Rabbits who 'sulk'.

....does anyone else have one?

Buffy is chief sulker here! I've no idea why she does it, maybe her and Theo fall out or it's the bunny equivalent of pmt! I have no idea.

Usually it's a stampede to see who can get to the food quickest, but every few weeks she has these 'moods'. She will sit at the back of the shed and watch Theo eat and not attempt to get any. I could put a carrot under her nose and she wouldn't even look at it. She even has this sort of grumpy look on her face.

Sometimes she's out in the run and will refuse to come in and if I pick her up and put her in front of the food she runs away.

In the morning she's always back to her usual self, will race Theo to eat and her whole demeanour has changed.

She's done this so often now that I know the pattern. But obviously it's very worrying at the time and I panic that this time it really is something, but so far it never has been and I've lost count how many times it's happened!

Thanks x

Rabbits are emotional animals. Like us, they have complex feelings and many people dismiss them as just being little fluffy carrot eating animals and don't take the time to learn and become involved with their rabbit.
But on this forum we all know better - and you have clearly got a very good understanding of Buffy. Like us, rabbits share emotions and react. They have moods and will swing from them depending on many factors. It could be external or it could be within their own dynamics. When my two are outside, when it's time to come in, if they don't want to come in, they wont. They know it's time, but they behave petulantly and deliberately and give me the right old run around.
There could possibly be some underlying issue - but from what you say, this seems to be just rabbits being rabbits. You could try some sort of supplements? Some herbal drops or something - I am sure someone will know much more about herbal remedies than I do, but that's just my thought.
Perhaps it's just a reaction to winter? The lack of sunlight and cooler weather?
If Buffy seems to be eating ok, and her fur seems good and clean, her eyes bright and she's alert, and her poops are normal, then she appears to be presenting as healthy, but if you are more concerned, a trip to the vet may put your mind at rest.
But from my seat, yes rabbits can and do sulk. Usually for not very long. Stage one sulk is usually turning their back on you but with their ears up - so they can hear you - they just don't want to see you. Stage 2 sulk is ears flat. Stage 3 is...well, it's not very nice. It's the ultimate nuclear bomb from rabbits. They flick their feet at you as they run away. That's basically a mahoosive sulky and best to give your bun a few minutes to come to their senses and then offer them a treat. They quickly forget when a treat is put their way.

I have a sulker! To the point her face actually looks grumpy. When I took her to the vets last night the vet said “wow her face looks grumpy today!”
And my mother in law has said before that she didn’t know rabbits could actually have facial expressions til she met ours :lol: :lol:

Sounds like you also just have one temperamental bunny!


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Yep, I have a sulker here! Frosty has a proper nethie stare. When we put the Christmas tree up the other year, this was his grumpy face :lol:

Lola is a sulker. She keeps having them at the moment because her sister is ill. She refuses treats from me but I hear her eat them the second I leave the room. It's like she wants me to know she's annoyed with me.

Willow is a champion sulker. I’m clearly not forgiven for initially trying to sneak her recent medication onto a fenugreek crunchie or for catching her and syringing it into her mouth twice a day. Her last meds were Tuesday morning. Since then she has either refused to come for her breakfast fenugreek crunchie, or will eventually come in and take it when she deigns fit. Alternatively she’ll take it off me and drop it on the ground and ignore it until I’ve gone away. If I stand in the garden watching she’ll ignore it until I go indoors and watch from the window, then eat it. I would be concerned that she has dental issues, but she will grab Herb’s treat out of his mouth and run off to eat it if she won’t eat hers! Not to mention of course the turning round and showing of the bunny bum insult that she has perfected. I love her to pieces!

None of my rabbits sulk to the extent of refusing noms. Odessa at the moment, though, has to be fed in one specific place. If the others are eating elsewhere, she won't care. You *have* to take the food to her. The moment it's there, she'll give it a try but she won't tend to tuck in until you turn your back on her. She's shy, scared of her own shadow, and 100% diva.

My late bunny, Spenser, could sulk for Scotland. He was an absolute expert and had a whole range of reasons for his huffs with me. Anything from me going out at a time displeasing to his furry majesty to the purchase of his parsley from the wrong shop could trigger a huff.

Yep Dilly is a sulker and when he gets really cross he swears too. He gets his swearing ears - they (his ears) are just like a person putting two fingers up and his face sort of wrinkles.

Beauty is my sulker and some of the times the looks I get could turn the milk in my coffee. She will leave treats for days and turn so I get the bunny butt or she will lay in her pen and just stare at me with the grumpiest face ever and there doesn’t seem to be a reason for it most of the time that I can figur out.

These are great, thanks everyone x

Mine don't sulk enough to refuse food., but they do get too distracted to eat sometimes, by unusual noise like next door's parties, or if there's been a cat or similar around. You can put the pellets in front of Aboleth but she might pop off after a bit, but Lopsy might only take them from your hand!