there were no
    offspring, of course."
    
    Rabbits and cats apparently can mix, but I suppose it depends on
    the individual rabbit and the individual cat.  In _Charles, the
    Story of a Friendship_, a touching (and _*HIGHLY*_ recommended)
    book on his favorite cat by the late British publisher, Michael
    Joseph, he told about a rabbit given as pet to his daughter that
    was introduced into his house of cats (he always had several). 
    The rabbit not only held his own, but rather intimidated the cats.
     As Peter (rthe rabbit was named by the daughter) grew older, he
    became more cranky, and according to Joseph, in his later years
    had to be approached with a cane when bringing him food, since he
    was prone to attacking (like an ex-President's "killer rabbit"?);
    even the neighborhood dogs avoided him.  As the author said, "He
    was a rabbit of great valour."
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    I don't know if this will work with cats, but it did work with two
    beagles that I once owned.  When they were pups, I kept them in
    my barn at night, in a small tack room that was empty.  A power
    feed went down from the breaker panel that was located in the room,
    and when I went in to the room one morning, I found that they had
    started chewing the cable.  (It was a 220V cable feeding a welding
    machine).
    
    I didn't know what to do, my wife suggested tabasco sauce.  That
    worked allright, they stopped, but it is red, of course, and does
    stain.  
    
    Later, when they were older, we had some trouble with them chewing
    on shoes, from time to time.  Since it was summer, and since I always
    used to grow hot peppers, we tried cutting open a pepper, and rubbing
    it all over the shoe.  (If you try this, caution--wear rubber gloves,
    and DON'T EVER GET YOUR HANDS NEAR YOUR EYES UNTIL YOU HAVE WASHED
    YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY.  Hot peppers are so *violent* that the oil,
    or whatever, can really cause you discomfort).
    
    Hope you have gotten some ideas -- respond with what you finally
    do.

    
    
    We had a one cat household, enter one thouroughly spoilt kitten.
    
    UNTIL......
    
    One of the guys sharing the house found this really big beautiful
    cream rabbit sat in the middle of amain road on the way home from
    the pub.
    
    To start with the rabbit was obviously scared and was coaxed into
    socialising with lots of food. 
    
    The cat's first reaction was "great a new toy!"
    
    Second reaction?  'WHAT THE *@&$#'S HE DOING IN *MY* LITTER TRAY!"
    
    Pretty soon they got on really well though (as long as they got
    equal attention).
    
    Result.... hours of rabbit sitting quietly in corner cat runs up
    and bats it around the hind quarters and runs of (just to wake the
    dumb animal up of course).
    
    Cat chases rabbit out of room.
    
    Rabbit chases cat around the whole house.
    
    Only real hewing problem with the rabbit,(to which an end was soon
    put) was the little B*&$%#^& took a liking to my underwear and had
    eaten half of two pairs of knickers and one bra before we found
    out!
    
    Lovely having the two together though.
    
    Jo
    Reading, UK. 
    

    Hot stuff could be cruel treatment for animals.  What if they got
    it in their eyes?

    This note hasn't been replied to for a long time, but I thought
    I would pass on a recent story.  My daughter, husband, 9 yr boy
    & 6yr daughter recently moved to Phoenix and into a new home with
    a pool.  Allison decided to get the kids a second pet.  They already
    had Max, a short-hair tabby(?) who has to be one of the smartest
    cats, I have ever known.  Anyway, the family got Louie the Lop,
    a Belgian Lop-Eared rabbit and he and Max have become the best of
    friends, chasing each other all over the enclosed back yard. One
    day, a couple of weeks ago, Max was by the edge of the pool and
    Louie took a leap at him, but Max dodged and *plop* there goes
    Louie right into the pool. He swam around for awhile and fortunately
    my daughter saw what happened and fished Louie out, 'cause he
    couldn't climb up over the edge of the pool by himself.  Everybody
    hopes Louie learned his lesson.  What if they had been in another
    part of the house and didn't see it!!! Louie stays in the garage
    when nobody's home
    
    Chuck

Re .5 (warnings about hot peppers):

If you use peppers, don't touch ANYTHING before washing - a friend of mine made
a mistake (nothing to do with animals, he was cooking for himself) of going to
the lavatory after cutting up some chillies, without washing his hands first.
I won't go into details - although the story can still bring a flush of
embarrassment to his cheeks, and he's not the sensitive type! - but this was a
VERY bad idea.


Regarding rabbits: I've heard about their offensive capabilities (very strong
back legs and sharp claws) to have often wondered how one of our cats - a
beefy neutered tom who will kill & eat just about anything - manages to dispatch
them.  He has brought home several, varying from about half-grown to adult, and
they usually seem to be unmarked - I presume that he breaks their necks somehow,
but I can't figure out how.

As I said, he usually brings rabbits in unmarked. However, I stepped out of the
front door one morning to find two rabbit's feet, a well-chewed shoulder joint
and a small pile of intestines - one or more of the cats must have been really
hungry!

Another puzzle about this cat and rabbits is how he manages to get them in
through the cat flap.  It always seems to be a squeeze for him to drag himself
through, but I've seen him appear through the flap with a fully-grown rabbit
in his mouth.  How he gets the corpse over our six-foot fences is also a
mystery.

Chris.