Last week, there was a heat wave in San Francisco where I live. I turned on the AC, but it still got up to 89 degrees in the house for long periods of time on two consecutive days. Yesterday, there was another heat spike and the temp got up to 87.
My rabbit, Cinnamon, didn’t seem to be hurt by the heat at the time. She was lethargic on the hot days, but she has continued to be very active, have a good appetite, etc. since then. But since last night, she has been showing signs of heat intolerance. Last night when it was only 75 or so, she was very lethargic. Today, when it’s 75 or 77, she’s sleeping on her side on a tile square that I got her – indicating that she feels very hot. Even during the heat wave she didn’t sleep like that.
I have never seen any signs of heat stroke, and monitored her carefully at all times except for 2 hours when I was out of the house yesterday. But could prolonged heat exposure have damaged Cinnamon in some way that now makes her less tolerant of heat? She’s been eating and drinking just fine, but I haven’t seen her lay on her side like that before.