RWA alert?

Has anyone seen this? http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/warm_as_toast.doc

It says "• Put a tarpaulin, plastic sheet, or even an old or cheap duvet over the hutch, particularly at night, keep it out of the wind, and preferably bring your rabbit into a shed or indoors while the weather is unbearable."

I have just advised someone I know to not bring her rabbits in when she goes away at Christmas for a week as she'd have to then keep them in to the spring as they would have started to lose their winter coats. Do you think the advice from the RWA might mean people bring in their buns and then put them out again putting them more at risk? Covering them and the rest of the advice is good, just not sure about the bringing them indoors.

Just interested in people's views.:wave:

has she got someone to look after them who will remember to cover them up at night? i remember our poor neighbours years ago, many nights the poor bunny sat in her hutch and they forgot to cover her, i used to lean ove rthe fence with a brush and tip the sheet over her that we had given them to keep her warmer

moving them into a (well lit and ventilated) shed shouldn't be a problem but i agree they shouldn't be brought indoors for a week or so and then put out again:?
perhaps they ment over the winter when they said... 'while the weather is unbearable' in which case they could have worded it better.

not to mention that if you go to all that trouble to move the hutch into the shed for a week ...why not have it in there over the whole winter?...at the very least you can clean out without having shavings blown into your face or icy rain water dripping down your back...:roll:

umm not sure about bringing them in like... My lot have loads of straw and bedding in their bedrooms, and they have a proper rabbit cover on the cage which gets put down at 6pm every night in the winter... one of my rabbits has lost all his fur and even our vet advised to keep him out unless it went below minus, then to either put him in our shed or bring him in, but asked us to put him somewere cold in the house if we did so not to harm his winter fur (that he has left)
I to have just advised my cousion who has a new rabbit, not to bring him in over the winter and put him out in the spring, as the poor rabbit wont know where it lives lol...

In saying this I do hope everyone rabbits are doing o.k. at the moment with this nasty cold spell we are having :wave:

Mine would rather sit out in the cold tbh :lol:

I wouldn't bring outdoor bunnies in. I have a wooden house inside the closed part of the hutch and have padded all around it with hay.

Jazzy B Bunny said:

Mine would rather sit out in the cold tbh :lol:

Click to expand...

Mine are sitting out in their run now, I'm sure it' s below freezing. The cold hasn't bothered them in the slightest. We covered their hutch in "space blanket" insulation at the weekend, just to be extra careful, honestly it looks ridiculous! When I go to bed they get shut in their hutch with a blanket and taraulin over the front to keep out any drafts.

Still feel guilty that they're out in the cold though!:roll:

we covered the shed with a tarpaulin and a blanket.

Going to get a snugglesafe soon, and maybe get a caravan cover for the shed