Bunny inside to bunny outside

So, I got my new bunny today from the rspca. I am not very pleased to find out thAt he has been indoors for the past 2 weeks recovering from his neuter!! They said he would be ok to go out in a day or two (he is still a little swollen from pulling at his bits following his neuter but it doesn't look bad at all) if I fill his hutch with hay and put a cover on it. I know you shouldn't do this but he has not been kept in anywhere near as warm as a house the last two weeks and tonight he will be in my kitchen and the floors in there are freezing as they are concrete covered by tiles. I will make sure I put him on a cold spot.

There is no way at all I can have him and ruby indoors until spring! With my son in the spare room and a baby on the way we do not have the space for two free range bunnies, especially with ruby being as destructive as she is. My temp housing is a dog crate plonked right in the middle of my kitchen, not ideal. I have two cats who get shut in the kitchen at night so kitchen free ranging is a problem.

I also have a snuggle safe I can give him too to keep him warm. He will be going in Ruby's old hutch until they bond and this hutch has silver insulation bubble wrap stuff all over it.

Unfortunately after 2 weeks inside it is likely his winter coat has started to moult already... mine started after just a few days inside. With this cold snap on the way I don't think they could handle it outside...

Oh great! I don't know what I'm going to do now then ...

When you say he was inside, was he in a heated house? If so, to honest, I'd give him back, which is probably not what you want to do but if you can't have him indoors I don't think you have much choice, it takes a good while to grow a winter coat and it is so cold outside.

He was at an animal shelter so no, I don't think it was a heated house but I didn't ask. They said he could go outside with lots of hay and they would have done the same thing when he recovered, so I suppose he was inside in a kennels thing protected from the elements but not all heated so maybe only a few degrees warmer than outdoors.

His coat feels no where near as thick as Ruby's but she has a very thick coat even in the summer so it's hard to compare the two to see if he has a winter coat.

He is indoors tonight now regardless, too dark to get him settled In the hutch to make sure he is ok. Kitchen radiator is off and I am going to put him in the colder part of the kitchen.

I would keep him in the kitchen if you can till Monday and then call them and double-check where he was kept. If he was in a shed/kennel that was unheated, he'll be fine to go outside. But if he was indoors I personally wouldn't, even if it was an unheated room, as the room would have got heat from other areas of the house.

For example, we have an unheated conservatory/lean-to for the buns over winter and its literally just attached to the side of the house, concrete floor, no insulation, vents that let in cold air, but it generally stays above 10 degrees in there as it steals heat from other areas of the house, so I still wouldn't let my buns go outside, as it's starting to drop to 0 at night and its a big difference.

Our house has regularly gone down to 9 degrees when the heating's not on and even gone down to 7 once so if it's anything like that he might be able to go outside?

What a pain :S I'm keeping Lopsy in the cold part of the house but it's still about 13°C (although the radiator is on lowest 'on' setting until I'm 100% certain he's well... again!) and he's still really fluffy, but I just wouldn't want to risk it as he's been indoors for a while now, albeit everywhere was unheated. I think it's definitely worth asking the specifics of where he was. Have you got a sheltered outdoor space you can put him in, like a hutch inside a garage or something? That might replicate the sort of temperatures? I have no idea really! My Venus Fly Traps won't be going out while it's THIS cold though, and they're used to being abused They came in to the garage after the snow when they were frozen through (not good for VFTs) but it hasn't been calm (not windy) or 'warm' enough since for me to put them back out (not that the wind worries them, it just knocks them off their brick pile!), so some have started to die because it's not light enough in the bit of the garage I had them in, and now I've moved them they might come back or they might not :S [Please don't report me to the Society for Prevention of Carnivorous Plant Cruelty!]

Good luck!

I do have brick outbuildings but they are narrow and no windows poor bunny would be staring at a brick wall about 2 feet from his face andif I left the door open they would offer no shelter whatsoever!

Oh bless you !

My buns live in an insulated shed full of hay.. an entire bale, all fluffed up.. The outside temp with me, on my thermometer is -4 at the mo, and its only 4.30pm. They have snuggle pads in as well, and the interior of the shed is only reading 2 degrees.. :shock: it is insulated to the max and double boarded, with small areas of ventilation and blankets covering every bun unreachable surface.. I worry a lot about them in this weather..but they are well because they have built up their thick coats and they have each other.

Sorry I can't give any advice.. but don't think it would be good for your bun to go outside right now.
Thinking of you x

beki said:

I do have brick outbuildings but they are narrow and no windows poor bunny would be staring at a brick wall about 2 feet from his face andif I left the door open they would offer no shelter whatsoever!

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Bum Hoping for a decent break in the cold weather then (even though I like it)!

Well I spoke to the rspca and they said he had been under shelter but no heating as they needed to put him back out once he had recovered. So he has had 2 days inside my relatively cold kitchen. They think he can go outside but as it is so cold to introduce him gradually??? I'm going to pop him out in the run for a bit now and bring him in later as it was rather chilly last night. I'm going to have to rethink having him in til spring though, he might have to put up with my outbuildings, if I put his hutch far enough back and keep the door open he should be ok from rain and wind. Door can be shut at night as its dark anyway. We have a sink and toilet in one of them and water can be frozen outside but the water inside never freezes.

At the moment it's a toss up between being indoors with a very noisy toddler who is very gentle with him but doesn't understand that he has to be quiet around rabbits, and a not very exciting view in my outbuilding. Hoping for a quick bond though so in a few weeks he should be able to snuggle up with ruby and they can keep each other company

Your outbuilding sounds fine if he has been in a cold kitchen. Have you got a thermometer? You could check the temperature in the kitchen compared to the outbuilding. Mine go in the old coal shed with lots of straw and hay and their water never freezes in there. I think brick offers much more protection than wood.

Thanks, the kitchen is going to be a few degrees warmer than my outbuilding and I would put the hutch in there until I could do something with the door to prevent escapes and cats and foxes getting in. My kitchen is quite draughty and he has been kept well away from the radiators and the floor is freezing which makes the foot of air above the floor cold too. I'll find a thermometer to check the temp difference.

I think the outbuilding sounds good - it'll be dark at night anyway and I assume he'll be out in the run during the day so I don't think the lack of interesting surroundings matters

Unfortunately if he is in my outbuilding he will have to be hutchbound as I only have one run and two rabbits!! When i am at home one can have the run of the patio and one can use the run and after today's episode of me chasing him round the patio for 40 minutes- I'm not used to such a fast rabbit- he will be the one in the run! It will be so much easier when I can get him bonded with ruby, as is the intention, so they can share a hutch and run. Bonding will start once I have had him vaccinated and he has had the all clear from the vets about his sneezing so I'm hoping he will be bonded definitely within a month if not sooner