Cooling A Rabbit

Thanks !!!

CrazyMike40 wrote:

Zee your 3 bunnys lookso cute in that pic !!! We have had several weeks of 90Fweather out where I live and I have had the AC running for my 4bunnies. Theyallappear to be fine. I will keep thefrozen bottle idea in mind as the temperatures start to climb in thecoming months.

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I don't know if this has already been asked butI have an English Angora Buck that we keep inside our heated garage.The garage faces west and keeps most of the early morning and noon daysun off of him; also isn't heated in the summer, obviously,but it still gets quite warm inside.
I keep water to him constantly, but unfortunately, in the case that heis an angora, I cannot put a frozen bottle of water in with him orwhere he can touch it. This is because the bottle condenses some of thehumidty in the air causing it to get wet on the outside of the bottle.Angora fur and water do not mix... it causes painful mats on his bodythat either have to be completely pulled or have to be clipped down tothe skin.... :-( I can keep a fan on him, but is this all Ican do?
He constantly has a wet muzzle, is panting, and is always layingstrantched. I didn't know about heatstroke symptoms until I read thispost... He's my last Angora, and if he died then I doubt I would getanother even though I love them dearly.

...thanks... LP

Do you have a fan running? That willhelp a lot. You could also put ice cubes in hiswater. It does sound like he has heatstroke.

Also, is he clipped or does he have long hair? If he is notbeing shown, you could clip all of his fur down.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/TDURANSTER/Ourbunsmokey.jpg
Here is a pic of my bunny

I need ideas on how to keep my rabbitscool. Right now they are doing fine but I am running myselfragged worrying about them. Here is my problem. Wehad to have the only tree in our backyard cut down this year because itdied. Now my rabbits have no shade at all. I don'twant to bring them in anymore everytime it gets too hot. Myhutches are in a row against a stockade fence. What I wasthinking I could do is to get some mosquito netting and staple on endto the fence and hang it over the hutches and attach it to the otherside by poles (like a tent). Would this work? Doyou think that this would keep them cool just like being under atree? Yes I do give frozen water bottles but I work all dayso they are melted by the time I get back from work. Anysuggestions would be appreciated!!!

Another idea (not sure if this was mentionedyet) to help cool your buns is to feed some cooling freshherbs. Blackberry (leaves and fruit),Strawberry(leaves and fruit) and Sorrel are all cooling herbs and helpthe bun cool down better. Increasing Thiamine inyour buns diets will help prevent heat stress as well...I do believePeanuts and Sunflower Seeds are sources of Thiamine.



Also..for the angora I would suggest taking some dog clippers andshaving (yes I said shave) his body wool off. Most local showbreeders do this with their stock in the summer to help their angoraskeep cool in the summer heat. If you can't do it yourself I'msure a dog groomer would be able to do it cheap.

thank you for your suggestions... i will defentantly keep them in mind...

LP

Peanuts and nuts in generalandsunflower seeds are the opposite of a cool food. They are used to addweight to a bunn and are considered a hot food. Most people give themto their bunns in the fall and winter and don't offer them anymore inthe spring and fall.

Tina

Our Smokey gets two frozen milk containers everymorning before we go to work in the morning. Plus fresh cold water inher water bottle and a bowl of ice cubes. She looks forward to her icecubes. She licks them and plays with them. Sometimes she knocks thebowl over. The frozen water bottles are still cool and wet when I gethome so that is a good sign. I will have to check out the herbs. Idon't want anything to happen to our precious bun.

I use old jeans cut into shorts, dipped in water, then folded in half and put with the bunnies. It works great!!!



Qadoshyah

HoppinHerdofHares wrote:

I use old jeans cut into shorts, dipped in water, thenfolded in half and put with the bunnies. It works great!!!



Qadoshyah

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Never heard that one before. Excellent idea!!

-Carolyn

I put a swamp cooler in my barn. It blows coolair into one end of the barn and the exhaust fans on the other end keepthe air moving thru the barn.

On a smaller scal, a fan blowing over a pan of water or thru a wettowel will do much the same thing. As the water evaporates the air tempis lowered. I an drop the temp in my barn by 10-20 degrees.

A 'swamp cooler'? Never heard of one before. onder:

A great idea with the water and the fans. Amazing that you can drop the temperature by that much by doing that.

Thanks again for another excellent idea!

:star:

-Carolyn

Also called evaporative cooler, cools byevaporation rather than refrigeration so uses lot less electricity.It's a big box with fabric pad on 3 sides with water running over them.Big fan inside the box draws air through the wet pad and blows it intothe building. Evaporatio of the fine mist drops the temps. Works besatwhere humidity isn't too high.

rick

I've heard that it's alright for a rabbit to be kicked out, but if it's on it's back it's having a heat stroke.

SuchaDutch wrote:

I've heard that it's alright for a rabbit to be kicked out,but if it's on it's back it's having a heat stroke.

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Breathing, lethargy, and other symptoms as mentioned on the first pageof this thread gives a clear indication of what heat stroke symptomslook like.

-Carolyn

My bunny, hates being outdoors. If youtry to put her on the ground, she'll get this really scared look on herface.And she'sa docile little girl. Wehave a fan and an A/C running, and she's ahappygirl. She sits in front of the fan all the time. Iknow that if it's hot outside for me, then it's probably too hot forher. (And I'm not wearing a fur coat like she does.)

Annie

I've been using the frozen milk jug ideas and mybun loves them. The only problem is that as the bottles/jugsice melts, the water attracts flies (since he lives outside).I clean out his litter box everyday, but the flies seem to like themoisture the bottles create. and my bun ends up getting a little wet aswell. is there any way around this problem?

I use frozen floor tiles You can goto like homedepot and get single floor tiles and then you can stickthem in the freezer and in a hour or two they are ready to be used.They dont last as long as frozen water bottles but they also aren't asmessy.

Also welcome to the forum! Do you have any Flemishes?

~Amy

thank you for the info! I'll try that out. oh, and btw i do have a flemish.