Few bunnies appreciated being picked up. That said, my bam sometimes lets me pick him up nowadays. I can tell the difference, if I have to pick him up, he will tense up and try to get away, sometimes hyper-ventilate. But when he comes up to me and sits himself by my fot and lets me put him in my knee for strokes and pets, he’s all relaxed and happily falls asleep in my lap. It has taken something like 4 years for us to get to this point though =)

When Willow nudges me and then lays down it usually means she wants me to pet her, or better yet get out the comb and brush her.

As far as knowing that you are ill or are in pain, I think sometimes animals know this, but they don’t know what that means exactly. Such as bending over to pick him up, he most likely wouldn’t understand that it causes pain.

Willow doesn’t want to be picked up for the most part either, like most bunnies. To make her a little more comfortable with it I usually pick her up once a day in the morning and give her a little piece of apple. Most mornings she will stand up to get picked up for her apple chunk. She wants down though after the apple bit is gone though.