Long Road Trip – Advice Needed

[keevabun]

So, I have to spend the summer working halfway across the country, and would like to take my rabbit with me. I’ll be living with family at their house and they’re fine with having her there and everything, what I’m worried about is the trip there!

It’s 19 hours of driving total, so we’d obviously have to stop overnight somewhere for hopefully just one night. She’s been with me on a couple long drives because of moving between CT and ME, and those drives are about 5-6 hours. She definitely doesn’t like it, but she’s always been fine. I have a carrier for her and the top of it can open, so she’s usually at my feet when I’m the passenger, and I pet her to try to keep her calm. (I’ll have someone with me on the trip over, but I’ll likely be alone on the trip back so she wouldn’t be getting pets, just baby talk). However, she won’t eat during the drives. I can get her to nibble banana, but that’s about the only thing that has been successful, since normally she goes into a frenzy for them. But she doesn’t poop! And I know that would be very dangerous on a longer ride. I think she’ probably poop once we’re done driving for the day and we’re settled down somewhere, but that still could be a long time without it. I could also take her out at rest stops on her lead, but I think even then she might be a little too scared to go.

Does anyone have any experience with this or ideas to make this work? I want to do what’s best for her. I could leave her in CT with family who would take good care of her, but I think it would also stress her out to be left without me for a few months – she’s a rescue girl and it took a while for her to trust me. 

Is there anything I could safely give her that would help her to go while we’re road-tripping, or do you think the safest bet would be to leave her with family? Any advice or ideas is appreciated!! 

[Bunny House]

I moved from Ohio to Texas and the drive was long and I had 4 buns I took with me. They somehow survived but I recommend having critical care and sub q fluids along with syringes to feed her water and the critical care. Since most buns get scared in a car and the trip is long, I would force feed her every couple of hours and give her either sub q or force feed her fluids to make sure her gi tract doesn’t stop.i know that may be aggressive but you could offer her veggies and hay and if she refuses to eat those then force feed and do fluids. And I would not suggest taking her on lead because if she gets scared and jumps she could break her back and that would be an emergency and I would also have her not be in grass since the whole RHD2 virus thing that has happened.

[Kiki]

Indie went with me on a road trip to my hometown about 8 hours each way. She would eat hay but not much else. The minute I let her out she devoured all the things and did just fine.

[arwen]

A couple of things I could suggest may be, on your trip back, can you have her in her travel case on the passenger seat beside you? That way she can see you and you may be able to give her pets every now and then when the car is idle?

Regarding the lack of pooping…are you able to take some of her poops with you to place in the travel case with her? This might help her to know it’s okay to go to the toilet in her travel case. All the best of luck ???

[mimimomo]

Bunny House, I also moved from Ohio to Texas with bunnies! What a long drive.

My bunnies actually did pretty well with the trip – we broke it into 4 days, with about 7 hours of car time every day. We stayed at pet friendly hotels every night, and set up their cage and an x-pen as soon as we arrived. It was a big hassle, but I think having their familiar cage and having space to stretch their legs helped make up for the stress of being in the car for so long every day. Like you said, they basically refused to eat, drink, or poop while in the carrier, so I didn’t feel comfortable keeping them in the car for more than about 7 hours every day.

I do think it’s a good thing that he’s already used to 5-6 hour drives. Good luck!

[Author]

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