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Travelling and short stay away from home

mangobiscuit

Young Bun
*More novice bunny owner questions*:lol:

Our xmas plans have changed for various reasons and there's a chance we will need to stay at my parents' house for the xmas week. This is 70 miles away and is minimum 1.5hr journey.

My questions are:

1) Is it safe/reasonable to travel Dom that distance/time in the car?

2) If OK to above, tips on keeping him as comfy and stress free as poss pls! (even obvious ones.......;))

3) For his stay at my parents' house, do's and don't again for safety and comfort and a stress free holiday for him.

I have no idea if people travel with bunnies in this way. I obviously wouldn't want to do this on a regular basis but as a one off.

Thanks in advance!

Lucy

x

PS - I transport him in a plastic cat carrier to the vets etc but it's quite "enclosed" and small..... Any suggestions of suitable carriers or perhaps buying a small crate for the journey which I could partially cover with something for security for Dom? I also have a spare old cage that he used to use which is 150cm long - but would this be too much space for him?
 
You'll be fine :D I used to take Muppet regularly away for the weekend (3.5 hours, 250 miles).

Travelling - personally I would want a carrier that the rabbit can lie down in. Muppet's not a happy traveller and he likes to lie down (helps with centre of gravity and motion sickness I guess). Put something in to line the carrier (so your rabbit doesnt slip around) and some hay to munch on. (Muppet doesnt eat when the car's in motion but he will do if we're stopped for awhile.) There's no point putting water IN the carrier as it will spill, but make sure you have some for breaks. It may only be 90 mins but if traffic's bad it could end up being longer so be prepared for that.

When you get there - rabbit comes first! He wont go to the toilet in the carrier so the first thing I do is get a litter tray and a bowl of water out for him.

Muppet's a house rabbit anyway so he adapts quite happily, so long as I'm there. He would stay in either the conservatory or the dining room, more or less free range, with his carrier to sleep in and his litter tray etc. My family were surprisingly good at remembering to shut doors when they should (and opening doors carefully when entering the room!)

The one year I took him down for Christmas, I had a folding pen that we could use to either contain him or fence off areas (to either keep him safe or to keep him away from the Christmas tree).
 
Muppet.....Thank you so much!:wave:

That's quite reassuring that people DO travel with their pets:)

How often would be advisable to stop and offer water (and food???). Should I put hay in at all for him?

Also, the plan was for Domino to live in my father's art studio (which is actually one side of a double garage converted and insulated etc:lol:) - I am nervous about him not being closer to me but my mother "collects" rescue cats and has 5 at the moment (some of which I think would see Dom as a tasty treat:cry:) The "studio" is carpeted and insulated but would it be OK to put a blow heater in there to keep temp at a comforable house temp? Dom is a house bunny.
 
How often would be advisable to stop and offer water (and food???). Should I put hay in at all for him?

Just leave some hay in for him. I wouldnt bother to stop especially on a 90 min journey, but if you do stop anyway, then offering water would be a good plan.

the plan was for Domino to live in my father's art studio (which is actually one side of a double garage converted and insulated etc) - I am nervous about him not being closer to me but my mother "collects" rescue cats and has 5 at the moment (some of which I think would see Dom as a tasty treat) The "studio" is carpeted and insulated but would it be OK to put a blow heater in there to keep temp at a comforable house temp? Dom is a house bunny.

That sounds nice, lots of running around space :D So long as you can spend time with him, I'm sure he'll be fine. I wouldnt think you'd need a heater at all during the day and only at night if it's really freezing :? It depends on how warm your house is normally though - my two live in an unheated room (although it adjoins rooms that are heated) so a coldish studio would be about right for them.

If you do put a heater in, just make sure that wires are well out of the way! I would probably put the heater itself out of reach too (fenced off or on a table).
 
Great idea re the heater being out of reach.....

Domino is destroyer of most things :lol:

I was thing of getting a mesh fence sort of thing to make a run around area with his cage inside for sleep. Just so he's extra secure.

It will be a shame he wont be able to frolic with us all day but I will be making sure he has plenty of cuddles to try and make up for it:love:

Thanks again for all your advice - I love this forum!! The amount of stuff I've learnt over the last few months is incredible.....

Dom now has a bunny condo all thanks to inspiration from this forum:lol: (am off to buy furnishings for it;)
 
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