Bringing bun along on vacations/trips?

[bunnnnnnie!]

So sometime over the summer I’d really like to go visit my parents for maybe a 3 day weekend.  That leaves the question of what to do with Zeus, however!

There’s really no one in my area that I’d feel comfortable having petsit him, as I only know one person who is experienced in rabbits.. and she’s a breeder who considers them more like livestock than pets.  So management-wise we don’t really see eye-to-eye.

I was wondering if perhaps Zeus could simply come with for the 2 or 3 day trip?  It’s a 2 hour drive, so not very long.  And while my parents have dogs and cats, he could stay in my old bedroom and be safe.  All of the animals are accustomed to small critters, I used to have guinea pigs and even the cats didn’t bother the piggies.  Honestly I think the dogs and cats would probably be afraid of big Zeus.

Would this stress him out too much, though?  Does anyone else bring their bun on trips with them?  Is it worth it?

[Andi]

Really depends on your bunny, I have some that like to travel and explore new places, while one in particular doens’t even like his cage cleaned b/c it’s ‘changed’, and change is stressful for him.

[Beka27]

You can definitely try it out with him! Take his cage (and an xpen if you have one for a safe play area.) That’s not that long of a road trip… it’ll be good “practice” to see how he deals for a short time.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Beka27 on 06/01/2010 12:22 PM
You can definitely try it out with him! Take his cage (and an xpen if you have one for a safe play area.) That’s not that long of a road trip… it’ll be good “practice” to see how he deals for a short time.

 

That’s true, it’d be a nice “trial” to see if he could handle it, and then in the future I’d know.

[Lis]

I would take him, at least as a trial. Hopefully he won’t mind.
I know Stormy can handle 3 1/2 hour trips with me. He’s easily done it before. He doesn’t even seem to care, really.

[Deleted User]

I would prepare him a little, though, by putting him in his travel setup and even going on a short ride to keep the experience fresh in his memory. Then, when it comes time for the real trip this summer he will think it’s nothing weird at all.

[Monkeybun]

Monkey travels well, after about 10 minutes she just flops in her carrier and snoozes. Moose has only been to the vet and to outreaches where he gets his spa days. Sooo… not sure how he would do on longer trips. Should try it out with him going to the mom in law’s one day.

[RabbitPam]

I think the travel part won’t be a problem, and Petzy has a good suggestion of preparing and practice. You will want him to have some sort of litter option, or a towel in his carrier in the car because the motion may make any water spill or he may pee and be stuck standing in it. At least a towel would soak it up.

I’m much more concerned about the other animals. I would not let them explore each other. I would keep him in your spare room only, Unless the dogs and cats are outside and can’t get in while you let him out. That’s very stressful, in addition to the strange place. He will associate it with a scary place rather than somewhere he may like to go back to. Once he knows the house and your parents, you can work on meeting the other animals at another time. But see how he does first. He may not even like smelling them. Don’t pressure him to come out of his cage there (will you have one?) or carrier unless he wants to. Bunnies explore very slowly sometimes, so he may take small steps then run back. It’s normal.

Good luck.

[Elrohwen]

I just took Otto and Hannah along to my mother-in-law’s house last weekend – it was a 4.5 hr drive. Otto’s also been to my parents’ house, which is more like 7.5. Zeus will do fine!

Hannah gets fairly stressed out by car trips, and she was a bit nervous for the first two days in a new place, but the more we do it, the better she’ll be about taking trips. Otto has been so many places and been left with so many new people that he just makes himself at home wherever he is.

[Author]

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