Will my rabbit be okay?

March 11th, 2010 by rose
  • I have a Flemish Giant(very large breed of rabbit) who, up until last Spring, lived with a friend of mine in a tiny enclosed cage who's back was covered but who's bottom and fronts were exposed and it's sides were semi-eposed. He lived like this for 2-4 years as far as we know.

    With us, he's been living out in a large open dog kennel with access to a fully enclosed dog house with padded bedding inside of it but it's just hit below 15 degrees and he chooses not to be inside the dog house(though this summer he DID use it for shade.)

    My mother is worried about him, though he's been outside since last Spring and basically all of his life, that he's going to freeze to death but has had the opportunity to grow a full winter's coat and adjust to the various outside climates.

    Should I be worried and pull him in for the winter anyway or do you all think he'd be okay as he is?


  • he will be ok


  • he'll be fine :)


  • He should be ok, unless the weather becomes extreme. It's not really natural for a rabbit to sit out in all weather - they normally retreat to their burrows during hot or cold weather.
    My suggestion to you is simple - cut another doorway in the dog kennel. Rabbit warrens always have more than one exit/entrance. This is so the rabbit can escape should a predator come down into the warren via one of the entrances. If there was only one way in and out, the rabbit would be trapped and killed. So, it's in a rabbit's instincts to have more than one escape route from any enclosed space. People don't always understand this, and wonder why their rabbits sit outside freezing in the worst weather, when they have a nice cosy box right there - but it only has one door. The rabbit's instincts tell it that being in the box would be dangerous if a predator came along!
    So, if you're willing to do some "damage" to your kennel, cut another hole in a different side of it. It doesn't have to be very big - just big enough for the rabbit to squeeze out of.
    I'm pretty confident that if you do this, your bunny will gladly go in out of the cold. Like I said - it's unnatural for a rabbit to spend all of it's time in the open, but they will do it if their enclosed area has only one access door. Give it a try!


  • He'll be fine. The are a few things you can do for him, though. Make sure his shelter is draft free. Make sure he has 24 hour access to fresh water - not frozen water. So, either buy one of those water heat coils to keep the water in his bowl from freezing or go out and change his frozen water for fresh several times a day.

    If you are still worried about him, just stuff his dog house completely with hay. Make a bit of a well in it so he can make his way in. Hay is very insulating and will keep him very warm.

    Rabbit do much better in the cold than in the heat. You can increase his feed a bit or give him "hot" foods such as oats, barley, or a few pellets of calf manna. These foods are good for winter time.

    He'll be fine.







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