How do you pet a bunny?

[kralspace]

Ok, I finally have to ask after nearly 2 years of trial and error, can someone explain the different ways to properly (from the bunny’s perspective) pet a bunny?

We were owned by our first bun, Pringles, 2 years ago. I read about noserubs and tried different ways and found out first thing that you don’t do it like a cat or you get bit. Pringles definitely didn’t like me touching under her chin for sure but it took a lot of bunny butt and several nips to break my habit.

I was trying to pet them with a light hand or a couple of fingers on the head but then I saw some videos online where it looked like they were almost being squashed flat by the entire hand and loved it.

After reading about the massage, I tried doing the body sweeps and it was cool watching them relax.

I would read some snippets here about rubbing the base of their ears and try it but until I saw the SAB video where the cage aggressive rabbit was being petted and  ears rubbed I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.

On someone’s post here the other day I read about cupping your hands around the face and rubbing the jaws and eye areas (a bit daunting to me after my earlier unappreciated attempts met with teeth) so I gave it a try on Lola. She relaxed  and flopped over so fast that at first I thought I had killed her! It was wonderful! I know Sarita gave her wonderful bunny rubs and Lola’s  probably been wondering what kind of a thick headed bunny slave I am to not know such things.

I would appreciate hearing or seeing everyone’s techniques!

Kathy

[Sarita]

That is so funny about Lola! I know she’s more in bunny heaven at your house than she ever was at mine.

I think alot depends on the rabbit and how much touching they will tolerate and where they will tolerate it.

Most of my rabbits like the heavy handed head petting. I just cup my hand to the side and pet firmly. I don’t come straight from the front as they cannot see your hand that way.

What is the SAB video too? Is that one of the Save A Bunny videos? Is that on their website? I’d love to see this video too.

[FluffyBunny]

I pet Mr. Bunny on the head by gently petting with my fingers starting at the top of the nose and up to between the ears. Once he settles down and puts his head down for more pets I just pet his head with my entire hand. He always loves being pet with that method.

Another thing I do is gently rub his jaw & eye area. He loves having this done and even tilts his head so I can reach his eyes better.

I also occasionally give him back massages. I gently pinch bits of skin on his back and press my hand into his back/shoulder muscles. I don’t think you could do that easily with bunnies that don’t like being handled, though.

[Sarita]

FluffyBunny your massage technique sounds like one the holistic vet showed me – I don’t remember what she called this technique but it is supposed to be good for something besides feeling good.

[mrmac]

My buns like the whole hand pets, and little forehead scratches and rubs (almost like tickling their forehead), cheek rubs. Also rubbing the part of their face thats in between their nose and eyes, not the flat strat of forehead but the sides of their nose almost (almost like I would be pinching).The one that makes my girl bunny melt is when I put my thumb and index finger at the base of her ears (outside of her face) and rub straight up an down simultaneously. She melts into a bunny puddle of mush!

[Barbie]

Leroy likes “being squashed flat” by heavy handed petting on his back, and sometimes, when he’s relaxed, on his sides. He also likes having his face and ears rubbed. Sometimes he likes when I gently pull up on his eats (he has uppy ears) and play with them. He also loves having the spot between his ears rubbed. Fluffy bunny, I’ll have to try that massage technique! He hates when I touch him under the chin or on his tummy, so I try to avoid that.

I’ve been feeling a bit guilty lately since Leroy doesn’t have a bunny friend. He licks me constantly as I’m petting him, so I think he’d really like a bunny friend to groom and play with, but I’m not in a position right now to take on another bun and go through the bonding process – maybe this fall or winter, after my schedule settles down. I just do my best to stand in for a bunny… and I must confess…. I’ve tried licking his head/face like a bunny would do…  Yes, I know it’s gross, but he IS clean and he stays inside, so he wouldn’t have gotten into anything nasty.  I love my animals like they’re children, and I’d do anything to make them happy, so don’t judge me, lol.   Anyway, either I did it wrong or he just didn’t like it; he squirmed away from me pretty soon after I started that… so thank goodness I don’t have to do that anymore!

