Does your bunny nudge you?

[DaisyMae]

When I am clearly in my bunny’s way, she will nudge me to move, but lately she’s been nudging me alot. Every morning after we have our play time, and she has snuggle time with my husband, I go sit at the dining room table to get some work done. She usually follows me in there and will hover around my feet.  After awhile, she will just start nudging me.  I move my feet because she usually nudges me when I’m blocking her path, but that isn’t what she wants .. she will just continue doing it.  i reach down and pet her but that doesn’t seem to be what she wants.  Any ideas?

[Bam]

Bunnies nudge for different reasons. Sometimes they want you out of their way, sometimes they want to be pet, sometimes it’s about treats. It’s very difficult to say, nudges must always be interpreted in context. Maybe she wants you to pet her with your foot? My bunny Yohio want me to pet him with a foot, and it’s ok when I’m sitting at my desk – when I’m standing up it’s a lot more difficult and risky. He still comes running and tries to push his head under my foot. Bunnies can be very stubborn.

[Sr. Melangell]

Olly nudges me a lot, sometimes he does it so I ask him what he wants and gives me a kiss, like bam said there is a lot of reasons why.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Olivia will nudge me to get out of her way (and if I don’t, she bites!). Bindi will nudge me if I stop giving him attention and he wants more.

[LBJ10]

Nudging can mean a variety of things, even “Hey… hey… hey, whatcha doing? Oh, I got your attention? Okay, I’m gonna binky away now”.

[vanessa]

Or hey – give me a treat.

[vanessa]

Foot rub sounds like an interesting possibility? I would also check her room and see if there is anything she is trying to draw your attention to. Lancelot used to thump when his food bowl was empty and he wanted more pellets. (He has since learned that he gets pellets twice a day – not every time he thumps…) Maybe she is playing with you? Try dragging a dish cloth around her while she is at your feet, see if she will grab onto it.

[DaisyMae]

I never really thought about it but I wear soft fuzzy slippers and I do tend to rub her with my feet, so I think you are all right … she either wants more foot rubs, or treats because she gets those in the dining room where I sit. When I reach down to pet her, she usually hops away, but comes back a few minutes later and starts nudging again. It never ceases to amaze me the way these little critters communicate. Its a shame that bunnies are so misunderstood. People think they belong in a cage all day and have no idea how rewarding they can be.

[vanessa]

Agreed. They are such complex little creatures 🙂

[Sr. Melangell]

Oh yes Daisymae, when I was little we were told to put bunny in his cage outside and feed him when needs be and let him exercise on a Saturday for 10 minutes, its sad a lot of bunnies are misunderstood if the nudge or nip, some people see it as aggression, when its not, Oh one day I had washed my hands and cut some pineapple, I was called to my room because Olly did a bunny flop, I opened his door saying he was OK, he sat on my arm licking my fingers making his happy sound, it felt funny, the only way to stop him was to ask my friend to get him a tiny piece of pineapple, when I go to his cage I say. “Right its time for bed.” He just throws himself down gets comfy and goes to sleep, in the morning I say. “Right then breakfast.” He comes out and walks over to his food bag, if I am late doing his breakfast, I hear him up to something and when I go over to him he has put a hay cookie in his bowl and started eating, I let him out feed him and say. “Olly I want a kiss.” He always gives me a kiss, when I go shopping at night he waits in his cage in the same place until I get back, I sometimes say there were no treats and what we going to do? Well he finds them, he tips every bag up until he finds them., if his water bowl is empty he will tap on it, if his claws are too long he gives me his paw, he rubs his claws on my hand, not hard, if I need to check his mouth I say “Teeth please.” He lays on his side and I have no problems.

[Dymii]

Wow Pinky, that’s amazing! We haven’t developed that level of communication with Sprinkles yet..

DaisyMae, my bun nudges us to tell us to get out of the way mostly, but my husband’s desk is where the treats are so if he’s sitting at the desk Sprinkles will nudge his foot and stand up and put his paws on the chair sometimes asking for a treat. It’s adorable and he has us wrapped around his little paw. We know we can’t give him treats every time though so we just pat him or get him some healthier food until he’s satisfied!

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