Hot weather and digestion. Please help!

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This topic has 5sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by Coelinhos.

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- 08/06/2018 at 1:20 PM
  Coelinhos
  Participant
  15 posts
  It’s 31 degrees celcius outside in London at the moment. This is far warmer than usual and the UK is just not prepared for this kind of heat.
  
  We live in an old house which is an absolute heat trap. It easily hits 35 degrees upstairs at the moment so we’ve had to move the rabbits downstairs. This is problematic because:
  
  1. We have significantly decreased their space. We’d usually open the cage whenever we’re home to let them run around upstairs freely. Downstairs is too dangerous for the rabbits so they’re not getting their daily run around.
  
  2. When it is cool enough upstairs for us to take them for a run around (maybe once a week), they don’t want to go back downstairs and this really stresses them out.
  
  Somehow we’ve managed to get the cage temperature down to 26 degrees consistently while the rest of the house sits at about 32. This is because it’s in the shade, it has 2 fans blowing on it (I know the fans aren’t meant to blow directly on the cage but if they don’t they have no effect. There are spaces to hide from the fan) and we are constantly rotating ice bottles in the cage and in front of the fans so that they blow cold air. The water is swapped out for fresh regularly but the rabbits aren’t drinking much. They are on grass hay only at the moment because they get super picky in the heat and if we gave them veggies or pellets they wouldn’t eat the hay!
  
  We are also trying to brush them daily because they are shedding a tonne.
  
  However, I am getting really concerned. Poop output has changed. They’re still eating normally and pooping regularly, but the poops are smaller and darker in colour. Additionally there a loads of uneaten cecotropes being produced. These cecotropes look like normal cecotropes and don’t appear overly wet at all; they are absolutely 100% normal poop. But there are loads of them and everytime I clean up one lot, another lot appears. All bunnies are feeding normally, so what is happening?
  
  Cleaning is becoming a hassle. When I first got rabbits I promised myself never to bathe them because rabbits don’t need baths, but my silly rabbit Casper loves sniffing cecotropes out and sitting in them. He does it on purpose and sometimes he’ll find a batch before I can get to it! The other day I came home from work and he’d clearly had a wonderful time sitting in poo so he needed a butt bath (it was all dried in and horrible). In a weird turn of events he really enjoyed the water and the attention (but hated the blow dryer demon) and balancing keeping him cool, but not too cool and avoiding stressing him out stressed me and partner out far too much! The entire process took over an hour, used all of our towels (which was still not enough) and cost me a perfectly good teeshirt (Casper didn’t like the hair dryer and so ate part of my teeshirt in protest). While the rabbit was fine and loving being brushed dry (chattering away and licking my arms), the humans were over hot, over stressed and over tired. I hate him getting in a state as I am terrified of fly strike season but I can’t repeat that process as a regular event!
  
  The moulting is also a problem. My littlest will groom the other two like a mad woman and they are shedding in clumps. I’m really worried that she’s ingesting too much fur so I’m grooming daily. But grooming means putting them on my lap, which means making them warmer. And they hate being picked up (love being held, hate being caught) so I don’t want to stress them and cause them to overheat. We’ve dealt with heat stroke twice already and I’m not keen on doing it again! Tuppence also seems to be shedding a worrying amount. The new fur on her back is insanely short, kind of like a buzz cut. Is this normal?
  
  We have a vet trip tomorrow, but I don’t think our vets are hugely rabbit savvy. I was wondering if anyone else has encountered digestive changes in the hot weather? Does anyone have any tips on keeping them cool or preventing heat stroke? I’m concerned by the amount of cecotropes left in the cage, but they’re grass hay only so I don’t think it’s diet related. Any advice or similar experiences would be amazing!!!! Thank you!!!
- 08/06/2018 at 6:18 PM
  christybiersack
  Participant
  6 posts
  Try cooling them off by giving them cold veggies to eat and a frozen water bottle to get up against. Maybe put them near a vent blowing cold air or a fan near them.
  
  I hope this helps!
- 08/06/2018 at 8:47 PM
  kurottabun
  Participant
  908 posts
  You can read here from some cooling tips: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/23/PID/940/Default.aspx
  
  Water heats up if the room temperature is hot. Have you tried putting ice in their water bowl?
  
  I think their tummies do get a bit wonky if they’re not used to the heat. A change in environment (including temperature) can definitely affect their digestive system. It’s not advisable to bathe bunnies unless absolutely necessary, but an occasional butt bath shouldn’t hurt as long as he is dried thoroughly after. This is because rabbit fur is extremely dense and the trapped moisture may cause them to fall sick. To keep them cool, you can try misting their ears lightly with some water. Misting keeps the water on the fur surface unlike a bath, so normally it’s alright.
  
  You can try plucking their fur instead of brushing. The fur would normally come out in chunks during a molting period.
- 08/06/2018 at 9:33 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17112 posts
  My boys don’t want to eat as much when they get hot. We experienced it earlier this summer when it got way too hot way too fast. We usually don’t have 100 degree days in May. The AC was on in the house, but you still feel warmer. They were still eating, but not with the usual enthusiasm. This, of course, affected their poop. After awhile, I guess their bodies adjusted and they went back to their normal eating habits.
- 08/07/2018 at 5:04 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  I second plucking the big chunks of fur.
  
  The other thing I’ve done is give my bunnies a big granite chopping board to lie on. It stays icy cool for hours, and they love to lie on it. You can also try tiles, but I think because granite is thicker it stays cooler better.
  
  You also seem really really stressed, but to me, it looks like you’re doing everything you can to keep them cool. Try not to feel too stressed – they most likely will be absolutely fine with everything you’re doing for them.
  
  I’m also in London and can recommend a great rabbit savvy vet if you’re looking – the Beaumont Sainsbury in Camden. They have 3 rabbit specialist vets, and specialist nurses too
- 08/07/2018 at 7:10 AM
  Coelinhos
  Participant
  15 posts
  Thank you everyone! We went to the vet who charged us £114 (£38 per rabbit) to tell us that they seem in perfect health except for one rabbit who is starting to get tooth spurs, but they’re not big enough to worry right now.
  I’ve taken all your advice (especially Sirius&Luna telling me to stress less) and the bunnies LOVE the cool tile. I did go with a tile because it’s cheaper, but they’re all flat on it right now.
  I have managed to pluck a crater in Tupp”s back where the new fur is soooooo much shorter.
  
  Thank you all for the reassurance. I think they’re more relaxed no that I am!
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