I originally came to rabbit culture after being a cat person for over 20 years. My last cat was with me for 18 years, and he was a great companion animal with many endearing behaviors. He was well socialized and he liked people. When meeting someone new who was sitting, for example,  on the couch, he would walk up to them along the top of the rear cushions and sniff their head for a bit before giving them a head-butt. Then he would drop down and sit in their lap,  inserting his head under a hand.  If anyone got horizontal on the couch, he'd get right up on their tummy and/or chest, and purr. Chest-sitting in its most elemental form.

At night he would sleep on the bed, on top of the covers over my legs, and keep watch for hours.   In the middle of the night he would get under the covers and warm up next to my torso, mostly by getting into my arm pit area.  Sometimes he would have his head on the pillow like a cartoon cat. In general he liked giving people, especially me,  a good squish.  When he passed after a long and affectionate life, I elected to not have any animals in the house for a while, which extended to years.

Then I met Carolyn. I knew she had rabbits, but I had never been over to her place to see any of them.  I think she was reluctant to have anyone over unless they judged her over the somewhat chaotic state of her small apartment/house rabbit den. One day at my house she opened up to me that she had an old Netherland dwarf rabbit named Slushie. At that moment I levitated and rotated simultaneously off the couch and exclaimed “what a great name !” , and at the same time she was apologizing for the name, saying Slush was named before she got him.  I knew I had to meet this rabbit, though for no seemingly rational reason; it was just a joyous feeling that filled me and insisted that I meet him.  Soon afterward she brought Slushie over on a visit.  Prior to this she said things like “rabbits hate being pets, you can't pick them up like a cat” or “rabbits are more like horses”, suggesting lots of rules and potential behavioral faux pas in my future.  So when Slush came over, we put him on some washable bathroom throw rugs (he wasn't reliable about using the litter box by this time in his life) and just hung out.  I sat down on the floor and scritched him on the head, and he seemed ok and not the worse for wear from the car ride.  I had explained “chest sitting” to Carolyn and she was skeptical.  Slushie had been a biter in his youth, traumatized by uncaring prior owners, and something of a hell raiser with other rabbits.  But when I first saw him, I could not see the fighter/biter/wild man rabbit, only a really cute bunny. So I lay down on the floor on my back, picked him up and placed him on my chest.  I continued to scritch his head and talk to him in a quiet and rational voice, telling him how happy I was that he was over here. I recall that some carrot top snacks were involved too. He stayed up there for about 10 minutes, then made it known that he wanted “down”.  After more snacks and some exploring, I tested him out in an armpit.  He assessed this sensation and found it more agreeable, but soon had enough of this much closeness.  But all in all, a good first encounter. 

Subsequently,  when I would see Slushie, I would lie down and place him on my chest and scritch his head, and he would like it, and thereafter there was no urgency to come down. Ultimately, he would migrate from my chest or arm pit up to my neck and drape his body across my neck, or rest his head on my chin.  Sometimes nose licking (my nose) was in order.  We became fast friends.  Slushie and I bonded and loved each other.  What is crazy and difficult to understand is the fact that I knew I would bond with the Slush before I even met him.  It was a certainty that one just knows. 

As he aged, he developed severe congestion issues as a result of an infection he picked up, especially when the air was cold.  I found that wrapping him up in a fabric “taco” and sticking him in an armpit warmed him up and cleared up his breathing, allowing him to sleep normally.  So Carolyn started taking Slushie to bed at night to keep him warm, thus changing previous policy towards rabbits in bed.  Having an absorbent “pee reservoir” under the taco assured that disasters were avoided.  The end result was there was a lot of rabbit affection in that house.

I would hang out at Carolyn's place and lie on the couch with the chest-sitting bunny, and be as happy and peaceful as a person could be, which is apparently about as happy as a clam, clams being notoriously happy beings. There are pictures of me with Slushie on my neck and head, and in them I am a radiant being, one that suggests a state that I don't frequently possess  in my regular life.  That of course is one of the big tricks in life, trying to carry that love in your heart all of the time. My relationship with Slushie helped give me access to that joy and love. When I am conscious of it, I try to recall it and bring that feeling back. It's also a reminder to bring that feeling to important people in one's life, like Carolyn in my case. Of course people are more complicated, to put it mildly, so other feelings come may come into play.  But with animals, that bond with you is all about the love; their needs are simple, and they make them known directly.   They give and respond to the love immediately and totally.  And of course this is the source of the intensity of the parting tragedy when they die.  Recently Slushie reduced his food intake and could not be cajoled into eating more.  Then he stopped eating entirely. We tried to force feed him but he maintained a formidable strength in his jaws and would not take in the syringe payloads of water and food slurry.  It was just a matter of time, and his passing came quickly.  Up until his last moments, Slushie was on my chest with his head up on my neck, and on Carolyn's lap and tummy, comfortable and seemingly not in pain, but still insistent on refusing food.  He faded out quietly after 12 years on this planet.  Carolyn and I have been doing a lot of crying of late. 

When Carolyn told a friend months ago about “chest-sitting” and how Slushie got socialized, the friend said it's too bad he didn't pick this habit up years ago. He could have had all of those extra years of affection.  Of course one can't know if he would have taken to it years ago, or if he needed me to came along and make it happen.  In any case, the point here is that if you have a rabbit, you might try some chest-sitting and/or arm-pit sitting and see how it goes.  Be patient and do not expect immediate results. You have nothing to lose, and potentially years of closeness and affection to gain.  

FYI, Slushie was, is and always will be my friend.

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