Can Bunnies Sense Grief?

[Philomena]

Alright, My bunny, Philomena and I, are away at college and recently my dog from back home passed away. Naturally I’ve been depressed, but Philomena also seems to be taking it rather hard too. Dexter and Philomena have always gotten along very well, so well in fact that they would sleep next to each other. I can imagine that she would be upset if she knew about Dexter’s passing, but she wasn’t home when he passed. Other than me telling her about it there is no way she would know. Yet, she isn’t acting quite like herself. She doesn’t want to come out and play during playtimes. She hasn’t binkied or 500 since Dexter’s passing. She doesn’t even want to sleep on her shelf like usual. She’s still eating, drinking, and pooping normally. When I first found out about my darling Dexter I sobbed and cried and Philomena was thumping at me, which I understand because I was making very strange and scary noises, but she continued to act up even when I had settled down and was back to trying to laugh. So I’m wondering if Philomena can sense and possibly react to my emotions. 

[aBeautifulHope]

Animals are VERY tuned into our emotions…I actually have a friend that trains horses based on breath, intuition, emotion, and intention. It’s insane what she can get a horse to do just be changing her breathing pattern and emotion!! I lost my dog last November and my horse Toby (he passed in January thanks to a nasty colic caused by a chemical dewormer) for weeks up until he passed would follow me around with his nose in my lower back while I did chores and just ‘be’ with me without his normal nosing for treats because he knew I was sad and that was what I needed…then when he passed not too long later my pony Flutter followed me around like Toby did when Jake died (Flutter is a rescue pony and while he likes people he wasn’t super people oriented until Toby died) and has since kind of filled Toby’s role of comforter a bit ☺️ Animals are amazing creatures and they really do mirror or mimic our emotions (my horse Sonny that I’ve had for almost ten year/since he was weaned is EXTREMELY influenced by my emotions and I know if he’s behaving a certain way it’s because something inside of me is influencing him/causing him to be uncomfortable)

[Sarita]

Quite possibly! I don’t remember exactly how Bobby was when my husband passed away last year but it seems like he was a great comfort in the following weeks.

It is quite possible as well that your grieving “noises” were unfamiliar to him and maybe quite frightening to him. I imagine that all animals are intuitive when something in their environment changes.

So interesting about the horses and breathing pattern…

Sorry for the loss of Dexter too.

[Author]

Messages