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Scorchio!

erspearson

Warren Scout
Phew, it's hot in London today and it's forecast to be hotter tomorrow.
As a new rabbit owner I've realised that I'm not very sure what I should be doing to take care of my ward. I know rabbits can't deal with heat very well (they don't sweat, all they can do is to increase the blood flow in their ears, yes?). If they were in the wild they'd spend the day in a nice cool burrow but my flat is definitely very hot with lots of south-facing windows. It's certainly too hot for me, I'm flopped out in the coolest room with a long, ice-cold drink.

So how would I know if Sugar was suffering and what should I do for her?

I've got some freezer packs and I've been putting one near to where she's decided to settle when I'm home. As you can see from the photo below she's definitely making use of it.
But I'm an engineer so what I'd like to know is what is an acceptable ambient temperature range for a rabbit and what do other folks do to make sure their buns are not in distress and what might the signs of distress be?

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Do I need to rush out and buy/rent an air-conditioner?
 
I just asked this about outside temperature as we now have a garden! As for inside the best thing to do is have fans blowing to keep her cool and lots of cooling pads just like you are already doing. Things like Ice Pods are great but also a frozen water bottle wrapped in a towel is good. Keep feeling her ears as a gage to how hot/cold she is. I put ice cubes in their water bowels when its really hot. Also nice cold treats like fridge cold grapes goes down well (as long as she is used to the odd grape that is). Wetting your hand with water and stroking them I think helps :)
 
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