[Furface]

Is this the video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5gtg9ynRT0

[kralspace]

Bless you Furface! That’s the one, I looked all lunch hour and couldn’t find it.

It’s such an incredibly sad video, I love the agouti buns. Until I saw that I would never have tried touching my bunnies like that, especially rubbing the eyes, which Lola just loves. I guess having cats, dogs and horses just conditions you to a different way of doing things.

Just watching how they stroke the head and rub the eyes and ears helps so much. Maybe some of the experienced ‘wranglers’ could record some techniques!

Kathy

[kralspace]

You’re right, Sarita, I think I do tend to reach with my hand from the front. Except with Hershey. With her, it’s like Buckbeak in Harry Potter. I put my hand down beside her, and if she turns her head toward me and bows back, then I’m allowed to pet her…..lol

[katie, max & penny]

haha barbie!! its ok, i lick my thumb and rub max’s eyes, like you would do with a cat, and he loves it. i also do the heavy handed back rub on max, but he likes his ears scratched and his nose rubbed sometimes as well. Penny is terrified of the heavy hand, so she only permits me to touch her on the nose.

[FluffyBunny]

I’ve tried licking his head/face like a bunny would do

 

…

I have noticed my bunny likes being pet with a damp hand…I think it reminds him of a bunny tongue.

[Sarita]

Thanks FluffyBunny – she looks exactly like my Pepe rabbit (in my avatar) and he’s a biter too – I think it’s because he has dental issues and his teeth hurt all the time. He’s a crazy aggressive rabbit but he makes me laugh.

Lavender is also a full-size version of Kralspace’s Hershey.

[kralspace]

Although I’m not going to lick any of my bunnies 😉 I will try the damp hand tonight. Lola’s shedding and it might help get some of the loose stuff off without me trying to sneak in a pluck or two. Although they all act like they’re going to melt if I flick a bit of water from the greens on them.

silly buns

Sarita, Pepe looks awfully big, can he outrun you if he’s having a bad day?

[Monkeybun]

Posted By Furface on 08/26/2009 11:17 AM

Is this the video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5gtg9ynRT0

 

The poor bun… people abandoning their bunnies because they don’t understand them just makes me all sad and stuff. i had tears in my eyes for that poor little girl… *snuggles*

[kralspace]

I wonder if Lavender was ever adopted.

[Deleted User]

damp fingers are a great way of petting a rabbit.
My Mops will not sit still. He has to run away when I touch him but he loves to hop on my lap, climb up on me… and he will stay if I kiss his eyes… he likes that. He closes his eyes of course.

[SirThumpsey]

Barbie- Don’t feel bad. We’re not judging you! I have done that with Sir Thumps before. When I did it with Bunnie a couple times, he got really jealous and yelled at me! Apparently, I’m only allowed to groom him like that! (I haven’t done it recently because I don’t want to cough up a furball…I think that might be a bit too strange)

Just be careful who you “kiss” Leroy in front of…or who you “kiss” in front of Leroy.

Jealousy can be scary…

[kralspace]

I was looking at more videos and found this method of bunny petting to be a bit strange…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os43MEoBorE&feature=related

[KatnipCrzy]

I lick my finger and then clean the corner of Cotton’s eye- at first she did not like the “sleep” cleaned out of the corner of her eye- but I started this when she is young and now I assume she thinks I am grooming her and she seems to enjoy it.

[katie, max & penny]

kathy, that is kind of disturbing……

[kralspace]

you said it, katiehedger, I guess it’s an upgrade for the bunnies that have a plain stuffie for a companion?

I’m just suprised the real bunnie wasn’t scared away

[Monkeybun]

LOL i had to giggle at that toy rabbit, and the real bun sitting there enjoying its petting lol.

[kralspace]

 

I found a few photos, this is what the bunnies think I’m good for…

 

Hey, put another log on the fire will ya?

