Is climate change affecting our bunnies?

I'd really like your opinions here.
Just noticed that mine breaths very quickly in summer heat to bring down body temp. That will make him lose a lot of fluid. (he's a poor drinker too) :roll:
[I take great care to cool down the house, check ear temp 2 hrly, sometimes spray & bathe on a hot day]

We've had gut problems & urine sludge in the past, both of which have a component of dehydration behind them - always much worse in summer. Some members have noticed that snuffles gets worse in heat or after prolonged hot weather. Yes it will happen throughout the year but is it commoner during or after prolonged heat?

Just looked at Google news 10 hottest days in Britain - average temps have soared since the mid '80's. Yes we could do something for our bunnies at an affordable price.

Really value your thoughts on the subject.

thumps_ said:

I'd really like your opinions here.
Just noticed that mine breaths very quickly in summer heat to bring down body temp. That will make him lose a lot of fluid. (he's a poor drinker too) :roll:
[I take great care to cool down the house, check ear temp 2 hrly, sometimes spray & bathe on a hot day]

We've had gut problems & urine sludge in the past, both of which have a component of dehydration behind them - always much worse in summer. Some members have noticed that snuffles gets worse in heat or after prolonged hot weather. Yes it will happen throughout the year but is it commoner during or after prolonged heat?

Just looked at Google news 10 hottest days in Britain - average temps have soared since the mid '80's. Yes we could do something for our bunnies at an affordable price.

Really value your thoughts on the subject.

Click to expand...

Well i'm with you on the house temperature maintenance - i'm sure I fuss over this far too much! :roll: and am also always checking Nino's ears and respiratory rate, whereas not so much with Poppy. I've never been aware of a problem before, but this summer I have noticed Nino has had a bit of heat stress on and off, or maybe i'm just more aware of his breathing these days? He has no respiratory infection or other symptoms and it is purely heat related, but I think more so on days of increased humidity. I'm not sure that this summer has been any warmer, it was only June that was on average 1 degree warmer than the average, and this was when I noticed it - hence the air con unit we bought them! But I remember summers in the 80's when I was a child being boiling hot, we were always in the pool. We had rabbits then but we lived in the country and by the sea and there was always a breeze.
I live in a city now and our North facing garden is a sun trap, even with a coastal breeze. So perhaps as well as temperature changes and humidity increase, it could also be that areas are more built up, less countryside, and maybe we are just all a bit more aware of our buns and their breathing?

I was chatting to a new vet i'm using whilst mine is away about Nino's breathing and he explained how in comparison to the abdominal cavity, that the thoracic cavity in rabbits is much smaller than other mammals but similar relatively to horses and cattle. Because the caecum and GI tract is SO important in strict herbivores it is much larger, and therefore the abdominal cavity must also be larger to house it. A smaller thoracic cavity means relatively small lungs and therefore a higher respiratory rate. I always thought normal respiration rate was 60-80 but he said more like a 100 which surprised me. Perhaps I have been too paranoid about my bunny! Although when he is at 100 his ears are boiling and he lies down and increases his body surface area to cool himself down by heat conduction and radiation to the air and ground.

in winter my house is as warm as its been this summer with my heating, this has no effect on the buns whats so ever.. its this humid heat i beleive is affecting my Pearl.. i hate it and i can feel it heavy on my lungs when i have to walk to and from work in it.. hate it hate it hate it

now that i cant use the aircon unit ill be buying a dehumidifier for the bunny room when were not so skint

We also keep the rooms at this temp. in winter, but we find that the air on the ground and at carpet level, and indeed the flooring itself in our home is much cooler in winter than in summer. There is actually a pretty cold air down at ground level in our house from draughts in winter, and Poppy in particular likes to lie beside exposed walls in the sitting room where the draughts come up in winter, and especially beside the french windows that leak!

I agree humidity this summer has played a big part in this house.

Thanks you guys. Reckon I'm really losing my marbles now.
Completely forgot there are very few members who admit to being in my age range on this forum.

My childhood bunny was in the '50's-60's. Average summer temp. was MUCH cooler. There wasn't small animal vet medicine, but our bunnies lived to ripe old age about 10 - 14. It was just soooo much easier then - no heat problems - hardly any predator problems in the countryside. The only thing we did wrong [as vets didn't neuter in rural Staffs in those days,] was to keep single rabbits.

Thank you for reminding me of humidity. My own house is so saturated with water after frequent flooding it's like a tropical rain forest except at downstairs floor level which is quite pleasant. So I've not been so aware of the humidity outside.

Any one else notice bunny illness being heat related?