Affectionate? Or Sexual Tension?

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melbaby80

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Hi everyone,

Its been a while since I had posted, but I have a question. Sally is bout 7 months old now and I have yet to get her spayed. (Too spendy right now, waiting on taxes) Any who, I let her out of her cage every day to roam the house for a few hours. When I am walking around she is right under my feet following me, if I stop she circles my feet then gets up on her hind legs and rests her front paws on my legs almost like she's begging. When I sit down next to her she sits next to me and soaks up all the petting and cuddling I give her, when I stop she starts circling me and doing her little begging thing. Is she asking for affection and attention or is she doing this because she has sexual tension? I read somewhere that unfixed bunnies who circle your feet are trying to display sexual dominance, but I don't get that from sally's behavior.
 
melbaby80 wrote:
Hi everyone,

Its been a while since I had posted, but I have a question. Sally is bout 7 months old now and I have yet to get her spayed. (Too spendy right now, waiting on taxes) Any who, I let her out of her cage every day to roam the house for a few hours. When I am walking around she is right under my feet following me, if I stop she circles my feet then gets up on her hind legs and rests her front paws on my legs almost like she's begging. When I sit down next to her she sits next to me and soaks up all the petting and cuddling I give her, when I stop she starts circling me and doing her little begging thing. Is she asking for affection and attention or is she doing this because she has sexual tension? I read somewhere that unfixed bunnies who circle your feet are trying to display sexual dominance, but I don't get that from sally's behavior.
--is sally a male..??--our house rabbit does the same thing,--but he also just wants affection--perhaps its a double edge sword..??--sincerely james waller--:biggrin:
 
JMO but it sounds to me more like a bun who just wants attention and to be petted. We havea couple that love to be petted and they're unaltered. If that's the only behavior that yours is displaying then I probably wouldn't read anymore into it.
 
majorv wrote:
JMO but it sounds to me more like a bun who just wants attention and to be petted.  We have a couple that love to be petted and they're unaltered.  If that's the only behavior that yours is displaying then I probably wouldn't read anymore into it.

She is cage defensive when she's inside her cage, like if you put your hand in front of her she'll bite it breaking skin and charge whatever you put IN her cage. Outside her cage she is this cuddle bug and follows me around like a puppy. She'll check out our dogs (I keep them gated away from her when she's roaming) and then she'll just follow me around.
 
james waller wrote:
melbaby80 wrote:
Hi everyone,

Its been a while since I had posted, but I have a question. Sally is bout 7 months old now and I have yet to get her spayed. (Too spendy right now, waiting on taxes) Any who, I let her out of her cage every day to roam the house for a few hours. When I am walking around she is right under my feet following me, if I stop she circles my feet then gets up on her hind legs and rests her front paws on my legs almost like she's begging. When I sit down next to her she sits next to me and soaks up all the petting and cuddling I give her, when I stop she starts circling me and doing her little begging thing. Is she asking for affection and attention or is she doing this because she has sexual tension? I read somewhere that unfixed bunnies who circle your feet are trying to display sexual dominance, but I don't get that from sally's behavior.
--is sally a male..??--our house rabbit does the same thing,--but he also just wants affection--perhaps its a double edge sword..??--sincerely james waller--:biggrin:

Sally is a "she" lol :biggrin2:
 
Some rabbits are cage aggressive...we had a couple of Brits and a Himalayan that was that way. It may be more a personality thing, but in our experience it seems to be more common in does.
 
Exactly how Agnes was before she was spayed. So i believe Sally is acting that way because of hormones.
Agnes is still very affectionate but the "neediness" of it stopped after she was spayed.
 
mine are spayed and if I'm trying to do something in their pen that doesn't involve them, they're constantly running around my feet looking for attention and trying to figure out what I'm up to.
 
I don't think wanting attention, to be petted, is necessarily a hormonal thing. I still think it's more ofa personality thing...or in some cases how a rabbit was raised. We have a doe who LOVES to be petted and have her head scratched. We thought it was a little odd that she wanted more attention than our others. We found out that the person who raised her held her and petted her every day when she was growing up...and that was what she was used to...had nothing to do with hormones.
 
melbaby80 wrote:
:( I hope she remains this way when I spay her, I like her following me around and asking for attention

Agnes is still VERY affectionate and very snuggly and such a lover :) but her behavior definitely changed after her spay. But I don't think you'll be disappointed with the change. It was just the "courting" type behavior that stopped. Liked the circling the feet. And the passion with which she did it. It's hard to explain. She still gets very excited to see me and will run up to me and stuff, but not like she wants to mate ;)

Don worry, I don't think there will be a change that you dislike.

Good luck!
 

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