Bunny on Ferry

[jambunny]

Hi everyone :wave:

I'm new here and looking for some advice. We have a dwarf lionhead house rabbit called Google and he's 8 years old. We are about to relocate from the south west of England to Brittany. We have now started to worry about whether Google will survive a car/ferry journey. We had hoped to be able to take him from Plymouth to Roscoff but, unfortunately, Brittany Ferries won't take rabbits. So we'll have to go from Weymouth, Poole or Portsmouth (depending on who we can find that will take him).

Having said that, we're now just worried whether he'd survive that long a ferry journey. I'm going to speak to the vet soon but would welcome any experiences of travelling with buns (whether good or bad).

Properly worried.

jambunny

 

[tonibun]

If your bunny is in good health then there is no reason why he shouldn't be ok on the ferry.

 

[Jenova]

How would he be travelling? Would he be with you all the time? I often travelled with my rabbits on eight hour journeys and they actually enjoyed it. If he gets stressed travelling it would be different.

 

[jambunny]

How would he be travelling? Would he be with you all the time? I often travelled with my rabbits on eight hour journeys and they actually enjoyed it. If he gets stressed travelling it would be different.

Mrs jambunny says that he wasn't great in a car but I remember him just sitting at the back of his carrier and relaxing. There's no easy way of working out who is right as we don't currently have a car!

On the ferry, he'd have to stay in the car because they don't let them come out (even if in a carrier). :/

Did you take yours on ferries too?

 

[Shimmer]

I took a bunny from Holyhead to Dublin by ferry a few years ago. There were no restrictions then as long as it was fewer than about 8 rabbits - I checked with my vet and on the Defra website before we travelled. I'm sure that animals (ie dogs, usually) had to be left in the vehicle for the crossing. Cars were left below deck and everyone went upstairs. We just left the bunny in its carrier in the car - which was full of hay on top of a layer of newspaper to absorb liquid - enough to keep him comfortable and not be thrown around in transit. Water was available (via a bottle when not driving, as they drip) and lots of wet veg / grass for the whole journey. We went at Easter so the temperature wasn't an issue. An ice pod or snugglesafe heat pad would have been useful if needed. Bunny travelled fine on both the ferry and several hours drive beforehand. I would have no issues in doing it again if needed.

 

[tulsi]

Mottle and Peaches came from Bristol and made the journey to Wales in the car (with a couple of stops) no problem at all.

Autumn and Sunshine travelled by train from Wiltshire to Wales by train with me with no problems either.

Good luck with your trip. Hope Google enjoys/is fine with it.

 

[Zoobec]

Sorry, I haven't any proper advice, I know the car deck is very noisy from travelling on Brittany ferries, but if Google is laid back and doesn't mind travelling he should be ok. I read that rosemary is very calming, if he likes it you could feed him some on the journey(I fed my bunnies it during bonding :thumb and I have read about some people using Bach flower essences for bunnies. I love Brittany

 

[Jenova]

I didn't take them on a ferry but I did in the car, busses and on trains.