How cold is okay for bun?

[MimzMum]

I’ve been bringing litter boxes of fresh snow in for Mimzy. He really loves his freeze bottles (which I have to keep changing out as they melt) and even though the house is temperate (usually in the 74 F – 78 F range) he is still uncomfortable most of the time. Keeping his coat brushed doesn’t seem to help.

Today he sat in his snow box until it was almost all melted and puddling. I had to make him get out of it for fear he’d freeze his little bunny bum and feetsies.

Just how cold (and for how long) is okay for bunnies to withstand? I don’t want him to hurt himself or lower his basal body temp too low just keeping him cool. I can’t use ceraminc tiles because he does his level best to pick them up and launch them and I don’t want him to hurt his mouth.

His lack of tolerance for even mild heat has me concerned. The other two buns don’t seem to mind the temp, but he is seriously agitated by it. He just seems miserable.

No window opening now till spring and my fan is going to die from being on all the time (plus it makes him sneeze more). I don’t mind bringing him snow as long as it’s fresh or relatively clean, because he does munch some of it, but I don’t want to make him sick from sitting in it too long. Does anyone know how long he can tolerate it?

Thankies!

[Nova]

Wow, I have never heard of a bun in Alaska liking the snow!

When I had a poodle dog ..well my parents did when I lived w/ them, they would shave his fur off in the summertime. I know, it doesn’t look that great, but it might help with the heat intolerance. Maybe a vet check? It often goes into the humid 90s in the summertime here in PA and my buns don’t seem to be affected, but they are short haired buns. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of warmth a longer coat would bring to a temperature sensitive bun.

BTW, very cute names for your trio, after the Watership movie?

Was it difficult to bond the three of them?

Hope you can get Mimzy comfy

[lashkay]

Mimzymum, I can’t answer how cold is too cold, but I read your post and I wanted to bring to your attention something that may be a big help to you, cooling pet mats. Just a thought. There are several on Amazon.com and several have gotten 4 or more star ratings by customers. Read the reviews and descriptions. They are mostly mats you fill with water and they keep your pet who lies on them cool. They might be worth your while to look into:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cooling+pet+mat

I don’t know if you buy at Amazon, I’ve had all good experiences, eBay also has pet cooling mats listed but Amazon’s seem a better price.Good luck!

[MimzMum]

Thanks Lash, I’ll give them a look-see.

Nova, yeah, I was a big fan of WD when I got Fiver, and although he was a ‘return’ to our local chain petstore, he apparently came with no name, so when I picked him up his whole demeanor just bespoke the little clairvoyant bun from the story. He answered to it quickly and is a bit of a ‘first alert’ bun as well, always thumping at the least provocation. Usually early morning and never anything that I can physically see.

Mimzy was from The Last Mimzy, of course. (I thought he was a girl, so it doesn’t really work for a boy, but it was too late to call him anything else.)
Pip was actually named after the little chipmunk character in Enchanted. (She began as my daughter’s bun and that was her fave movie at the time. Another misgendered bun…I had wanted to name her BigWig.)

I keep my Yorkie’s fur trimmed during warm months, then let it grow long for the cold. She had beautiful long ear tufts going into fall and the other night one of them just balled up and fell off. She looks lopsided now. Their fur is more like hair, so you have to be careful with it or it breaks easily.

Bunnies generally don’t have their fur shaved. Mimzy doesn’t have long fur per se…just thick and hard to keep combed. He hates grooming and for some reason when I do it I tend to get too much hair off in odd places all over him…he gets these funny almost ‘bald’ patches.

They are not bonded. They all live in separate habitats and have different exercise times. Pip and Mimz were almost a couple until he began having nasal issues in their first year together. I separated them for fear of him giving her something communicable. We haven’t been able to successfully rebond them since because he always has a health issue going on.
Believe me, I’d love to get them all in one place! Less work for me, more fun for them! (at least I hope so) I admit to being very hesitant to put all three together for fear of fighting.

[Elrohwen]

Our house is 74-78F in the summer and the bunnies seem to like lying in cool places, so that doesn’t seem unusual to me.

Our house now is about 60F and the bunnies are just fine. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind it colder, but I might freeze my toes off. I’m sure he’s fine sitting on the snow for a while and would get off if he was cold. Bunnies have such thick fur that they don’t get cold nearly as easily as we do.

[Stickerbunny]

I have to keep my house at 71-72 for the bunnies, any hotter and they are all over the A/C vent, so him not liking 74-78 seems normal to me as well. My rabbits hate anything even resembling heat.

[RabbitPam]

I’ve read that it’s still safe for a bun to be in a room at about 55 degrees, but that wouldn’t be the same as sitting in snow. Snow is much warmer than ice and melts with his body heat, so I imagine his heat warms it faster than it cools him down to dangerous levels, especially if his ears aren’t covered in it. I get a huge kick out of hearing that he likes this. I think you’re on to something.

Didn’t you have an enclosed porch that your beautiful dogs used to live on? Was that open or enclosed or partially covered? I’m wondering if Mimzy might benefit by being moved part or all of the day to a hutch on the cool porch if it doesn’t get below 50. It would remove him from what may be the allergens that bother him and you’d see if he gets healthier in a new environment. Possible?

[Queensbun]

It’s been getting down to 60 degrees here at night and my bun is just fine with that temperature. I’m putting off turning on the heat to save money but if it gets any cooler, I’m going to have to! Would you consider turning down the thermastat just a few degrees and see how he does?

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