Bunny and plane trip

[Ginger&Seal]

In the future I am looking to moving out with my partner, away from Miami. Although we haven’t chosen another city to move to I fear that putting my bonded pair through a plane trip will lead to stress and god forbid pass away bc the whole day will be stressful and lead to GI stasis. I was wondering what tips you guys had when it comes to moving states with bunnies.

[Meg]

I’ve never tried a plane trip and honestly would hesitate to unless your bunnies were very tolerant of travel and could be in the cabin with you.  But that’s just me.

On a more reassuring note, I’ve had surprisingly good luck moving my two travel-averse bunnies via long drives!  We had to move from Chicago to DC and made the trip in a U-Haul (with them in their carrier next to me in the cab).  We did it in two days with frequent stops for water/food for them, since they were generally too nervous to eat/drink with the truck moving, and I got a pet-friendly hotel for the overnight and brought in some of their favorite things (hidey houses, litterboxes of course, a couple toys).  And packed their normal dinner ingredients.  You can also give them wet greens in their carrier in case they’ll eat them during the drive.

This went so much better than I thought it would!  I was so nervous about moving them so far that I was even considering for a minute if I should rehome them instead (!!).  They always got super stressed out just driving to the vet and I wasn’t sure they could survive the trip.  But breaking up the drive and doing lots of stops, they actually did great!  I don’t even think they got much stasis to speak of.  So if driving is an option for wherever you pick, that could work out well!  Best of luck to you.

[Wick & Fable]

There are some general recommendations here: https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Traveling_with_a_rabbit

Unless your rabbits can ride with you in cabin, I would not fly and opt for a car ride. For car rides, long road trips are fine (in fact I believe @DanaNM did quite a long one in the past successfully). My rule of thumb is at least one long break in the car ride every 3 hrs (at a minimum, more frequent is fine). Notably, breaks need to be long — a short rest-stop of 15min or so is typically not long enough for a rabbit to “snap out” of the stress response of a moving car to start eating, pooping, and hydrating. This is where a motel/hotel stay might be useful is plausible in the logistical planning, though chilling in a random parking lot can be fine barring no one bugs you!

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.

[Ginger&Seal]

I personally would love to live in Portland, Oregon the vibe is up to my standards lol, but I was researching and I feel like a 6 hour flight compared to I guess a week long road trip up there would be the best scenario. Looking at the Wiki link calmed me down a bit, and in the future ill be discussing this with my vet to see what they also recommend in order to keep them eating. Although I’ve read that bunnies would refuse to eat but honestly not eating for 6 hours kinda scares me. We will see 🙂 this is just me thinking of my future.

[DanaNM]

I def recommend chatting with your vet about it, because recommendations may vary by bunny. Our vet recommended driving, even though it was a long drive (CA to MA) because you have much more control over the situation (imagine a flight getting canceled and being stuck in the airport with the bun). We also had 4 rabbits and a cat, so flying just wasn’t going to be easy.

I ended up writing a newsletter article for a rescue after our move that details our experience, that also mentions some of the pros and cons of flying vs. driving that we discussed with our vet: https://bunssb.org/newsletter/the-carrot-tribune-may-2021

 

. . . 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.  

[Meg]

That’s an excellent article, DanaNM!  Thanks for sharing.  Good point to talk about it with the vet.  I’d be concerned about the engine noises and pressure changes on bunny ears, as well as how the buns would react to all the commotion and any other pets on the flight.  I’ve never flown first/business class before, but would try to save up for at least one ticket on it if flying were my only option, so we’d have more room and hopefully more flexible flight attendants (the occasional stories of them making people put pets in the overhead compartment scares me).  But anyhow the wiki is great — I didn’t know about it before!

Ginger&Seal, I really know the feeling of yearning to move, and I hope you find the right place for you and thrive. 🙂

 

 

 

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