Does my rabbit love me?

[HerculesandMolasses]

Today he layed down next to my leg and against the wall and then he went away and came back and flopped in the same spot then left then layed down in, you guessed it, the same spot. He licks me tons but he never chins anything, including me, even though he isn’t fixed. Speaking of not being fixed, he also enjoys mounting my arm, leg, or unsuspecting head. He also jumps on my back and runs around me in circles grunting. He only mounts and grunts a little because I push him off a lot. He purrs frequently when I let him and the sweet spot is rubbing the ears together. He is always being around me and I’m with him the most. He eats out of anyone’s hand and he has never been physically abused. I specified that abuse because was neglected by his previous owner who I’m related to. She’s very nice, really, but she got this pet for a school thing where she had to raise it and sell it in the state fair. I’m going to describe how his living conditions were when she took care of him. No hay, no fresh veggies, no toys except for a apple stick buried under his wood shavings. He could not move in his cage much and he was kept outside under a porch with nothing in his cage except for a puppy pad folded in half over his wire bottom cage covered in wood shavings which he was supposedly trained to potty on which he didn’t at all. He had a leaking soft plastic sipper bottle and some generic brand pellets. He had little to no attention and was living alone outside in the Arizona heat. He never got groomed or anything. The only thing she did was give him food and water. His feet pads are strong so he had no sore hocks on the wire. She did not research rabbits at all. She gave him yogurt chips, slivers of carrot which he no longer likes, and his supposed treats were a veggie bag made for humans with ice berg lettuce, onion, and a lot of other things, and the lettuce was red and slimy. I adopted the rabbit and I researched the day I got him and he is spoiled rotten. I got off track there so, does he love me?

[LBJ10]

What sort of love are we talking about here? The mounting, grunting, and running around in circles around your feet generally means “I love you, let’s make babies together”. But flopping next to you, tooth purring, etc would suggest that he is comfortable with you and trusts you. In a way, this is also love and my guess is this is the kind you mean when you ask if he loves you. It is important to realize that rabbits show affection in ways that can be very different from dogs and even cats. I just wanted to point that out because once he’s neutered, some of the behaviors you are witnessing will decrease and even stop altogether as they. are fueled by hormones.

[HereComesTheBun]

In my opinion, it’s very difficult to define the love animals feel for us, because we think of love differently than they do. In my opinion, with rabbits, love is akin to trust, but even so, they all show it differently and aren’t always as obvious about it as dogs are. My rabbit, for example, isn’t a licker, but he shows his affection in other ways. But yes, it sounds like your rabbit feels very comfortable with you and has opened his heart up to you, which is no small feat, considering the situation he was in before. I’m very glad that he has found a loving home with you.

[HerculesandMolasses]

Not having babies kind of love, I mean the emotional love.

[LBJ10]

It sounds like things are off to a good start. Your bunny is flopping near you and is clearly comfortable around you.

[Author]

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