Bringing an outside rabbit inside?

[cupofteaplease]

We have an 8 month old rabbit and she lives outside, with a small wire hutch, a large run and a smaller sleeping cubby.

In this very cold snap,we have brought her indoors, as I am worried it is far too cold for her outside. The downside is, she is now confined to her small wire hutch as we are out at work all day and I'm now worried she is not getting any exercise.

So what is better- freezing outside, or being cooped up inside? I feel really sorry for her

I have just brought my outdoor rabbit in too, after seeing the overnight forecast for the rest of this week, and alarming myself by reading stories of rabbits frozen to death!

Can you let your rabbit out to lollop around the house in the evening? That way she can have some daily exercise, even if it is less than she is used to.

Nothing is ideal, in this weather though.

get her a litter tray - they will usually train themselves, then she can hop about

You will probably be able to littertrain her - google it and you'll find lots of info online. Whatever you do, either keep her outside or bring her in - don't swap her in/out all the time. If she spends time indoors she won't acclimatise properly to the cold and will be at more risk of dying outside.

In the longer term, she would be happier with a friend - rabbits are highly social animals and shouldn't be kept singly. Are you able to get another female to keep her company? Two rabbits can also be kept outside all year round as long as they have plenty of bedding and a sheltered hutch as they will cuddle up and keep each other warm.

Our rabbit is a house rabbit full time
Litter trained ( mostly)

Watch out for any wires though, rabbits view them as roots in the burrow and tend to destroy laptop cables and phone chargers nibble

I used to put my rabbit in the shed, but in this weather inside is good. Its probably fine in the hutch during the day, I wouldn't let it run about while you're out, it could chew something like a cable or hurt itself.

Lurcherlover said what I would say re company and housetraining. I let my house rabbits outside, but only for about 4 months of the year as they are a dwarf breed and are very susceptible to the cold.

For now can you put her in the kitchen while you are out? You need to make sure there are no cables for her to chew and that she can't jump up and break anything/hurt herself. Baby gates are useful to keep pets contained I find.

My house bunnies have the run of three rooms and a staircase. I leave them a big pile of newspapers to tear up, old toys to chew and they can jump on some storage boxes if they want to. I have clipped cables out of their reach and I don't leave anything on the floor that I don't want them to touch. I push chairs in so they can't jump up on to the chairs and tables.

I feel they get a lot more attention being inside plus they give us a lot of pleasure as we see them playing and racing around.