Moving 3,000 miles with rabbit, extremely nervous

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Kaoticness

Kaoticness

Active Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2022
Messages
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Location
Virginia, USA
So this is what all I have in his first aid kit, do I need more am I missing anything?
- Syringes
- Critical Care
- Baby Gas Drops

This is everything I plan for the drive to make it easier on us all(as my mom is flying out to take the drive with me)
- Cut his feeding to be half at night and half in the morning(He gets 1/4 scoop so he'd get about a tablespoon in the morning and at night)
- Stops ever 2-3 hours to allow him to stretch out on the back seat, get water too
- Lock him up in the bathroom(he will be blocked from the toilet and bathtub)
- Put some of his litter pellets into the carrier to mimic a litter box so he uses the bathroom(will have hay and a cheap towel in the carrier)
- He will have a fan that will blow on him if it gets too hot in the back seat(will also have a digital thermometer set up too)

Am I over doing it or am I missing anything? We take off Wednesday tomorrow is buckle down day so I will be going around getting last minute things for myself and him.
Edit forgot to add, veggies and fruit will be offered to him throughout the drive.
 
No fruit during trip. Don't want to add sugar for a rabbit that will already be stressed.

Do not stop every 2-3 hours. The fewer stops, the better. The hum of the car engine will be something he gets accustomed to. Every time the engine stops, it will begin to stress him as he senses something is different.

Leave him in the carrier for the entire day's drive. He can "stretch out" once you settle into the hotel each evening. It is risky to let him out while stopped and is unnecessary.

Don't change his usual feeding routine. Wet greens in the carrier can be a source of water for him. (Hay in carrier is good.)

Here's a photo of how we set up a rabbit area in a hotel room. Plastic tarp is underneath the fleece blanket. (They just happen to both be the same color blue so may be difficult to see in photo.) The cardboard hidey box (that has a doorway on non-visible sides) collapses flat during travel.
 

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Consider giving benebac. Routinely each day through the trip and for a couple of days afterwards.
 
I wouldn't bother with giving benebac or anything else he's not already used to getting. In my experience, prebiotics do absolutely nothing for things like travelling though they do help when needed during antibiotic treatments. Also don't go reducing his food before the trip. I'd do the opposite and see that he eats and possibly toilets briefly before srarting the move. He won't get sick or vomit like other pets would. Just try to do the trip in the fastest time with least unnescessary stops. If your bun isn't the most nervous, he will probably nibble on a few straws of hay or greens when you take a toilet stop or something along the way.
 
Kaoticness said:
So this is what all I have in his first aid kit, do I need more am I missing anything?
- Syringes
- Critical Care
- Baby Gas Drops

This is everything I plan for the drive to make it easier on us all(as my mom is flying out to take the drive with me)
- Cut his feeding to be half at night and half in the morning(He gets 1/4 scoop so he'd get about a tablespoon in the morning and at night)
- Stops ever 2-3 hours to allow him to stretch out on the back seat, get water too
- Lock him up in the bathroom(he will be blocked from the toilet and bathtub)
- Put some of his litter pellets into the carrier to mimic a litter box so he uses the bathroom(will have hay and a cheap towel in the carrier)
- He will have a fan that will blow on him if it gets too hot in the back seat(will also have a digital thermometer set up too)

Am I over doing it or am I missing anything? We take off Wednesday tomorrow is buckle down day so I will be going around getting last minute things for myself and him.
Edit forgot to add, veggies and fruit will be offered to him throughout the drive.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you've thought of everything! 🐰🩷 One thing I would advise, if the car is noisy or not perfectly smooth riding, put some blankets under and around bun's carrier for extra shock absorption. If you do this, just make sure it's in a way that doesn't add too much heat. Safe travels!
 
How you have to handle your trip will in large part depend on the length of the trip, if you're stopping or driving through the nights, and how your rabbit responds to traveling extended periods.

If your bun adjusts to being in the car and settles to the travel, it won't be as necessary to make many stops for your bun. It really all depends on how your bun is reacting and if your bun is eating ok while traveling.

If your bun isn't adjusting well but you're stopping somewhere at night, I would do a stop or two to give your bun a chance to eat and drink without the car moving, but mostly focus on getting to your overnight stop and giving your bun the chance to relax there.