 

 

Pringles says  DINNER IS LATE!

 

Simba and Hershey, Hershey is NOT impressed with either room service or maid service at my house

 

Her first 10 minutes home, she decided she might as well stay with us

 

Pringles and Toby aren’t as picky (perspective can be deceiving, Toby (left) is actually only 1/3 the size of the Lady Pringles)

 

[MimzMum]

Bawwww! What cute bunnies! *squee!*
My three are particular each in his own way with petting. Mimzy loves the full body bunny massage, although in a pinch he’ll just take the noserub if you haven’t time for much else. But he prefers that you snuggle him close during the massage, and if you’re not doing it right, he digs on you or the objects around him. Then you must placate his ruffled ego with a blueberry.
Pip loves any attention she can get (she must’ve really been messed with at the pet store) and will come up and put her face on the pen bars and just hit you with the ol’ puppy dog eyes until you rub a hand over her head. She also likes cheek chuckies. But if you have the grooming glove on, she will absolutely puddle after the first few passes and then you’re stuck for about an hour. 0_o
Fiver is not touchable (think of that word with a French accent) AT ALL. You are lucky to get him groomed, and even more lucky if he lets you give him a nose rub. Any hand or fingers coming at him are seen by the ever watchful eyes and he’s off like a shot. Then it’s catch as catch can. But when he does relax and he knows you’re coming at him slowly and without any threatening gestures, he will allow noserubs and then he puddles and if you keep rubbing he’ll close his eyes. But only his head. I have only now, in a year’s time, just begun to have him trust me with his ears, and I must be very delicate. He was also from an abusive home.
So I think it differs with each bunny. I would love someday to have a baby bunny, whom I can socialize right from the start and never have a day in it’s life where it fears my touch. So far, Mimzy is the closest I can get.

[Monkeybun]

I do have a question about trancing a bun.. how does one attempt it? lol

[Barbie]

Posted By SirThumpsey on 08/26/2009 02:02 PM
Barbie- Don’t feel bad. We’re not judging you! I have done that with Sir Thumps before. When I did it with Bunnie a couple times, he got really jealous and yelled at me! Apparently, I’m only allowed to groom him like that! (I haven’t done it recently because I don’t want to cough up a furball…I think that might be a bit too strange)

Just be careful who you “kiss” Leroy in front of…or who you “kiss” in front of Leroy.

Jealousy can be scary…

Hehe thanks.  And Leroy can get VERY jealous.  My boyfriend and I were sitting on the couch last weekend watching a movie and cuddling, and Leroy was running around the living room and thumping because he wanted my attention!  The first time Leroy met my bf, we both got a big ole bunny butt for a long time! Even a couple baby carrots didn’t win him back over… Leroy took the carrot and ran away!  Oh and I try to keep the “crazy bunny girl” thing toned down when I’m out in public

That youtube vid was… well.. it looked like the toy bunny was humping the real bunny!  But it bet the lop enjoyed it, getting his ears rubbed!  Some of those toys have plastic panals and a clasp on the tummy for the battey compartment… hopefully the rabbit doesn’t get scratched from that.

[MimzMum]

Shadow (my MacKenzie husky) would throw a fit if my hubby so much as stood inside my ‘personal space’ when he was around. When we first got him, he took one of hubby’s hats and a chair he’d been sitting on and shredded them both.
0_o Yes, be afraid…be VERY afraid of jealousy…lolz.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By kralspace on 08/26/2009 11:29 AM
You’re right, Sarita, I think I do tend to reach with my hand from the front. Except with Hershey. With her, it’s like Buckbeak in Harry Potter. I put my hand down beside her, and if she turns her head toward me and bows back, then I’m allowed to pet her…..lol

I’m glad you mentioned that.  I was going to add that it also depends on if the bun accepts to be groomed.  Def depends on the rabbit personality & history too.  I do this sometimes and wonder if it just puts us deeper into bunny slavedom as don’t we become the less dominant by complying to their request to be groomed.  I’m always wanting to pet them and it really has to be when they’re in frame of mind for it.  Must be confusing for them that we try be top bun most of the time yet fall down to pet them (groom them) whenever possible.

