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pooch plus cage cooler

willowholly

Mama Doe
Saw one of these in a rabbit book I got out of the libreary,and wondered if anyone on here has tried one.Its basically a fan that clips to the outside of a cage.Thought about getting one but wondered if it would annoy the buns rather than improve things.When not in cage thought could clip to inside & let it blow out.What do you think?
 
I've gone one (had it from PAH so not sure if its exactly the same one) but it's ok, doesn't blow around a huge amount of air and it whizzes quitely so shouldn't annoy the buns :)
 
Ooh do P @ H do one,I'll have to have a look.Was looking on internet.Was more worried it would blow things around like hay-that kind of annoyance but if its facing outwards it should be ok.Will think about it.:)
 
I got one from a local pet shop earlier this week - I'm not sure if p@h do them any more but they're definitely not online because I was looking.

It's strong enough to move the air about a bit but things aren't going to blow all over the place - Bubbles likes to park her bum in front of it sometimes. I agree with loopylop too - it's very quiet & neither of mine are bothered by the noise. It's supposed to run for 100 hrs on 2 D batteries but I haven't had it long enough to test that yet. :lol::lol::lol:
 
To quote from a previous thread about cage fans

Fans work on humans by speeding up the evaporation of sweat - we sweat, it's warm, the air takes it away, so our skin is cooler. Doesn't really work for our furry friends!
Fans can be of some use but you need a cooler air source - a fan in an enclosed room will do nothing but circulate air of the same temperature. Infact, as hot air rises, bunnies are usually in the coolest part of the room anyway, so a fan will just blow their slightly cooler air around the room and warm it up with the warmer air getting mixed in.
If it's not cooler outside, you can cool the air yourself with ice, icepacks, a towel that's been put in the freezer (peg it to a coathanger and put a washing up bowl underneath to catch the drips), aim a fan on it and as the air passes by it will cool it down, but this will increase the humidity as the water evaporates into the room. A regular fan used this way will probably do the job a lot better than a cage fan - so yup, bit of a gimic!

Some buns apparently like the feel of their air on them, but there are better ways to cool a bun down.
 
To quote from a previous thread about cage fans



Some buns apparently like the feel of their air on them, but there are better ways to cool a bun down.

This was posted on another thread, which seemed to make sense to my little brain. :lol:

Evaporation is only one way of cooling, they'll still lose heat into the air by conduction into the air around them. So if you constantly move that air then they'll cool quicker than no air blowing over them at all. When the air around them reaches the same temp as the air trapped in their fur, they will stop losing heat by conduction. If you move that air then they can continue to lose a little by conduction, not as effective as evaporation but still works. It is exactly the same mechanism that your CPU fan uses in your computer to keep cool
Obviously wetting fur and ears with a mister will mean cooling by evaporation which is more effective. But a fan is better than no fan at all.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showpost.php?p=3201901&postcount=9

I think any type of fan is useful if used in conjuction with other things - I have the fan down low in the aviary and it's not powerful enough to mix in cool air from down low with the hot air up high but it's also in front of an icepod, so it will be blowing the cool air that's radiating (is that the right word :?) from that.
 
But in this muggy weather, I would expect evaporation as at a minimum anyway because there's lots of moisture in the air already. I've certainly been sweating like mad and not really feeling much cooler for it!
I guess there's no harm in running a fan, but personally I wouldn't attach one to the cage - nto sure how secure they are against bits of hay getting stuck in them and jammin the motor or something? I'd stick a regular fan outside the crate and aim it over a bowl of ice or something, so it's a bit more effective.

Spraying water on the bun will mimic sweating, I agree - but I would definately just stick to the ears (and maybe paws) as the rest of the coat staying dry aids with insulating the bun against the heat (all the air pockets means it takes longer for the heat to warm up the bunny's skin, rather than just the fur) and by wetting it down you're stopping that
 
We moved Biscuit's fan yesterday so it was lower and she moved to sit next to it. The air was so still in her room yesterday that I found a fan was definetely needed, we actually have it on for most of the day.

Poor thing was flat out on her iced water bottle and ice pod yesterday, so glad it is finally cooling down.
 
But in this muggy weather, I would expect evaporation as at a minimum anyway because there's lots of moisture in the air already. I've certainly been sweating like mad and not really feeling much cooler for it!
I guess there's no harm in running a fan, but personally I wouldn't attach one to the cage - nto sure how secure they are against bits of hay getting stuck in them and jammin the motor or something? I'd stick a regular fan outside the crate and aim it over a bowl of ice or something, so it's a bit more effective.

Spraying water on the bun will mimic sweating, I agree - but I would definately just stick to the ears (and maybe paws) as the rest of the coat staying dry aids with insulating the bun against the heat (all the air pockets means it takes longer for the heat to warm up the bunny's skin, rather than just the fur) and by wetting it down you're stopping that

But the point of running a fan isn't just for evaporation purposes only! The reason you sweat is in order to lose heat by evaporation, buns can't sweat. But they can lose heat into the air that surrounds them by conduction and radiation of course, and so using a fan aids loss of heat by conduction. As fans blow out and suck air in from behind it is unlikely any hay will get stuck in them unless you store it direcly behind the fan! Even then it is pretty unlikely. But yes I agree, a stand alone fan outside the cage is overall a better idea. Ideally buns don't want to lie directly under a fan ALL day and night as risk of getting a chill is possible, it's better to use one directly just when your bun is hot and panting.
I agree you don't want to soak your bun or get the underfur wet, but trapping the air in the fur prevents it from moving around and convecting away, it's the bun generating the heat so keeping them insulated by not wetting the fur makes no sense, I personally think flattening the fur with a mister will allow it to be less insulating and hold less air to insulate bunny overall. But I don't soak my bunny, just a light mist over the back ears and head and then give them a good brush at bedtime. Obviously, other methods such as positioning fans over water or wet towels works very well in terms of evaporative cooling. :)
Radiation is also another good way of losing heat - so if you have a white bunny I suggest you colour them in with a black marker pen! :lol::lol:
 
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