Advice for short car ride?

[Bu20055]

Hi guys!

 

My girl had a 6 hour period of not eating or pooping on the weekend that’s been on and off since but today has been good. The soonest appointment we could get was Wednesday but my mom has a work thing so we’re dropping her off at the girl who runs the rescues house so she can take her (we’re still fostering). The ride will be about an hour but I was wondering if anyone had any advice to reduce the amount of stress on her. Thanks guys!

[LBJ10]

Has she shown signs of being overly stressed in the car before?

[DanaNM]

Was the 6 hour period during a period where she would normally be eating? Just wondering because it’s normal for buns to not eat or poop much during the periods of the day when they normally sleep.

Have they advised you do do anything in the meantime?

 

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Becker1116]

Car tips:

1. Don’t play music. Run the heat or air conditioning as appropriate, to help with temperature and add white noise. Keep the car as quiet as possible.
2. Use your gentle voice to soothe the rabbit. Just talk to them every so often. Tell them it’s gonna be okay and you’re almost there and they’re doing a good job. Especially if they recognize your voice, they will be calmed a little bit by this.
3. Put a towel or jacket over the carrier to block light (leave room to breathe). This helps the rabbit feel like they’re safe inside a tunnel. It calms anxiety.

[Bu20055]

@LBJ10

Shes not a fan of carriers and gets stressed by noises. She doesn’t get crazy stressed in cars but still nervous.

 

@DanaNM

Yes. She’s the kind of bun that’ll eat anytime and takes lots of eating breaks. It was about 4 pm-10pm. She stopped eating her cecotropes as well (for that time- she’s eating them again now- and she left them in her box). We’ve been told to keep encouraging her to eat, and watch closely for poops. I noticed her acting weird when I came around 4 on Sunday, so I offered her one of her favourite treats which she didn’t want. Her tummy was sensitive and she was lying in a way she usually doesn’t. I was feeling her to see if there was any outside hurt, and when she got annoyed and hopped away there was no sassy foot flicks and she only went a few hops away, when she usually runs into her pen then cautiously comes back for more pets. She wasn’t really reacting to noises or people leaving/coming into the room, and she seemed in pain. Once she finally pooped around 10:30 (which seemed to be hard for her to do), she started acting more normal again, and there were no more signs of pain. We were gonna take her to the emergency vet but the only one open literally killed my aunts dog so we didn’t want to risk that if we could help it.

Sorry for the lack of detail in the original post, I was tired (at least more tired than I am now- when am I not?).

 

@Becker1116

Thanks!

Ive already planned to make the car as quieter by not having any of my siblings come. The radio will be staying off. Is quiet conversation okay?

 

Ill definitely talk to her. She hasn’t been here long but she already seems to trust me. Whenever there’s a scary noise outside she comes running over to me and I pet her and talk to her which helps her calm down.
Ill keep this in mind and I’ll take an extra blanket with me.

Thanks!

[DanaNM]

I understand, yes those signs would be cause for me to take my buns in as well. She could have been dealing with some gas. I can’t remember, have you been introducing any new veggies with her? Do you have simethicone on hand? You can also give a tummy rub when you notice signs of discomfort and see if that helps.

I’m wondering if you notice a pattern of her feeling uncomfortable a certain number of hours after eating veggies or something else?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Bu20055]

No it seemed pretty random in terms of when she was uncomfortable. I haven’t introduced anything new yet, I’ve just been sticking with the things she’s already had. She has her vet appointment today so we’ll see how that goes. I’m just especially cautious about anything that could be a sign of sickness because they found a tumour when she was spayed. It didn’t look like it had spread, but it was quite advanced so there’s always a chance.

[DanaNM]

Oh gosh, yeah def good to visit the vet then. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.

To address your original question, most rabbits do pretty well in the car. They may be stressed at first but tend to settle down. Putting a familiar smelling blanket or towel with some hay on top is usually the best bet. Our rescue often has to drive rabbits 45-60 min between shelters and foster homes and they do fine.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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