Rabbit Care Awarness Group

Hot weather can be a killer in outdoor rabbits and although you can buy hutch covers that reflect heat they are very expensive and some do not fit on all styles of hutch, here is some tips to help cool your rabbit down and prevent heat stroke and even death.

•  Ensure that the hutch is out of direct sunlight.
•  Freeze plastic bottles of water and place them in the rabbit's hutch, you will probably find your rabbit will lay against it to help cool down.
•  Hang wet towels over the front of the hutch and if you can, place a fan in front, this will keep the air inside the hutch cool.
•  Have a scooshy bottle of water handy, lightly mist your rabbit with the water every few hours to lower body temperature.
• ALWAYS make sure the rabbit has ample clean, fresh drinking water. Change morning and night on hot days.
• If your rabbit is out in a run make sure the run is situated in the shade and the rabbit has a shelter to go into, again make sure it has access to water. place frozen bottles in the run also.
• If the rabbit has free run of the garden avoid letting it out during peak heat times, stick to early morning and dusk when the weather is cool and provide a shelter for it to go into out of the sun.
• If you think that your rabbit has heat stroke contact a vet immediately for advice.

Rabbits are quite hardy little animals and do well in cold conditions, however they hate getting wet so make sure your hutch is out of the way of driving rain.  If its possible to move your hutch into a shed this is good however its not fair to leave the rabbit in there if there are no windows and is always dark.

A more expensive option is to invest in a hutch cover. This will keep your bunny warm and dry but as stated above the are costly and might not fit on all hutch styles.

Provide lots of bedding in the form of hay and straw, your rabbit can snuggle down in his bed box amoungst his bedding if he wants. Do not be tempted to put a blanket in though, if the rabbit chews or shreds the blanket he may be at rist of blocking his digestion tract.

Make sure you have a couple of spare water bottles. During cold nights the water will freeze so make sure you have a spare on hand to replace the frozen one. Do not leave your rabbit without water with the thought of "it will melt by afternoon". You can also buy bottle covers that will help prevent the water freezing. However they dont always work and because the bottle is covered you may not notice it has frozen until you come to refill.

Dont let cold weather put you off exercising your rabbit. As long as its not raining you bunny will appreiciate a romp in the garden.