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Please keep a check on small outdoor pets over the hot weather

19 replies

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/06/2019 17:52

There's a lot on the news about dogs in the heat and dogs in cars (and yet every year there are tragedies Sad )

But close to my heart is the small fur coated pets . I had guinea-pigs over many years (lost the last old girl in April) but not had rabbits.

Especially if you know someone who has got a new pet and this might be their first summer with them.

They can very quickly and easily over heat and dye from heatstroke . Even if they get to a vet , it is often not possible to revive them.

So:

water , cool fresh water . If they are anything like my piggies they won't drink it but offer it

freeze a few 2 litre bottle of water , wrap in newspaper and tuck into the hutch

floor tiles are good , ceramic keeps cooler

keep them in shade , wood absorbs heat . Little furry animals like to hide themselves , they are prey animals , they like to hide in hay , which of course , insulates

make sure they can move about , don't let one animal trap another in a hiding box

some cucumber or rinse some veg in water , but be aware too much can give them loose bowels , which brings me to.....

flystrike . Grim and horrible . Flies lay their eggs on (mainly rabbits but guinea-pigs can suffer too) especially older or tubby animals who cannot clean themselves

put a towel rinsed in cold water and well wrung out pegged over the top of the cage bars to cool them.

if they get heatstroke they basicaly 'pancake' to get the belly to the floor . Might be sweating, rapid , shallow laboured breathing .
They don't regulate rapid changes of temperature well.

Indoors is easier but a lot of animals live out. We kept ours in a wooden playhouse (with re-inforced mesh lined windows ) and a fan on the wall. It was shaded on three sides so thankfully cooler than outside .

And don't forget , though they love some late evening grazing , the foxes like the oppurtunity to browse too .

My DD and I had 8 guinea-pigs over eight years , summer was always the most worrying time for us .

Hopfully if my rambling saves a Fur Coated Life , it is worth it .

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/06/2019 21:29

bump

prepare those animals

OP posts:
afternoont · 28/06/2019 21:31

Ah how thoughtful and lovely op! Thanks!

prampushingdownthehighst · 28/06/2019 21:32

Will definitely do the towel rinsed in cool water - Thank you for a some great ideas.

TheHobbitMum · 28/06/2019 21:32

Fantastic advice OP! Ours lice indoors but go outside for a few hours each early evening/early morning to keep out of the sun.

Hutches really do heat up so quickly if they are in the sun. Another trick is to freeze a hot water bottle of water and wrap in a towel :)

Thisizit · 28/06/2019 21:32

Fab advice. I have rats and it's a worrying time when it's so hot x

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/06/2019 21:44

Thank You.
Sometimes the simplest things make all the difference to them. I used to hear "Oh but they're from Peru , it's hot there/cold there"

My guinea-pigs hadn't travelled further than Kent and they are nothing like their native cousins .

I have no rodenty types since we lost our last of the hers (old age) . We have two new cats (indoor at the moment while they settle) . I hope they have the sense to lie on the kitchen tiles and drink plenty .

OP posts:
andrea315 · 28/06/2019 21:48

Ours have had a late afternoon chill in the shade lucky for us we had a breeze

Please keep a check on small outdoor pets over the hot weather
Beamur · 28/06/2019 21:48

Good advice!
I have some clean plastic pop bottles filled with tap water currently freezing to put in the hutch tomorrow. Keeps it cooler plus condensation forms as it defrosts which they can lick.

sweetkitty · 28/06/2019 21:52

Our hutch only gets the sun in the morning then is in the shade for the rest of the day, half of the run is always covered so they have somewhere cool to escape too.

divafever99 · 28/06/2019 21:53

Thanks for this op, we have 12 week old guinea pigs who were due to move outside, but after reading this I think I will keep them inside until it gets a bit cooler.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/06/2019 23:11

Lovely piggies andrea and I love the way even though they are sitting on grass, they have a huge pile of cut grass Grin they tell you they're starved !

One of my old piggies (little Himalayan sow) didn't like sun but loved grazing at 10pm on a summer night . She was always the one romping round the pen when he cagemates were caught .

I do miss the little monsters .

OP posts:
andrea315 · 29/06/2019 21:19

Our pigs are now 6.5 years we love them lots but they will be our last piggy’s as my daughter is now a teenager
They are extremely well fed and they wouldn’t let it be any other way they definitely let us know !

afternoont · 29/06/2019 21:51

How can I keep a hamster cool?

AquaPris · 29/06/2019 22:05

@afternoont freeze mini water bottles as suggested in the op and put them in the cage?

AquaPris · 29/06/2019 22:07

And maybe a fan on the other side of the room pointed near the cage? So it's just a little breeze rather than gale force.

You can freeze their bath sand or ceramic playthings.

LosingLola · 29/06/2019 22:07

Please put a bowl of water out for the outside birds too

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/06/2019 15:24

With a hamstr you could freeze those flat chill packs and pop them under the cage or at the side of it so they can feel the cold patch through the plastic.
And a ceramic tile , easy to clean and keep cooler (I Used to put a single layer of newspaper on top, my pigs didn't like anything slippery)

I've put a flat dish of water out , the bird might appreciate a drink or a dip. I didn't consider them before , but I started thinking where they'd get a drink? No ponds round here (couple of swimming pools but that water is treated I guess)

We have some Residental Squirrels too (I don't feed them in summer but I leave a few nuts out in winter for them)

OP posts:
StarWanderer · 30/06/2019 16:15

Cool damp towel is a great idea! I give my guinea piggies ice cubes filled with parsley, cucumber etc as a cooling treat.

valadon68 · 15/07/2022 18:35

Bumping this helpful thread

We tend to put crumpled damp towels in the freezer for several hours and then hang over their enclosure (yanking them apart requires some welly). One of ours loves a nibble on them, the other pancakes underneath them.

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