Do your rabbits love you?

I KNOW Pickles loves me (and Ginger Bun did too when he was still with us). He's definately a 'rabbits rabbit' and he misses Ginger every day but that doesn't mean he doesn't love me. The way he binkied and kissed and kissed me when I came back from holiday proved that.

I was just interested to see other people's views on their own buns' relationship with them.

I don't know. A while back when I was researching buns I read on a forum (animal but not bunny) that rabbits do not love their owners, simply see them as a source of food. But now knowing the close bonds that they form with other rabbits, and how they mourn the loss of their friends, surely its possible for a rabbit to form this same relationship with their owner.

We've not had our bun long, assuming they can love their owners, I don't think she 'loves' us but she certainly seems to like us and trust that we are not a threat enough to come and ask for nose rubs etc

Rabbits are........well...... Rabbits and as such they do not have the ability to 'love us' in the way we love them. They may recognise us and come to not see us as a threat to their wellbeing. But they cant 'love us'.

I am fine with that, my love fo them is unconditional and not dependent on what I may or may not receive in return

Charlie comes to me for snuggles and checks where I am, so I'd like to think he at least has a bond with me.
Milly see's me as the object who brings the food :lol:

Some of mine are more human orientated than others, but generally i think they view me as the bringer of food :lol:

I feel that mine 'tolerate' me :lol:

I agree with Jane!

Apache does but I don't think that anything to do with me, just that he loves everyone who shows him affection Skye I think enjoys my company but she wouldn't be devastated if I wasn't here :lol:

its varies by day id say :lol:
sometimes they seem to like us while other days they just want the food

Eli is all over me all the time but it's purely for food. The other two will come and see me but it's more curiosity than anything else.
I wouldn't say any of them love me and if they never saw me again they definitely wouldn't miss me.

mine definately love me

the way they go out if their way to interact with me even when they are not hungry proves that they at least like me, the way they work their way around me and put their dirty paws on my back to be mischievous, the way they poke me when I've flopped on the floor in front of them through being tired chasing them for a cuddle, the way they nudge me for attention, how they kiss and lick me...to me these are all signs of their love for me

above all, the way cody used to leap off his bale of hay vantage point and pelt towards me each time I came to play with him, tells me he truely loved me and loved interacting with me, and as such he will always have a special place in my heart

of course all of this behaviour is magnified a million times when I offer them raisins...but that only proves they love food more than they love me ! LOL

I know many owners here will joke that their bunnies tolerate their human companions, but if you have ever seen a truely wonderful rabbit-human bond, then there will be no doubt that rabbits can love, to believe otherwise only tells me that your rabbits don't love you for some reason, not that they can never love

Mine don't, I get absolutely nothing but mess from them. Bums me out really, but they are well cared for.

Mine loves me as a rabbit loves - he "grooms me" (licks my whole face) every night at bedtime. He moves to be in the same room I am in. He is considerate when I'm ill. He forgives me completely for doing things he doesn't like, as soon as I stop doing them & doesn't bear a grudge. He trusts me completely & comes to me for safety.
He cannot tell me how he feels, but his behaviour shows all the basic attributes of love, expressed in rabbit ways.

Finally if I don't come home by 3.00am he goes into stasis, but I can be out for any length of time during the day..

Rudolph does but im not sure if Raymond does. Everybun is different

Beilidh will lick and snuggle me, demand cuddles and norserubs even when I don't have food, so I'd like to think he loves me Jazzy loves me when I have food. :lol:

matthew rabbit loves me, i'm his mummy and he likes to sit under my chin for a snuggle. tabby loves me a bit and wants me to give her attention (especially grooming and shoulder rubs). charlie and cecile don't know me well enough to love me yet, but they like the fact that i bring food!

defo benji when i first got him he was a bit shy and stuff but now wheni sit down in his play house he will come and jump on me and flop on me and groom me and if rabbits groom you that means they love you to me because that is what they do with their mates so deffinatly

No, mine just tolerate me ...... I am the bringer of food and that's about as far as it goes. They're not even keen on me touching them!

However, when I go and sit in the aviary they come over for a nosey (most of the time, the rest of the time they just completely ignore me)!!

I think my two have long memories and I am the evil woman who takes them to the nasty vet etc etc!!