what to do when on holiday.....

before i booked my hol, i made sure that my sister would have eric at her house for a week so that at least he wouldn't be cooped up in a cage all the time and would have some company during the evenings.

now i'm wondering if that's the best thing to do? would the stress freak him out and make him ill (not been too well of late).

trouble is, i live a bit out of the way so no one would actually be able to come in daily to feed him, clean him out and spend time with him.

could anyone let me know what they do with their buns whilst away for a week? (have already refused a weekend away this weekend as i didn't have anyone to take care of eric - now in major dog house with oh:roll.

x

What about hiring a professional pet sitter to visit him a couple of times a day?

I take it he's a house bun?

Have you looked at possibilities for boarding him? Although it would be a different environment, but you should be able to find boarding with someone that is experienced in rabbit care & can provide the right care if he does find the change upsetting.
Some boarding places have bigger/different accommodation for housebuns too.

I suspect Eric will cope better than you expect him too The last time we boarded our buns was two days after they'd had dentals under GA (not ideal, but rabbits are like that!), but they were fine and had a great time - to the point were they sulked when they got home again!:roll:

I’d suggest bunny boarding :wave: Where are you based? We might be able to recommend somewhere

I am having the same problem, my parents have offered to have the buns for the week, they have a big garden and will let them out lots but will be in a smaller cage when in the house. would this be better than boarding?
I also heard there is someone quite near here in Barnsley on the forum who boards??

tigerangel said:

I’d suggest bunny boarding :wave: Where are you based? We might be able to recommend somewhere

Click to expand...

i'm in south staffs. not too far from wolverhampton, telford or bridgnorth (although car travel freaks him out) - any suggestions would be gratefully received!

i'm thinking someone with rabbit experience would be good as if he should need any medical help or anything, i could relax on holiday (as if:lol knowing (hoping) that the person looking after him would sort it for me.

i did have a look for a pet sitter but round 'ere if it ain't dogs, cats or horses its weird:shock: so when i mentioned that eric was a house bun..........

x

claireb1 said:

I am having the same problem, my parents have offered to have the buns for the week, they have a big garden and will let them out lots but will be in a smaller cage when in the house. would this be better than boarding?
I also heard there is someone quite near here in Barnsley on the forum who boards??

Click to expand...

That's probably us Claire, we are in Barnsley, but cover a wide area and if people can get to us we are more than happy to try and help

Have a look at www.thebunnerystaffordshire.co.uk We use Jo regularly - feel free to PM if you want more details but we highly recommend x

Usually B goes to a friend/family but she has disgraced herself[weeing on carpets/sofas,breaking things].I dont blame her for any of these things afterall she always weed on her sofa here & I did warn them to keep her off,the floor she weed on cos she had cystitis & as for breaking the vase-well it was their own stupid fault for leaving it on the floor,I was more worried she had cut herself.So after this I decided I wanted to leave her in her own space as I couldn't bare the thought of people telling her off for things out of her control.This was one of the reasons we got Dill to keep her company when we were away.We go next week to Greece & my sister is coming in twice a day to feed & check they are behaving.She will let them out in am & put them in cage in evening.Not sure how this will work as they have been quite distructive recently but cant cage them for a week so we will just have to put up with any damage[though we are moving the TV out of the room!]

its stressful ain't it! we're supposed to look forward to holidays right? i'd rather eric be at home whilst i'm away but no family or friends live close by to do a couple of visits per day and rub his ickle nose for me (thats if he makes it thro his hospital stay)

x

Can you get a petsitter in to live? I wouldn't leave him to just twice-daily check ups if he's ill.

