Bunny petting breakthrough

[Taloan7]

Until now Bunnius has been a very mellow, well behaved bunny, but she hasn’t been interested in being pet, she’d just run away. Technically she’s my five year old’s bunny and while my daughter has been very good at respecting the bunny’s boundaries she has been disappointed that Bunnius didn’t like her more (as she saw it). Anyway, yesterday she went to hand feed her some greens while Bunnius was sitting in her litter box and discovered that as long as Bunnius is in the litter box she is totally fine with being pet, but anywhere else she will run away. My daughter was over the moon and hopes if she pets her a little bit each day she will grow more comfortable. I was very excited at this progress and thought it was funny that Bunnius seems to have a petting safe zone.

[Gordo and Janice]

Heartwarming to hear she was over the moon. Nothing like the acceptance of a little bunny. I am sure if she is calm and easy going around Bunnius and continues to pet her a little each day, then Bunnius will equate the loving, comforting, feel good pets with your daughter. And in time Bunnius, will feel safe anywhere to receive pets. Maybe even approach her for pets.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Awww, that’s nice, finally some progress! Many people buy bunnies for their kids in the hope that they are cuddly, which results in many disappointed kids. Bunnies can take a really long time to warm up to their humans and some never become cuddly.

As long as rabbits are still hormonal it’s quite difficult to get them calmed down enough to really bond with you. Has Bunnius been spayed yet? (BTW spaying is also important for health reasons: unfixed females have up to 80% chance of getting uterine cancer by age 4.)

[Taloan7]

She was spayed when we got her as she was a rescue. i like getting rescues not just because they need homes, but then you don’t have to deal with the cost of spaying/neutering, you get an adult with a more stable personality, etc. You miss out on the cute baby stage, but I’ve found with most animals that cute baby stage is also exhausting.

It’s taken about 5 months to get to this stage, but I pointed out to my daughter that up until recently the cats didn’t snuggle with her either because little kids are loud and move abruptly and lots of animals are leery of them, so she just had to let Bunnius get used to the idea that she isn’t a threat and she could just do that by playing on the floor around her without trying to force affection.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Awesome ^_^ Rabbits have a very cute baby stage but an awful puberty stage, so be glad you didn’t have to go through that
Rabbits and kids can be a tough combination indeed because rabbits are prey animals and very wary. How do the cats treat Bunnius? Does she feel safe enough around them?

[Bam]

This is a lovely development ?It’s not uncommon for an adult bun to need 5 months until they accept being pet. I think your daughter is right, petting her a little bit every day will most likely make her more comfortable. Most buns really like being pet (but not lifted or held), especially on the head and ears, but they have start trusting their humans first. It seems that’s what she’s starting to do now ?

[Taloan7]

   The cats mostly find her a bizarre little creature that they generally ignore and she tries to casually join in with them like they won’t notice.  

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Aww, that’s just too cute! I’m really happy that there are no hunter/prey instincts at work here. With these individuals it seems to work out
There’s a really nice website about rabbit body language which I’ll recommend to anyone who wants to improve the bond with their bun: http://language.rabbitspeak.com

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