I had cats almost all my life. This is the first period of my life without at least one. Most of the time I had more than one. To be honest, I really miss them. Cats are a unique animal and it is true that they own you. You do not own them. They tell you what they want and my cats were always quite vocal (well I did have a few Siamese). These last four years have been quiet.
A rabbit does not make any vocal sounds outside of the occasionally growl. I think Rabbit has only done that once since we moved here. When he first became a "house rabbit" at my house, he was just getting used to me and his surroundings. Sometimes when I was going to clean his cage (a daily job) and he was in it (he can go in and out of it as he chooses) I would pick him up to take him out. He did not like that! Then he would make these little growls. I thought it was cute but he did not.
Now here in my apartment, I usually clean the cage around two in the afternoon. It is a time when he is in the middle of his sleeping time. Rabbits sleep most of their day, like cats and dogs do. So I know he won't be in the cage. If he is, I wait. If he wants to alert me to something he wants, he usually will run circles around me or dig into his runner rug to make noise with his claws (the runner rug is his, I put hay and other food right on it). When he runs circles and changes direction in midair that is what is referred to by rabbit people as "binkys" and it means they are happy. He does it when I wake up in the morning. Running around the chair or my walker and me.
If I talk out loud to myself, he thinks I am talking to him and he listens. I try to remember to be vocal often during the day because he likes it. At my house, I used to read out loud in the evenings to my husband and son and Rabbit would sit near me to hear. He likes music too. The only other animal I have had that seem to enjoy music was my horses. They loved to hear music.
I do feel bad for Rabbit that he cannot go outside. I would not take the chance of him getting away from me outside. I am sure I would not be able to lure him back because he did live outside for a few months. But not in a city. I suppose it is the same for cats that never go outside. I do not open my windows here once the weather got warm due to the heat and to insects. The sun shines all day on my windows and insects (especially flies) like to sleep in the sun and then make their way through my screens and window casings. I doubt Rabbit would appreciate going outside since he does not like any noise or new surroundings. He is 8 years old now and not sickly or anything like that. So I suppose he is good inside here. Not like he is a wild rabbit.
In 2014 when he first lived in my barn, here he is playing with one of my cats.
