TAKE YOUR SMALL ANIMALS INSIDE

[Ncfreely]

Friend’s neighbour’s rabbit just cooked to death in its hutch. Take them inside or find another way of cooling them - I don’t care how much they smell.

Omg the poor darling 😔

We brought our guinea pigs in on Sunday night and they’ve been living it up in an enclosure under the kitchen table which is the coolest part of the room out of the sun and have nice cool
tiles under their feet. I posted a pic of them having a blast together on my fb, in part to maybe remind others in a roundabout way of bringing their small pets inside too.

Where do you live to be getting rain may i ask?

It's cooler indoors than out today. Get them in! Ours were panting last night 😢

One of our dogs had a cool, shady concrete outbuilding to lie in, lots of shade in another north facing spot and what has he done? Contorted himself to get as much of his body into direct sunlight as he possibly can and religiously moved with the sun to avoid the shade. He obviously didn’t get the memo!

My tortoise is in heaven, eating almost non stop and cooling off in her water dish. She would love to sleep in the garden but can't because of neighbourhood foxes

Ah thank you xogossipgirlxo , they're bro/sis and very rarely sit together , but they're hogging the shadey patio slabs , there's a bit of a breeze .They assure me that they can regulate themselves as they were feral kittens
They are much easier to look after than our guinea-pigs were in many ways , though the female slept out on the patio chair whereas the piggies would've been scooped up and secured for the night .

I agree. It really stresses me out when I think about it.

Poor wee thing.

My three are house rabbits but still following all the tips online for keeping cool. Especially my Netherland, people don't realise it's not only dogs that are brachycephalic and struggle to breathe.

So far we have:
Windows and curtains shut
Fans
Frozen water bottles
Ice cubes in water
Water spray their ears
Cool mats
Chilled veggies
Bunny ice lollies

Any other good ideas welcome.

Its so hot my tropical giant snail is even struggling too.

I grew up in a hot country with fluffy cats that roamed freely in and out of the house. My current UK-based fluffy cats are doing the same today.

That poor rabbit, that's awful :(

Guinea pigs inside as that's where they live and just had a debate as to whether to put them outside but have decided against it. Hamsters in the front room with an air college but Lily is the luckiest hamster as she's in our bedroom with the Aircon on.

Might bring them out later when the sun is on its way down or not. A day inside won't hurt.

I was concerned about my cat. For weeks now she's hardly been in. She comes to eat and walk around the house then goes back out all day and night. The back door has been open constantly this week but she's not bothered about staying in.

As others have said though they can find their own shade. Poor rabbit.

Off topic but is there guidance on the size a rabbit hitch should be? I know people are beginning to get larger cages for hamsters now.

Awful. I've just gone to give guinea pig another bit of cold celery. He's outside but in a run in shade on damp bit of garden. He's going into hutch when it gets dark.
Comes inside in winter but his indoor cage is big and sits in front of a sunny window. So outside is not always worse as a pp said. In a hutch facing the sun is horrible though.

My guinea pigs have been in my small kitchen today so the dogs could have the equally cool utility room that the pigs have been in since the heatwave. It's a nuisance stepping over them all but they need looking after just like people. Pet owners that think wooden hutches suit small furries all year round are so wrong, they wonder why they die horrible deaths from overheating or hypothermia. My friend seemed surprised when her daughter's guinea pig died one December in frosty weather, it wasn't even in a hutch, just an outdoor run on frozen ground 😞

Oh no. I was all set to come on a post YABU beau see there's already been a zillion threads about dogs, but I did not expect to read that. How sad, and grossly irresponsible.

Same!

My cat has been out sunbathing. I put a cooling mat out and some bowls of icy water.

At lunchtime I picked him up and carried him indoors because it was so hot and he howled to go out again. He's now flopped out in the hedge. We've got water bowls all over the garden but he seems to love the heat for some reason.

That's dreadful, how stupid and depressing.

Our baby rabbits are in the coolest part of the house and have an equal share of the portable air conditioning unit. I'm still worried about them.

@vroom321 with regards to rabbits the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund recommends minimum overall accommodation size of 6ft x 10ft x 3ft high.
The hutch within this should be at least 6ft x 2ft.

Rabbits should be allowed to run and jump without constraints, Hutches were first introduced to house rabbits many many years ago to only keep them alive long enough to eat, the tradition has stayed and they were never designed for long term use for rabbits. Cadged rabbits are usually said to have a life expectancy of 2-4 years and house /free roam up to 12-15 years.

Cadged rabbits suffer with many many health and mental/distress issues.

Awful to hear this; really upsetting imagining the bunny waiting in vain to be saved by their useless human.

My dog is walked around 5am and then 10pm and inside between these times. For the local wildlife I have placed bowls of water at various points of the garden in the house I’m in- front, back and sides. Will also leave some chilled veg out.

It’s just rained hard for an hour and there’s now a little thunder, just south west of Bristol.

I’m even adding cold blocks to my marine tropical fish tank! They were getting too hot so goodness knows how a poor bunny in a hutch would feel.

I’ve got three dogs who are all inside and being hosed down regularly, especially my old gsd boy.

Our ducks are getting veggies in ice blocks frozen specially for them and the chickens are under full shade although they have a huge garden and lots of water access too.

your neighbour needs reporting for cruelty op. Seriously unacceptable!

My cat is outside (his choice) nut he's asleep under a bush

It is so sad.

Stupid stupid human. I'd report the neighbour. Can you be banned from keeping animals after something like this?

My house is far warmer inside than out! I can't keep the downstairs windows open in the day whilst I'm at work to air the house either. My cats have a cat flap, lots of fresh water so can please themselves. Cats always manage to find the coolest place to sit just like they always find the warmest in winter.

My chicken are fending for themselves free range - have made baths in deep loose leaf litter under a hedge which I think is probably nice and cool. They have ice cubes in their (multiple) water drinkers and I have also left on a tiny stream of water from a tap which is pooling in the shade and so far I’ve seen my dogs, the chickens and quite a few garden birds enjoying that.

My Guinea pigs are happy outside. They are fully in the shade with wet blankets and ice blocks. They have a very large hutch which is permanently open into a 6ft square run. They regularly have cooled veg throughout the day. They seem very happy and wheeking the day away!

Yup.

Mine have a "hutch and run" that they go into at night, but that's it. 7/730 am the run is pulled away and they have full roam until 11.30pm in summer and 930 in winter.

When I see caged rabbits I could cry, how can they Binky/flop/run/jump?
.they're not teddies, theyre living breathing animals.