Should your bunny reside in a bunny hutch or rabbit cage outside the house, summer might be a difficult time for them. For that matter, it could be fatal if you don’t take extra precautions to care for them. Let’s take a couple of minutes to take into consideration how one can attend to your rabbit during the warm months. Why Summer is Challenging for Rabbits We humans are able to tolerate heat a lot better than many animals, including bunnies, for one principal reason - we sweat. Our systems have the ability to discharge heat by way of the skin as a cooling system. Bunnies don’t have this capacity. Compound this with a fur coat and you will have a very, very hot rabbit. If it’s a wild hare/rabbit, they’ll try to compensate for this by burrowing into the earth. They escape from direct sunlight and into the cooler ground. If you’ve seen a rabbit burrow, you know they will get very deep and that gets them much cooler. For all those inside a rabbit hutch or bunny cage, they do not have this alternative. So, let’s look into steps to make their summer a more comfortable time. If your pet’s main housing is a rabbit hutch or rabbit cage, the best way to address the summer heat concern is to get them in the house in the a / c through the hottest daytime hours. You can place them in your bathroom, guest room or other room where they are cooler. Just be sure you provide the litter pan. Not an option? Then let’s take into account other options. Allow me to share a couple of things I’d recommend you need to do to keep your bunny cooler in summer months: 1. Be certain your bunny has tons of shade - You can’t overestimate the need for shade. Don’t believe me? Head outdoors on a day when it’s over 90 degrees and full of sunshine. Wait in the sunshine for 5 minutes. Relocate to the shade and hang out there for five minutes. You’ll understand. Your bunny will too. 2. Put frozen water bottles in with your bunny - Save some of the 2-liter or milk bottles/jugs and fill all of them with water. Freeze them and put them in the cage with your rabbit twice a day (one mid-morning, one mid-afternoon). They’ll lie against it and thank you for it. 3. Give them ice water - Speaking of ice, place a few ice cubes into their water twice daily on top of that (same times). Leaving ice inside a LARGE heavy crock gives them the chance to soak their paws and/or ears in it when they want. As expected, they need the hydration desperately as well. Ensure that they NEVER use up all their water in the heat. Do yourself (as well as your rabbit) a favor and get one of these lock-on crocks. They’re highly recommended because rabbits can’t tip them over and waste their water when it’s 100 degrees outside. That’s a recipe for disaster. It’s really worth the $6. 4. Supply a chilly porcelain tile - Invest in a few 12” x 12” ceramic tiles and keep a stack of them inside the refrigerator. Insert them in the bunny hutch or cage through the hot hours. 5. Spray or wipe bunny’s ears with chilled water - Bunnies dissipate heat thru their ears. Wash their ears with a chilled cloth or spray them with chilled water and it’ll certainly help. 6. Brush, brush, brush - You really should groom your bunny in any case but doing away with that excess hair by using a brush during summer is vital. 7. Run a circulating fan - You don’t want a consistent wind on the rabbit however a clip-on circulating fan can help. You can make it best of all by having it pass over a moist towel to deliver some cooling. Make sure to keep the power cord outside of bunny’s reach. 8.Allow them refreshing vegetables - Refreshing produce have moisture content. Don’t be skimpy on those whenever it’s hot out there. The temperature is picking up in our area, so we will be taking a number of the suggestions previously mentioned to keep our rabbits cool throughout the summer. If you are utilizing a rabbit hutch or bunny cage just as we are, we hope you’ll do the same. Article by: Bob Watson at BunnyHutchHQ.com
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