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.

My black cat, having unsuccessfully tried to find shade in our garden, has sashayed off with his nose in the air, to find a shaded spot in someone else's garden 😄

My two cats were outside until 4pm while I was in the office working but they could get into the kitchen through the cat flap if they wanted to be inside. They have a cat gazebo with a parasol and loads of bushes as well as a partly shaded patio. Large bowls of water on the patio and in the kitchen. They're inside now. One of them slept in the bath last night.

Guinea pigs and dogs inside with cooking towels, fans, water, frozen snacks, frozen bottles wrapped up to lie on.

Disgusting rabbits should not be in a hutch in the first place!

Hutches are fine as long as they are big enough for the rabbit and have access to a run.
Most hutches are designed for Guinea pigs or smaller but they’re advertised as rabbit hutches which is so wrong.

What I find words though are the rabbit cages which don’t have enough dark areas to hide in.

My rabbits are outdoors as they are rescues and don’t like being handled so to bring them in would mean seriously stressing them out which could cause heart failure but they’re in the shade and it’s cooler out there than indoors.

Guinea pigs are currently in the kitchen on cool tiles. Have a fan on them and ice blocks. Feeding cucumber, melon and lots of watery foods. Have been inside since 9am this morning. It’s almost 40 degrees outside, probably hotter in their hutch. They would die in this heat.

I almost didn't click on the picture. my first thought was pet slugs!

Whilst that is awful, I’m utterly fed up of these patronising posts everywhere telling people how to look after their pets.

There’s always one - here’s your medal 🏅

Mine is now here
I did offering a cooling mat and a fan but nope

A medal for what exactly?

My cat has gleefully charged into the garden and is heading under bbq cover for a snooze

Wtf is wrong with people li despair why would you leave an animal in a hutch outside in this weather 😒 poor bloody things what a horrible death

My black cat is sunbathing. When he gets too hot he comes in and lies on the tiles in the hall

Well to say that rabbits are the 3rd most popular pet in the UK, and are the most neglected and cruelly treated of all pets. They have no voice and are very complex animals, and no cheap to maintain as they should.

I would say we have a duty of care to remind people they are not pets to be taken lightly or a pet for your children to play with. The facts and figures do suggest that most people do not have enough knowledge generally to look after them, and the Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, rabbit owners are required by law to meet their rabbits’ welfare needs; these include providing a suitable environment.

So yes we have every right to remind people how to look after their pets.

I almost didn't click on the picture. my first thought was pet slugs !

my cats are fumming I tell you but they're too good natured (lazy) to protest .

It does prove the Black Cats Don't Photograph Well theory

Tough. Clearly it needs saying more often as not everyone knows how to look after them, as is shown by OPs friends neighbours.

Black cats are the best!

Our Guinea pigs are inside still too hot for them but the garden was 43 degrees and their shed even hotter. They are grumpy that they are in the emergency cage which is far too small but at least we can keep an eye on them.

Hutches can catch fire in the heat if the sun hits the water bottles and all the dry hay inside.

Our rabbit has been inside since Sunday, he is in the coolest room.
Has fresh water 3 times a day and cold salad (obviously rabbit friendy).
For some reason he doesn't like the pet friendly cool mats and won't go near it.

Our cats are sensible but my Aunty's cat is not, had to have her ear removed from skin cancer as she is fair skinned and loves to sunbathe.

Animals need decent humans looking out for them as some people are just thick.

That's so sad, it would have died a terrible death....imagine just leaving it there to die in this heat.

Poor bloody bunny. Most pet rabbits have shit lives tbh, they are easy to look after badly if you don't know what you are doing

I forced my tortoises inside at 2pm. They were pissed off but I bribed them with a chunk of watermelon and, pausing only for some rampant tortoise sex, they are now sleeping under the cupboard in the hall/drumkit respectively. Tbf they should have been OK outside but didn't want to risk it.

My cats are refusing to come in. They do this in all weathers so I'm not too concerned, its cat heaven round here as all the neighbours have them.

My rabbit is a house rabbit. Hes snoozing under my bed in the shade and will be until 6ish no doubt when he'll come charging out for food, fuss and binkies.

Its beyond cruel to keep rabbits in hutches, it makes me angry to see it.

We have two rabbits. I would never ever entertain the thought of putting them in a hutch! When my daughter was born extremely prematurely and needed to come home months later on 24/7 oxygen, our buns who were previously house rabbits had to be moved out. I spent thousands on a bespoke shed - designed and built by a local company who built to our desired spec. It has a window, and after the structure was built we had professionals install heating and lighting. My partner spent weeks insulating it too. The rabbits live in a 12 foot galvanised steel 'puppy pen' within the shed. It was the best we could do for them under the circumstances.

It's freezing in the bunshed in Winter and the electric radiator costs a bomb to run (moreso this winter coming thanks to outrageous price hikes) but in Summer - especially in this extreme heat - its like a sauna. We've stayed at home for two days just to look after them. Providing them with a fresh bowl of water every 2 hours, 2 litre bottles of frozen water for them to lie against and lick the condensation from, all three(!) shed doors open (when the sun isn't on them) etc etc. We've been checking on the rabbits constantly, stroking their ears with tepid water to help cool them down. They've also had a tower fan on at one end of the shed (not rotating and outside of the pen so no cable chewing) so they can either choose to sit in front of it or not. They have coped, just, but I have been extremely worried about them, especially overnight when we lock the shed doors to protect them from predators.

The fact that people still keep rabbits in hutches absolutely baffles me. So many people get a rabbit (or rabbits - they SHOULD be kept in neutered pairs or small groups) without having the slightest clue about their welfare requirements.

For anyone who didn't already know, rabbits are no longer classed as domestic pets. They are grouped in veterinary terms with exotics because when cared for properly, they have very specific care needs and need specialist veterinary care when they become unwell. Rabbits are prey animals so often, by the time they display visible signs of illness or injury, it can be too late to save them.

It's devastating that rabbits locked in hutches cannot escape weather extremes or predators. Poor, poor rabbits. It's heartbreaking how so many people have them and don't care for them properly.