I really don’t know for sure but I suspect it was the onions!  They are really potent and I have a hard time chopping them because they burn the heck out of my eyes.  In fact, we used to have a cat that would sit in the kitchen window and would watch me cook and whenever I would chop onions tears would stream down her face but she wouldn’t move. Edson will occasionally shake if he doesn’t like a smell so your rabbit probably went nuts with that strong of a smell.  Maybe he thought "danger" was lurking!!!

Not sure if he is afraid but he certainly does not like the giant onion and fish monsters!!! Try cooking something without a strong smell like eggs or grilled cheese and see what happens! I’ll betcha it was the strong fish smell too.  My kids complain when I cook fish because of the smell! 

It could be the sound of the sautee’ing of the stuff. Think like a bunny. What does that sound like? Perhaps a snake?

Mine used to freak out when I opened up soda bottles for the first time. The escaping gas sounds just like a snake hiss.

I’ve heard this reaction in rabbits from several rabbit owners before. I suspect they have very sensitive noses which makes them super sensitive to certain odors. I wonder too if it’s just the accumulation of the odors, the noise and the activity maybe puts them on sensory overload.

ALL my buns have always ran to hide anytime they hear dishes in the kitchen. Just hearing us do dishes upsets them and they run and hide. If we cook we can guarantee not to see anyone for awhile because of the smells.

We think its both the sounds of pots and pans (if you think about it they do make shrill sounds when moving them around) and the smell of food in general being cooked.

ALL my buns have always ran to hide anytime they hear dishes in the kitchen. Just hearing us do dishes upsets them and they run and hide. If we cook we can guarantee not to see anyone for awhile because of the smells.

We think its both the sounds of pots and pans (if you think about it they do make shrill sounds when moving them around) and the smell of food in general being cooked.

Good thing we don’t cook!! [My boyfriend is a meat-atraian and I am a vegetarian so no point in cooking two different ‘meal for one”s]

I know Kokanee does not like the sound of the microwave, although she is getting better…

She has figured out that veggies come from the fridge so whenever we open the fride she comes running! It’s just like a dog, too cute! She also has to come check to see if there are any veggies in the dishwasher when its open to be loaded and their is one cupboard that doesn’t close completely so she climbs in there to look for treats! (I have to say all this behavior is cute, so I am encourage it with bits of parsley )

Hi, I’ve been lurking(as some people call it) on here for a few weeks and after reading this post and responses I think I figured out why bunny was acting so strange last night. I came home and opened his cage door so he could come out and play like usual. He came out and began to hop around, but then something made him terrified. I would try and talk to him, but every time he saw me he would freak out. I even laid on the floor like I usually do, but he wouldn’t come to me and then I went over to his cage and frantically began running around in circles trying to get away. It was making me feel really bad as I couldn’t figure out why he was acting this way. So I carried on with business as usual, fixed my dinner and sat on the floor in my usual spot and he was giving me a wary eye the whole time. and then later he started acting like his normal self.
So after reading this I believe what happened was a smell memory thing. Last week I started to cook a pizza, but It got a little smoky and the smoke alarms went off. He was outside of his cage and he went into a panic not knowing which way to run, but finally found a place to hide. I felt so bad and he wouldn’t come out of his hiding spot for 1/2 an hour afterwards. Last night I cooked a pizza again, so I’m guessing the smell of that triggered his fear response to what happened last week. Thanks for the help. Julie

OOh that makes a lot of sense!! The smoke alarms would be scary! They are soo loud!

Welcome to Binkybunny notjulesverne!! You’ll love it here! Do you have any pics of your bunny you want to share?

Sure…thanks for asking.

I was lurking on the forum trying not to become involved, but I can see you are a great bunch of people who help each other out and have fun, so here I am

And this is Piccolino (Italian for Little Boy)

When I first got him at 8 weeks (the end of September)

Here he is currently (5 months old)

Well welcome! I’m glad you finallally decided to post! : ) My two freak out whenever meat is cooked, they are OK with fish but I have to agree with the onions, mine don’t like the strong smell so I be sure to put the overhead exhaust over the stove on to suck out the fumes/odor.

my bunnies don’t seem to like it either when someone’s clanking around in the kitchen cooking. plus my room is in the loft (where their cage is) and food smells always float up there. they hide away in a corner until things quiet down. not much i can do about it tho. unless i open a window. but its the middle of the winter here and way too cold. but they come around afterwards so its not so bad. im guessing its just instinct to take cover because they think something dangerous is happening? scary vegetables? cooking is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. lol. and now that i think about it their sense of smell is obviously way better than ours. if we think onions/mint/parsley/etc has a strong smell, it must be like sitting in a garden of vegetables to them.

My husband and I are vegan. My one rabbit Dorian actually LOVES the smells when we cook. He hangs out in the kitchen and begs for food. He is a horrible beggar and will try to eat anything we eat.

You’re welcome and you too! When I chop salads my two come begging! They know the sound!

I just saw Piccolino!  What a cutie pie!  Welcome to this site.  It really is incredible!

Thanks Yes, there really is a lot of great stuff on here

Piccolino is gorgeous – what kind of rabbit is he? He looks at bit like an angora but I can’t tell because the avatars are so small.

Thanks. He is a Lionhead…I had other pictures in my forst post in this thread, but they disappeared.

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