Rabbit Massage

Has anyone got any experience with rabbit massage? I saw a book about this on amazon but didn't buy it as I thought it might be a bit ambitious to try rabbit massage with our two rabbits that don't even like being stroked!

Which brings me onto my second question, does anyone have any tips on how we can get our rabbits to enjoy a cuddle? We've bribed them into hopping onto our laps by feeding them there, and we stroke them while they eat their pellets, but if they can get away with hopping away as soon as we touch them they will. Being young and lively rabbits they're always going to be more keen on running around, and when they fancy a rest they've got eachother to cuddle. It's a shame for us humans. It would be so nice to teach them that being cuddled can be fun and pleasurable.

Anybody out there?!

Rabbit massage?! Hmmmm, not sure about that....our young flemish just loves being stroked and having her head and ears scratched.

As for picking her up, she hates it and struggles like mad - its a shame as she is a great big ball of soft fur and lovely to pick up, but she gets no pleasure out of it, so I've taken to only picking her up when I have to (and whilst wearing a nice thick coat!)

If that's the book by Chandra Beale, it's really good, I'd definitely recommend it. It's more an art than a science (i.e. it gives you some ideas but you have to work with the buns to find something that they like) but I have found it incredibly helpful, particularly when fostering very frightened or aggressive buns.

Alas though bunnies by nature are far more interested in nosing around than being cuddled by humans, so don't get your hopes up too much of there resulting in buns who are happy to sit on your lap for hours being stroked. Cats might like it, but most bunnies don't, they are prey animals by nature so react to touch in a totally different way.

Yep i bought it! I don't think i'll ever get much of a chance of using it though! One nervous rescue who hates to be touched or be too close to humans and one rescue bun who never sits still for a minute! :roll::lol:

Thank you for your answers. I think I'm going to start spending less time on rabbit websites and more time with the real rabbits! It's just a shame when they hop back into their cage once they've had enough time of running around and want a nice rest. You want to say 'come and have a rest with us'! I don't think they think we're quite part of THEIR family, we're just those creatures that pop in to give them food and make lots of noise a few times a day. We've got a mattress in the 'rabbit room' and I had a nap on there sometimes when I was pregnant and my little boy sleeps there at night quite often, but they never go on that mattress, apparently that's our territory, the cage is theirs and the floor is the meeting place in the middle. Not sure I want to change that either by bribing them onto the mattress, after all they might start destroying it....