Despite the heartbreak of losing first Pippin and then Fred within a few weeks of each other, I still feel that I want to carry on my search for a new mate for poor Merry who is on her own again.
However I am not having any luck in finding a suitable bunny locally but am loathe to search further afield as when Fred died of stasis, the vet said it could well have been the journey home that caused it even though he seemed really happy snuggled up to Merry all the way home. It was about an hour's journey in all and prior to that we spent an hour at his home introducing him and Merry to each other and they got on well.
So just how big is the risk of stasis and other problems when buns travel to new homes? On the rehoming threads it appears that bunnies quite often travel fair distances to get to their new homes. I would be glad to hear of your experiences both good and bad.
Your vet is right to a point - stress is a big factor in gastric stasis and something to be taken seriously. In my mind any journey with a rabbit should be given careful consideration and should not be made unless essential. This is just my opinion. However, although stress can play a huge part in stasis, it is unlikely to occur in isolation without bunny being predisposed to stress as a factor in the first place if that makes sense?! What I mean is that
stress induced stasis resulting from travelling (which is stressful to rabbits) is
bunny dependent in that some buns tolerate it better than others.
Buns who are prone to stasis will therefore be more susceptible to
any stress event and precautions should be taken. Other buns will cope perfectly well with the stress of travelling and have no problems whatsoever.
When a bun is sick - priority of seeing a vet outweighs the negatives of the stressful trip - it's all a question of balance.
One of my buns is prone to GI stasis from stress events. However, we do travel him for holidays and he has never had an episode (*touches wood!*) from travelling. We consider this the lesser of the two evils - leaving them with someone who can't spot the beginings of stasis, and separation from us (which he doesn't tolerate well and has brought on bouts in the past) compared to coming on holiday with us to a now familiar location where we can continue to be his carers.
We only subject him to it once or twice a year. He manages a 2 1/2 hr journey with no probs at all at the other end other than just needing some quiet time to settle in. We use Bach five flower rescue remedy before we go, put them in the carrier at the last min and sit the carrier on my lap (which is blimmin' heavy with two buns in there!) so I can stroke and reassure them. We feed them a pile of fresh washed and wet veg before we leave home and again the other end and take a used litter tray and bedding with their scent on it, plus all their toys. I won't deny they find it a little stressful but so far the precautions have staved off any incidents.
If you are going to travel a bunny you need to make the experience as calm as possible. Any additional stresses could be enough to push bunny over the edge. For this reason I will never travel my buns within 2 weeks of vaccinations or having been ill, and would personally never 'bond' rabbits in a car. This is just my personal opinion. Rabbits are a prey species and as such are more susceptible to stress causing illness than other species. I hope that helps give one view on the matter.
