Petting Responses

[Harveybunny]

Quick question for y’all…

What does your rabbit do when they enjoy your petting? Like, do the purr and lie down, start licking you, put their head on the floor… ‘Cause mine will put his head on the floor with his ears back (the inside of the ear is facing sideways) and occasionally this will be paired with purring. He doesn’t seem… Very relaxed, but even when he ASKS for petting he acts this way. If I lift my hand away, he just stays there, with his head on the floor. If I keep my hand away, he eventually lifts his head off the floor and hops away.

What does this mean? Is he uncomfortable?

[kurottabun]

Kurotta tooth purrs a lot with half closed eyes when he likes it. If we put our hand under his mouth he would sometimes lick it and sometimes try to shove his head under the hand instead. If we don’t pet him when he shoves his head under, then he would lift his head up again eventually (most likely because he pushes his nose against our hand and can’t breathe comfortably if he doesn’t move it lol).

I think your bunny probably likes it if he’s purring. Why do you say he doesn’t seem very relaxed though?

[Harveybunny]

He seems tense. his eyes are wide open and he is just pressing himself to the floor. Ears are against the head, but not in a relaxed way.

[kurottabun]

Hmm that does sound like he’s scared. When he does that is his whole body pressed down to the floor (like a crouching action), or just his head?

[Harveybunny]

Whole body, but his head is pressed down more than anything else.

[Luna's Parents]

My bun is the same: loaf position, head to the floor, ears back, with tooth purring (if I am lucky). Sometimes she lifts her ears, but not because she is alert – she wants me to rub her shoulders and she knows her ears are in the way when they’re pinned back. I also thought she doesn’t seem very relaxed, but at this point, I just decided she must be weird.

Are his eyes closed? I take it as a good sign that Luna’s eyes are usually at least partially closed. She also doesn’t budge at all if I lift my hand or walk away. I saw in a YouTube video (I watch a lot of bunny-related YouTube) that head to floor is submissive. When your bun does this, you are top bunny.

If your bun is asking for pets and does this, seems like your bun and my bun are just weirdos who don’t relax right

[kurottabun]

Harveybunny mentioned that the eyes are wide open in a previous post

Also, I believe I’ve read a few threads saying that head to floor is in fact dominant rather than submissive in rabbit terms (think in context of an order “Groom me!”). The one grooming it (in the case of humans, this means petting their heads) is the submissive one This is why a lot of bunnies get frustrated/angry if their grooming requests (ahem *orders) are not met and would even nip you for not complying. How dare we!

[Harveybunny]

Thanks guys. Always helpful to post something here.

Usually my bunny purrs if HE asked for the petting. If not paired with purring, I am going to assume he doesn’t like it.

Oh and your probably wondering “Why does this idiot have a shoe as her profile?” Technical difficulties. Gonna change it. The computer won’t accept (for some odd reason) my bunny pictures. Arrgghh! Annoying.

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