How to keep a run dry?

Hey,

As my poor little Walter is now having trouble with his back legs, we've had to change their accommodation. The vet thinks its probably related to EC as he had a head tilt a couple of years ago. But he now doesn't hop right and tends to shuffle around. He's had panacur and its not got any better.

But we put them back out in their hutch (which is one with a run underneath) for "summer". Walter doesn't seem to clean his bottom as well as he should, and does tend to shuffle around on his bum when he's not moving far. With all the rain and him not being able to control where he poos, he was getting really dirty and matted so we tried cleaning it but didn't really help. We took him to the vets instead and they've clipped him and cleaned him up lovely, cept he's got a couple of bald patches now that we have to put cream on twice a day.

Anyway, there was no way we could put him back out in his run in the rain as it was just going to get worse again. I can't keep them in the house as I've got a cat and Walter has trouble with the floor inside, but we put them in the conservatory over the weekend and built their playhouse. I know it's not ideal as it doesn't have a run attached, but it's bigger than their hutch and it's clean and safe and dry, which is the most important thing at the moment. Once we can move it to the top of the garden, we can add a run.

My question really was, does anyone have a good way of keeping a run dry? I know its going to get a bit wet, but I'd like him to have as much space available as possible. We were just thinking of putting a corrugated plastic roof on the run, and not making it too high (will be 4 foot high probably) so that it protects them a bit. But if anyone else has a better way of doing it I'd love some ideas before we get the stuff to build the run.

I've got corrugated clear sheets on top of both my runs. On the 3ft run it keeps it mostly dry, except around the edges. On the 6ft high run it helps reduce the wetness, had to add a side sheet too to keep it reasonably dry.
You want to make sure the sheets overlap by one 'bump' and raise them up on one end bit a thick bit of wood so the rain flows off. Screw them down if you can to stop them blowing away.

This sounds like my little boy Oxo age 7 years he had ecuniculi a few years ago, never had head tilt but lost the use of his back legs eventually, started off with a bit of a limp but now drags himself around. He has been to the vets, had treatment nothing more can be done for him. The last thing I tried was steroids, he did improve a little but then went back to dragging his back legs around.

He lives in a playhouse with his mother Lavender and can still use a litter tray but there is still alot of poop around and at least one wee done out of the tray. I have a doubled up fleece blanket on the floor inside and when I have the door open so they can play on the veranda I have carpet down. I only put him out on the grass when I know it is dry and lush, on the odd occassions he goes in a paved run I have half of it carpeted. I use tarpaulin over my runs but water still get in. I keep him in when it's wet. I do worry about his little legs and his mucky bum

i have a large waterproof garden set cover, it came with holes so we thread some ribbon through to tie it on. does the job. shops like argos sell them under patio set covers

rabswood said:

This sounds like my little boy Oxo age 7 years he had ecuniculi a few years ago, never had head tilt but lost the use of his back legs eventually, started off with a bit of a limp but now drags himself around. He has been to the vets, had treatment nothing more can be done for him. The last thing I tried was steroids, he did improve a little but then went back to dragging his back legs around.

He lives in a playhouse with his mother Lavender and can still use a litter tray but there is still alot of poop around and at least one wee done out of the tray. I have a doubled up fleece blanket on the floor inside and when I have the door open so they can play on the veranda I have carpet down. I only put him out on the grass when I know it is dry and lush, on the odd occassions he goes in a paved run I have half of it carpeted. I use tarpaulin over my runs but water still get in. I keep him in when it's wet. I do worry about his little legs and his mucky bum

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Aww, bless they do sound the same! I think it might be a good idea to keep the bunnies in their playhouse when I know its going to be wet, otherwise it's going to cause problems. Walter does use his litter tray to wee in mostly. He did wee on the floor yesterday and I didn't notice and put my hand in it while i was cleaning them out though :lol: Not that I really mind as I have to rub cream on his bottom anyway and he poos while I'm doing it, so a bit of wee just makes it complete :lol:

I'll make sure the roof on the run is raised a bit as well so the water runs off - thanks