Is my bunny depressed?

[Kelli Cottrell]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone with expertise in bunny behavior would be willing to offer me some insight on whether or not my bunny is happy. My bunny is about 8 months old and doesn't seem to show much interest in anything outside of eating and sleeping. She never plays or shows any interest in any of the toys I buy her. Before I took her in, she lived in a small cage most of the time. When I brought her home with me and started to free roam her she would run and binky quite often. Now she eats, grazes, and sleeps. She's had two wellness exams done by her vet since I've had her and she has been healthy both times, so I know nothing is physically wrong. She spends a lot of time following me around and is always directly under my feet, so I'm worrying that maybe she's lonely? I've been considering adopting another bunny to bond her with, but my living situation will not allow me to do this until I move in a few months. Is she unhappy or do I just have a laid back bunny? Does anyone have any ideas on how to incorporate more stimulation into her daily routine? I just feel like she should be more active considering how young she is.

 

[Blue eyes]

Very few of my rabbits were ever interested in small toys. She may be bored rather than depressed. That she follows you around is a positive that shows she is bonded with you. I'd consider giving her exploring type toys -- large cardboard boxes with doorways cutout, tunnels, hidey areas, dig box. Then those can be changed and rearranged to keep her stimulated.

 

[Hermelin]

Your bunny sounds exactly like mine but mine is a buck. What I have noticed with my buck is that he loves playing with the cat tunnel, trying to get food from his toys and playing with his food ball.

He often follow the family around and snuggle up in our arms. He will binky somedays and other he will just be chilling. Some period he do nothing at all and other period he will chew everything he can find.

So a good stimulation are trick training and work to get her food. Like hanging her greens up, finding her food, figuring out how to get her food and so on.

To change the living area and let her play with new toys like a cat tunnel or box houses will make her explore and jump around.

 

[Katie94]

One of our boys was just like that and the only thing that perked him up was a bunny friend. He used to worry us quite a lot I’d always find him just sitting in the same place in his pen he had lots of toys but didn’t bother with them and he didn’t even show much interest in food at times which really upset me. Although we definitely weren’t able to socialise with him as much as a single bunny needed due to work (he was never meant to be a single bunny but he had to be separated from his brother). When we got him out to play in the garden and sat with him he’d brighten up but otherwise did not seem happy and we could only do that for max 1-2 hours mon-fri. Now he has a wife bunny he’s totally the opposite!

 

[Marikristine]

Sounds like mine too! He eats, roams a little, then lie around. He only gets up when he needs to poop and pee. Sometimes, after eating, he lie around and does dead bunny. By the way, my bunny was super sleepy today, around 10 am to be axact, is that normal? thank you

 

[Annettesuter]

Maybe she would like to have a bunny friend? Some bunnies are very quiet and lazy, some are fine with their human, but somebunnies need a bunny friend.

 

[carobanlonac]

I have Tina and she is almost 6 years old. When I got her I bought her toy- wooden ball with bell. She didn't care at all about it. Like if it was full with hay ok its interesting. If not, no thanks. I got photo of toy setup I tried to make her and she showed zero interest in it. Only toys that can be chewed or eaten are interesting. And paper-she loves paper: boxes, homeworks, dirty paper tissues. She would climb to the trash can to reach for it. And most of the day she sleeps and eats. Has been since she got out of childhood. Didnt see her binky since she was like 1 or 2 years old. But most of the time she sleeps next to me or my feet and when I ignore her she beggs for attention (multiple ways) and she loves to eat and chew anything with fibres (including my pajamas) so I know she is ok.

Give her carboard boxes and try to stimulate her with sweets (I would say train her but Tina never cared about doing something except there is threat in front of her nose). That should work.

 

[Peneloppythebun]

My bunny doesn’t care for toys either, she just likes to follow me around or nudge at me and give me licks and kisses. I have those Baby stack cups but she doesn’t show any interest in it. She only shows interest in food and hay. She does like to explore. I wonder if she is bored or something? Also I can’t get her a bunny friend because she isn’t spayed yet the vet is booked until may so I’m just waiting to book her appointment. Other then that she’s very affectionate and friendly. Sometimes she would just sit next to me and sleep or let me pet her to sleep. She’s a free roam bunny. Anyone know what kinds of toys to get her? I just bought the ikea cat tunnel for her hopefully she plays with that. I also bought willow balls and willow ring for her form 101 rabbits

 

[Milyvan]

Our Cosmo is very laid back: Food, the occasional treat and simply lounging are her idea of a great day. Tilky is the affectionate binkying bun. They've been this way for years. Others' suggestions of cardboard boxes and paper bags work well for us but Cosmo mostly observes. (We wasted lots of money on toys with no better results than the boxes.)

Really just wanted to say thank you to giving her a home to roam: My heart is happy when a caged bunny gets to roam.