Is it soup yet?

[Steve Parker]

Does anyone else have this problem?

 

I don’t cook often. We eat out most of the time, but once a week, I fix something simple like a pot of soup to have on hand for a quick “at home” meal when we don’t feel like going out.

 

I’ve noticed the last couple of times that I’ve been in the kitchen cooking, our rabbit, Buddy, freaks.

 

I was sautéing peppers and onions yesterday for gumbo. Buddy ran into his cage and froze in a corner. We went to him to try to reassure him, but he was terrified.

 

We put him outside and played with him to get him back to normal. Later, he came back inside after I had finished up the soup and put it in the fridge. He acted fine after the soup was put away.

 

We show him tons of love and attention, but this is really strange behavior. He’s about a year old and has the run of the house and enclosed deck.

 

Is there anything I can do to help him not be so afraid? I know, we can eat all our meals out, but sometimes home cooking is pretty good.

[JK]

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!!!

[Steve Parker]

That makes sense! The last few times I’ve cooked, the start of the last 3 soups have been sautéed onions/peppers, onions/carrots/celery, onions/chipotle peppers. Maybe he’s reacting to the strong smell.

He also got upset when I baked a fish the other night, but again, it could have been the strong smell. That night I did burn a candle to cut down on the odor.

Is he afraid?

[JK]

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! 

[MarkBun]

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.

[Sarita]

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.

[Steve Parker]

Buddy can be outside or upstairs and starts acting strange when I cook. I don’t think he can hear me.

I think it is more the smell. I’ll try to watch the strong odors like garlic and onion in the future.

We burned candles in the kitchen and living room yesterday when I cooked. Those covered up a lot of the smell, but apparently not enough for the sensitive nose of a bunny.

I have another question. We have stairs to the second floor that run along side one wall of our living room. They are completely open to the living room.

Buddy’s favorite place in the house is perched at the top of those stairs looking down on us. It’s the first place he goes when we let him in from the deck or let him out of his pen. He’ll play, stretch out and sleep or just watch us from the landing at the top of those stairs. He’ll stay up there for hours.

Do bunnies especially like high places or is he just part mountain goat? He is truly funny climbing the stairs and jumps 3 or more at the time going up. He’s careful coming down taking just one step at a time. But he climbs up and down the stairs many times a day.

[Hedi]

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.

[Hedi]

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.

[Steve Parker]

Now that you mention it, he gets upset when we run or empty the dishwasher, if he’s in the kitchen. I guess we’ll just have to start eating all our meals out.

Thanks for all the great info! It helps.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

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 )

[notjulesverne]

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

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

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?

[notjulesverne]

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)

 

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

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.

[Annie Fann]

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.

[RachelC-L]

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.

[Steve Parker]

Thanks for all the great info. This has been a wonderful way to share bunny info. I think we will start eating salads at home and reserve cooked food to restaurants.

Hope everyone has a great day!

[Scarlet_Rose]

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

[JK]

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

[notjulesverne]

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

[Sarita]

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.

[notjulesverne]

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

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