Bunnies in the heatwave

[CatsOperatingInGangs]

We regimes two lion head cross rabbits from friends who had young children. I suspect they were handled badly by the kids as they really don’t like being handled at all. As a result, we handle them as little as possible.

They are super hairy beasts and they are still shedding their winter coat after all these weeks of warmer weather. The vet told us we will have to help them remove tufts of shed hair as there’s so much but their reluctance to be handled makes this difficult.

The don’t cope with heat at the best of time so they have daily access to a cool shady part of the garden with bushes for cover which helps. However I’m really worried about them over the next few days. I’ve started freezing some bottles of water to put in their hutch at night to help keep it cool.
is there anything else I could be doing?

Rehomed not regimes. Oh for an edit button!

I haven't ever kept rabbits , we had guinea-pigs so a few differences to the care .

Guinea pigs like to hide in dark spaces so we gave them cardboard boxes , still with the 2 Doors so they cannot get trapped .
Hay in looroll tubes so they couldn't burrow into it .

Piggies can have more veg than rabbits so we gave cucumber , watermelon in rind , salad bag (not ice berg) rinsed in water . Mine didn't fathom drinking water but always had fresh .
Keep a very close eye on their pooh , should be normal not loose

And with hairy little rabbits you will need to bum check for flystrike , it can take hold quickly and can be fatal .

In their run, I put a dark sheet over , pegged down. You can wring out a towel and drape it so any breeze wafts through but not to drip on them

Frozen 2 litre bottles of water wrapped in newspaper
Floor tile (ceramic one )

They'll most likely lounge about but keep a check for heatstroke ( they'll sprawl flat , 'pancake' short rapid breathing )

If they are outside they'll love the dusk , but so too does Mr Fox . Our pigs were locked up safely when it got dusky unless we were in the garden with them.

Massive for Rescuing these little animals , they will thank you to the end of their days , but never tell you
It's much tougher keeping furry mammals cool in Summer than warm in winter IMO.

And if I had a £1 for every time I heard they'll be fine they're from Peru I'd be writing this from the Bahamas .

My piggies and your rabbits are nothing like their rangey wild cousins . They are bred to be pets and that changes them

We used to put cool stones for our gerbils when it was hot - you can put them in the fridge to get cooler and Rabbits can lie on them instead of the ground.

You can buy pet cool mats. They could lie on one of those to keep cool.

We had a very fluffy bunny that unfortunately got fly strike, I found her morning with blood in the hutch and her behind was really raw, it really wasn't through lack of care as previously she had been shaved down there, and sprayed with some type of repellent from the vet. She had some disabilities so I think she was the type of rabbit to poo and sit in it. We kept her hutch very clean, she was beautiful and it really upset me, a few days later I had my son prematurely, no link obviously but I just remember being in the hospital bed reminding my husband to pay the vet bill as they took her in and tried to save her overnight. Back to your question, iced water, maybe a shallow bowl of water for them to cool down in. Could you maybe attach something to there hutch so when they walk through their fur gets a brush???

Thanks all.
We’ve trialled using cool blocks wrapped in a cloth today with much success! Both of them had their bums on the cool blocks as soon as we put them down so we’ve put more blocks in there for them today. They’ve stayed in the hutch until the sun disappeared from the garden about 3pm so if we keep refreshing the cool blocks we should be ok.

I don’t know much re small animals, I’m a big dog person, but I saw advice for dogs- damp towels were they sleep. I don’t know if that would help with the suggestion up thread re damp towel draped over the run?

They’re free to roam the garden during daylight hours so I’m not too fussed about keeping the run cool as they just use it to access the tunnel to the hutch.

(run and hutch are attached by a tube so they can get outside if light before we get up. We open the door to the run for them to access the garden once we’re up and about)

I'm thinking if I might bring my buns inside?

They too hate being handled and moving them will cause some stress. Once inside theyd have to stay in the hutch which isn't ideal. But worried how they'll cope in the predicted 40 degrees!

Or keep outside maybe with a fan? They are on slabs which are fairly cool.

What do you think?

Mine are on slabs too. We’re just clearing out the hay so they can lie on the cooler stone in the shade with the ice blocks.
Mine would hate being inside more than outside but you’ve got to do what you think best. Poor bunnies. If we can get through the next two days we’re forecast rain on Wednesday 😫

Mine have come indoors today, they were ok yesterday but just slept through it (with multiple changes of frozen water, their own fan, and cool shade). They're now sulking in our kitchen which is several degrees cooler than outside.

A hutch, even in the shade, will be far too warm today. My guys have a shed and 10ft aviary and spent all day out in the aviary yesterday (which is roofed and had plenty of shade).

Indoors is better if you can today.

I say hutch, it’s actually a big chicken coop with two living sections and it’s in the shade. They’ve got free a choice of garden, shady bushes or hutch and that’s where they’ve retreated. It’s fully ice packed up so we’re managing ok so far.

I've got 2 elderly bunnies. Currently have them out in their run with throws rigged up over to create shade, a ceramic tile to lie on if needed and a wrapped up bottle of frozen water. I'm still a bit worried about them though so have to keep going out to check on them.

We used to put bricks in the freezer and place them in their hutches.

Update: sensible rabbits have gone under the biggest bush, dug themselves a cool hollow and seem fine. I’ve just taken them some water in a bowl.

Well done to those clever bunnies 👍

We had labradors who did that before we turfed the garden.

Make sure to keep checking all bunnies for flystrike - there's a LOT of flies out there absolutely loving the heat. Rabbits will just try and sleep through it all but they do go in their sleep too, so please do keep checking under those tails!