Bunny Boarding

[hannaroo]

I’m going away for 11 days in August and have been looking at places to board my pets while I am away. I live at home with my mum and sister however they both work full time and although they love my bunnies and wouldnt intend to harm them I dont think I can go away with peace of mind! I once left my sister in charge for a day and they ran out of hay and it wasnt replaced I then reminded them about how important it was and was presented with an eye roll…..

I cant leave them with a friends as they’re all quite busy with their own lives!

 I’ve been to look at a place today and the hutch was large and VERY clean. It was cool and dry in the garage and all the rabbits and guinea pigs were the runs (it was 11am on a sunday so I was impressed to see it looking so clean and all the pets outside exersizing! I also hadnt given her a time i would pop in so it was good to see it all hyginic!) Fresh hay and greens are provided and litter but I want to provide their usual.

The only concern I have is the runs arent THAT big and am worried about illnesses. She said she wont except sick pets or any without vaccinations. The animals are kept quite close to one another in the runs which I’m worried they will get upset about.

Have any of you put your bunnies in boarding before and what were your experiences? My bunnies are quite laid back and dont tend to stress too much about transportation and new environments but I’m not sure about ow they will react with other animals.

Many thanks

Hannah

[tanlover14]

Hmmm, I don’t personally have any experience bunny boarding. But thought I would pop in with a few thoughts.

I think its a positive sign that you popped in when you weren’t expected and say things up to good standards. I would personally pop in again on a different day to see again how things are run and done and to double-check.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about the size of the run since this won’t be a long-term thing. As long as they have some room to run a bit and binky around I wouldn’t worry in that regard. We had a condo explosion and were displaced with our five buns one time. We had to go two weeks with four of mine in ONE x-pen, haha! They weren’t too thrilled but they were still happy and binkied and they lived through the horrible human reducing space for a small amount of time.

As for the reactions to other animals – I would ask if the lady would be willing to maybe put up a towel around a corner over the top of the hutch. So if they get stressed by the other animals, they can go in the that specific corner. Or even if you brought a long a cardboard box that would fit in the hutch that your buns could “escape” into if they didn’t feel comfortable.

Not sure how helpful this is (I’m sure others will be along with more advice) but thought I would give you some thoughts I thought about when reading through your post.

[hannaroo]

Thanks for your thoughts! Very grateful! She spoke to me about what she feeds them and seemed knowledgeable and I know that it’s clean enough for them! All the animals seemed pretty calm calm and happy!
I think your right about the space, they’re only 3 and 4lb buns. I would prefer as much space as possible but it’s only for 11 days I guess you can’t be too picky. I visited one other place and the people were nice but it didn’t seem clean enough. Big no no.
I can provide a box (I do stock orders at work work so they get lots of boxes!) and a carrier for them to hide in with a tube.
The boarding is 15 miles from me. If they get too stressed I can send my sister to get them.
The biggest concern is other animals, although even before their spay/neuter they never showed any aggression or fear towards other animals (other than our cat but Buttons just chases him away now anyway)

[tanlover14]

I would address those specific concerns with the owner of the boarding place – and see what she says regarding that. Such as what precautions she takes or any extra measures she gives in case buns DO have a hard time while they are in such a new and different environment.

[hannaroo]

I’ve thought it through alot and I think I will leave them at home while I am away. I was worrying so much about parasites, aggression ans stress and figured they’ll be happier here. The boarder seems very good at her job but I just a bit weird about leaving them! I’ve given my sister a care sheet and she said she’d help me with them up to when I leave

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