We have two very sweet rabbits that live in a nice big outside cage under shelter that has a thermal cover. They are nice and fat and have grown their winter coats and seem quite happy but I can't help but think they could be cold. I've been told they are fine and that animals condition themselves to cope and that if we brought them inside now, they would overheat (plus my husband is alergic to them)..

Are they really adapted to this chilly weather.. is putting a hot water bottle in their home a good idea.. am I worrying too much.. should I worry more??

We brought our rabbit in as we do not have a thermal cover and was thinking of puting actually some sort of heated light outside but could not get one...will look for one tomorrow but for the time being our bunny is inside!

Sorry to report but last year in a similar cold snap, one of our neighbour's rabbits died and they said it was from the cold. The hutch had a thermal covering but alas ...

They now bring the hutch into the garage in the cold weather, and bring them out into garden for a couple of hours a day. This is only when it is very very cold.

Our BIG one is 4kg, and she's be living outside the past 3 years.

New one has been living on the balcony the past month (after castration, and to bulk up), but will move to the garden once the weather improves.

Cold isn't the problem, MARTERS are (killed two last year, Ponki fought them off, but had to do two weeks of anti-biotics).

Tom

Bring the rabbits in, and put your husband outside

The best way to keep the rabbits warm is in a 200 degree oven for 90 minutes.

A couple years ago:





Tom

Just an FYI, for any questions about caring for rabbits (and other small furries) a good resource is the Nager Station, a small mammal rescue, advice line:

http://www.nagerstation.ch/index.php/beratungstelefon

These folks are indeed experts, and are happy to advise on housing, feeding, health questions. Yes, there is a cost to their help line, but the funds go to their rescue work, helping the critters.

He is called Chuck, isn't he?

Thanks everyone.. aside the 200 degree oven option (which my husband supports), I think moving them to the garage makes the most sense. The kids love them and if one died it would be pretty hard to explain it was because we let them freeze.

My boyfriend told me all in. "Bring them all in and I will clean the house!" He can stay.

I thorgth it was better to bring my birds in. They live in a large avery, but the thorght of -16 to -6 was just a little cold.

a covered low powered heat lamp with an option the animal can get away from it. even the heat from a 65w light bulb in a small hutch brings the temperature up a bit.
heat lap is best though.

angela - they have the lamps in hornbach

Thanks everyone - my husband actually surprised me with his caring side and I came home on Friday to find he and the kids had inserted one of our electric blankets from Australia in between the hutch and the thermal cover plus placed a new bedding box inside one end of the hutch. They seem pretty happy now

This thread is about keeping PETS warm... pets... those furry critters with whom we form emotional bonds, who rely on us to keep them healthy, dry, safe, and comfortable through all weather extremes.

I am disgusted with the person who even dared to joke about cooking rabbits here, and appauled that anyone would "thank" such a comment.

We just moved rabbit #2 out into the cold, and both seem quite happy!

Tom

For my elderly cat, who would not sleep in the house at all, I bought a heated pad, the kind you can use for sports injuries.
It was mains powered, plastic thing from Argos with a furry cover. The cat loved it. Warm as toast.

Why?

We have pet rabbits, and while we wouldn't eat out pets, we have no problem eating rabbit, even my kids love it (and horse).

Of course, we would never eat ours, as it would be cheaper to eat truffles! (considering the money spent at the vet, etc.)

Tom

Perhaps because it showed very bad taste suggesting to cook them, when the OP was worried about them.

It made me smile for a sec though