I usually do the cheek and eye sweep.  Then firm along their backs.  I can move hand  forwards too and their head flattens to the floor then tooth purring .  Another thing that I find relaxes them is massaging forwards on the shoulders.  So hand on shoulders moving hand towards the head.

 Pretty much if you imitate how one rabbit grooms another, they’ll like it.  It really does seem to vary rabbit to rabbit though.  language.rabbitspeak.com/rabbittalk.html

[jerseygirl]

Monkeybun, they way I trance the buns is put them on their back in my lap, thumpers closest to me, all the while stroking over their cheeks and nose. It’s important to be supporting the spine/hind end when putting them on their back because if they kick out unsupported, they could do serious harm to their spine.  I guess if you’re holding them securely to your chest while sitting down, you can start stroking the head then bend forwards until you get them on their back. With Rumball I find it easier to hold him baby style, cradled sideways in my arm. I only trance my buns when I need to do nails, check teeth, check their undersides and do gland cleans generally. I don’t do it often as I don’t fully understand what happens for them but it is useful to know how to do it. 

[Monkeybun]

yeah, I want to learn so I don’t have to take her to the vet every time she needs a nail trim, or for when I have to check her teeth, especially if her water eyes are teeth related. Hopefully they aren’t. *crosses fingers*

[kralspace]

cheek chuckies, I like that! I’ll definitely try all these with the next bunny lord or lady who lets me try. thanks all

[Elrohwen]

Otto actually doesn’t enjoy head pets that much. He’ll let me do it for a few seconds, but then he kind of jerks his head up like he’s annoyed. His favorite way to be petted is to have you massage his butt with your finger tips. It makes him lick, and he’ll lick the floor, himself, your arm, etc. Lol. It’s the only kind of petting he’ll sit still for much of the time. He only likes head pets at very specific times.

[SirThumpsey]

When I was looking at that video it led me to this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYC94rQzaIA

I don’t know any rabbit that would do this…and mine have never been near a bath tub. I’m unsure why it was in the bathtub…perhaps they were cleaning its cage…

[SirThumpsey]

And that video with the mechanical bun…It reminds me of this dog that humps …everything. You can get it at Spencers or possibly Hot Topic.

Jersey Girl- I love this website especially..

Then again, some rabbits are a bit more, uh, loose with their affections. Bonus fact: If you haven’t learned this already, you can look forward to exactly the same sorts of people and situations when you begin dating.

[mrmac]

Often, I will ask for grooms from my buns. Davey and Delilah will intesnsly lick my face, eyes, and nose. Sometimes they will groom my hair. Dexter is a hand licker, and will start licking while you’re petting him in ‘Thank you, thank you, that feels good!’ mode, and he just licks and licks and licks! He licks everything!

[Deleted User]

Lint used to be like that with me when he was a lone bun… but now he prefers the other rabbits. No kisses for me!

[kralspace]

ha, that video of the bunny playing in the water is precious Sir Thumpsey, I wish my kids would wash their hands that thoroughly

[Sarita]

What a cute bunny — not sure however if he really likes the water. He looks more confused than anything.

[Monkeybun]

It seemed to me the bunny stopped under the water, then was in the “Oh God get it off me” mode, flicking his front paws and grooming. But maybe thats just the bunny and cat in me talking. lol.

[kralspace]

While not fond enough to jump in voluntarily, my Lola got pretty used to taking a bum bath in the tub, only 2-3 inches of warm water and she sat on a bathtowel while she soaked. She’d give me the stinkeye big time, but would just kinda play around with the washcloth and cup or whatever she could reach from her towel. She would do a funny thing with her nose like a horse, sticking it in the water and sloshing around.

[Author]

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