If you aren't stopping overnight and your bun isn't traveling well, you'll need to stop more often to make sure your bun is eating and drinking. I did a cross country trip with my buns a few years back. It was tricky as I wasn't stopping overnight at the beginning, and they didn't travel well.
I had 7 bonded rabbits, one in particular seemed to get car sick and didn't respond well to the car moving. My rabbits never did settle, and I had to manage making sure they were eating and drinking enough. They would nibble a little while the car was moving, but not enough. Then there was the water dish that spilled everywhere and was pretty impossible to keep much water in. It was a nightmare. I had to stop several times in the beginning to remove soaked bedding, until I stopped putting much water in their dish.

So what I did was, when I had to stop for gas, I would also stop long enough to give them a chance to relax a little and eat and drink something. Leafy greens were a lifesaver. It's really what helped keep them hydrated with the whole water dish issue. Plus they were more inclined to eat the greens than anything else. So I was stopping at grocery stores all along the way, to restock the romaine and cilantro in my cooler.

I did end up stopping in Texas with family for a few nights, so that helped and gave them a break, but it was definitely not an easy trip. Plus my AC almost gave out halfway through, in the middle of summer.
 
Last October, as I prepared to move cross-country from California to New York, I learned that I would not be able to bring my large cat on an airplane and also that there were no flights from Chicago or anywhere east of there that would be bring me within 5 driving hours to my destination. Accordingly, I had to transport all three, in separate carriers, by car. One of my rabbits was dying with G.I. stasis (the worst I've ever encountered in 16 years of keeping rabbits) and the other was getting over the same condition as well as recovering from a horrible rear left foot injury that almost necessitated amputation of the foot or even the entire leg. Somehow, the four of us made it through to our destination and both rabbits recovered fully and are now happy East Coast denizens!

I think it's quite useful to have your entire itinerary mapped out beforehand. I made five stops during seven days of travel, taking extra days in Cheyenne and Omaha because all four of us were frazzled, to say the least. This meant separate rooms so that each rabbit would have a bathroom to herself. I booked one suite wherever possible to allow one rabbit to have the run of a full room (bunny-proofed, of course!). If you know where you will be stopping each day, it's good to research where to find acceptable greens to feed them in advance. Also, make sure any hotels/motels you plan to stay at accept rabbits as "guests." It also may be useful to research to see if there are any exotic vets or hospitals along the way, just in case.

I'd recommend water bottles for hydration, but since my rabbits have never used them, I put bowls of water in their carriers, which is a dicey proposition, but since I made stops every three to four hours, I checked everything during each and every stop. Also, to echo what others have noted above, I made sure to leave plenty of water on the greens I fed them. Since they will become somewhat used to being in a carrier during your journey, I left them in the bathrooms/rooms the rabbits were housed in, to provide shelter during a stressful time for them. If any of your carriers are on the floor of your car, please place towels under them to muffle the vibrations created my the car's movement. Oh yeah, I brought lots of extra towels and laundered them along the way. Many hotels do have a laundry room, but not all.

You're bringing Critical care and baby simethicone drops, which is great. I'd also recommend meloxicam or the equivalent, if it is available.

Interestingly enough, among the four of us, it was my cat who seemed to suffer the most! Best of luck to you and your entourage.
 
Mom to Minx said:
Well I can see I never want to make a trip like that!!
and I’m sure Minx is giving a hearty AMEN! to that!!😱😬💕🐇🐇
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its depend on bunny really my new bunny is so fearless , he eat when in my hand middle air
he eat in car
and when we go out or park or somewhere he start to roaming without be scared :D i got the breve one i guess :D
 
Hi all sorry for a late update, it has been a week since we arrived back home. He has settled in nicely and handled the trip like a champ(especially the two 9 hour drives). It was nerve wrecking a lot since we were offering him cucumbers and green peppers(that we got from subway since the one fridge we had at the first hotel froze all my greens!) We snuck him in so much into the hotels since many put small animals under the cat/dog category(so insane!). The last hotel we had was in Lexington, KY and we had to suck it up and announce that we had a rabbit, which he got in for free(gotta love Quality Inns). He only got like two nights where we let him run around the floor(most of the hotels had yucky carpet) he was on a towel every single night in his area. He settled in so nicely and my mom said 'if I knew he was going to be a champ during the drive I wouldn't of came out to help you' I am glad she still came out to help out since it was a two man job to unpack the car to get the carrier out from behind the seat. Tomorrow I learn my new work schedule and following week he will go to his new vet for a post move check up to make sure he's fine(but I know he is regardless) as well as make sure he is healthy to allow us to get a new bunny into the house hold in 2024!
 
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