Summer has Arrived

We have finally made it to our first week of consistent temps in the upper 90s here in northeast Arkansas. Two weeks ago I went to Texas with my husband to pick up Lee, our new rabbit. Coming from west Texas, he seems to be handling our heat just fine. I have water bottles in the freezer that I give to each cage about 3pm and I also have a misting bottle for their ears. We will also attach battery powered fans to the cage fronts for the days where there is no breeze. Thankfully we have a good breeze going through the barn most of the time. I add electrolytes to each big water jug and also have water bowls for those who seem to be struggling a bit. I can't guarantee I won't lose any due to heat, but I do everything I can, short of moving them into the house.

That brings me to an important piece of advice: if you bring your indoor rabbit outside, or vice versa, be careful! An indoor rabbit will not handle the heat very well and they need time to acclimate to the heat. If you bring your outdoor rabbit inside, then be careful when you put it back outside. Always place your rabbit hutch/cage in a shady area, with good air flow. It is very important that they always have clean, fresh, cool water available. It doesn't take long for the water inside a bottle to get warm when it's in sunlight and they don't drink warm water when it's hot outside. When they stop drinking that leads to dehydration, which leads to other health issues.

Signs of heat stress/stroke in rabbits: panting, head thrown back, lethargy (lack of energy) wet or slobbery chin or dewlap.

There are many things you can do to help your rabbits through the worst of the summer heat.

1.Offer water in a heavy bowl that can't be easily tipped. Some rabbits drink more from a bowl and if they want to, they can stick their feet in the water.

2. Lay tiles on the cage floor. Large pieces of ceramic tile can even be stuck in the freezer for more coolness or they can be sprayed off so when the rabbit lays on them it feels cool.

3. Fans pointed towards the cages

4. Mist the backs of the ears with cool water. The ears are how they cool themselves. Avoid getting water down inside the ear.

5. Fill large soda bottles, juice bottles, jugs, etc with water and freeze solid. Put them in the cages during the hottest part of the day. It doesn't take them long to figure out laying next to them will cool them off.

6. If you have no shade, buy some burlap and put on fronts and sides so there is shade. I have also wetted the burlap so any breeze coming through the wet cloth will slightly cool.

7. Closely monitor how much they are drinking and eating. If their water gets too warm they won't want it. Check water bottles in the morning and afternoon. Also, in the heat, a lot of rabbits lose their appetite for pellets but many will prefer to eat hay or grass.

8. Give your breeders a break from breeding during the hottest months. Some bucks can temporarily become sterile from the heat but producing a litter in the heat just adds unnecessary stress to the doe and I have found you get much smaller litters in the heat.

9. Adding electrolytes to the water can help. I use a multi species electrolyte made by Manna Pro and just do a small half scoop to each big water jug I use for filling bottles. Some rabbits don't care for the taste so again, monitor how much they drink, and if they stop drinking the water with electrolytes added, just offer plain water instead.