You could try at your vets? I met a vet nurse through them, & she lives in my house for a week while I am away. She's had perfectly healthy buns at the vets in a panic, but I much prefer someone being too cautious than not careful enough

ahh i see!!! we are away in august and undecided what to do for the best tbh....parents are willing and all and i'm worried about them forgetting us while we are away!!! x will be in touch with you soon tho most likely lol

I have one of the girls from work come and stay whilst we go away as we have 3 dogs and 8 rabbits, but so far #'i'veonly done this for 3 days max.
My mum used to move in the house but she's notable anymore
I've avoided proper holidays for the past two years as i worry about the rabbits too much

poppymoon said:

its stressful ain't it! we're supposed to look forward to holidays right? i'd rather eric be at home whilst i'm away but no family or friends live close by to do a couple of visits per day and rub his ickle nose for me (thats if he makes it thro his hospital stay)

x

Click to expand...

I am getting very nervous about leaving them at home now,to say the least.Im finding the thought of going away more stressful than enjoyable at the mo.

hi can u not get a friend or family member to come and stop at urs for the week that way it means u wont have to move him and u wont have a stranger like a pet sitter in ur house. thats what i did when i went on hol as my mam could only look after one of my bunnies my brother came and stopped to look after the other (rabbits not bonded yet). hope u find something and have a nice hol

I use Waggytails in Sheffield but before you travel long distances please take this into consideration , this was written by my vet to me last year when we had to board our bunnies a bit further than we thought we would , however waggytails is fantstic for our bunnies.
Original Message -----

From: Enquiries

Sent: 21/09/08 04:13 pm

To: 'Ivor Middleton'

Subject: RE: Rabbits and Travelling



Hello Ivor,

It is certainly not ideal to travel long distances with rabbits. However, if you keep the car well ventilated and cool and provide fresh food and hay (and also water if the journey is longer than 20 minutes) then if waggytails is the next best alternative then the journey shouldn’t cause undue stress for your rabbit. Rabbits can develop GI stasis,or even go into shock, raised heart rates in rabbits can cause heart attcks or even bring on fits, Please make sure upon arrival that your rabbits are put in a hutch and left for a few hours with observations, that they are moving around , drinking and eating also make sure that boarding establishment knows a vet who will provide good advice if there is a problem.

The only alternative that we have heard of is ‘Holiday hutches in your home area I don’t have any knowledge regarding the standard of care or housing offered by this business so it is worth checking this out before booking accommodation.
We can recomend waggytails as we do know them, we know the standard of care within their buisness, the accomodation is very clean and Tina is very knowledgeable with all her charges. I personally have used to Tina to care for my own rabbits , they always come back well cared for and in exceptional condition.


Yours Sincerely,


Nigel Smallwood

I hope this helps anyone making a desision to travel long distances

thank you ivor, those are the concerns i have regarding going away and either taking eric to my sister's (only 20 mins away but different surrondings - stress ) or boarding him at a very well recommended place which is a bit further to travel but the owner is completely rabbit savvy and uses the same brilliant vets that i do so she would be able to keep an eye on eric and get him there asap if his health issues return. still the problem of stress though changing his surroundings.

i'm pricing up pet sitters too at the moment but oh dear - the cost is high and it would be a stranger to eric anyway. most websites say how cat and dog friendly their sitters are but not found any who even mention a house rabbit, just 'small pets can be fed and cleaned out'.

wish i had more family who'd could enjoy a week away full board in a semi rural area with eric as company all on me

x

Im mega lucky cos i have a cousin who still stays with her parents, so she is glad when i go away and she comes to mine and stays over with kermit.
God only knows what ill do when she cant bunnysit for me!

Kermit said:

Im mega lucky cos i have a cousin who still stays with her parents, so she is glad when i go away and she comes to mine and stays over with kermit.
God only knows what ill do when she cant bunnysit for me!

Click to expand...

does your cousin fancy an all expenses paid trip 'abroad' (middle of england somewhere)

x

Hi Poppymoon
We own and run Holiday Hutches, you are more than welcome to come and have a look around here if you wish to compare boarding places in your local area. You will find it spotless and quite a few people from on here use us and some even travel to us even though they live only just round the corner from other boarding places within our region. We have references from our customers and letters of thanks and some saying why they use us rather than other establishments that they have used or visited previously too.