Moving

[Allie Roybal]

I am moving about two hours away from where I live now and am wondering how to safely move my 2 bunnies and make it comfortable for them. I am moving up a mountain too so I don’t know how their ears will handle the pressure or if they’ll get super sick from the curves. It is unavoidable and so I want to know how to best move them comfortably. Any suggestions??

[Little Lion Head]

I don’t have any advice or insight in regards to the altitude change; however, I’ve traveled with buns quite a bit.

Get yourself a small pet carrier–you don’t want it to be too big; the less area for your bun to roll around in in case of fast starts and stops the better. Plus your bun will likely be scared and not move much during the trip. I always put an old towel down in the carrier; it never fails that Pumpkin ends up peeing during the trip (even if its 20 minutes to the vet!). Two hours is pretty short, so you shouldn’t need to stop for stretch breaks. Don’t panic if your bun doesn’t eat or drink during the trip, but offer up lots of hay, water, and we veggies when you get to your destination. Neither of my buns will eat on car rides, but my first bun Boston would munch hay and veggies.

You might want to put your carrier on the floor if you can as that the safest place, but you don’t want a vent blowing into the carrier. When all else fails, I talk and sing to my buns. In my head it makes them feel better!

[Allie Roybal]

Okay I’ll try that.. thank you!!

[JackRabbit]

Maybe put something in the carrier that smells like “home”. Even just the short distance to the vet, I always put one of their “used” pieces of fleece in the carrier. I also use a puppy pee pad in our carrier (attach it to the bottom) — Marlee always pees and the pee pad draws the moisture in kinda like a baby diaper– and gives them a little traction so they don’t slide around on the slick bottom of the carrier. With my bunnies, if they were going on a long car ride, I’d probably add a towel and change it out after Marlee peed!

[Little Lion Head]

Oh a pee pad is such a good idea! I wouldn’t have to wash so many towels!

[bunnymom15]

I just moved 8 hours away. I left both of mine in their cage and surrounded them with stuff so their cage wouldn’t move. Also made sure they had fresh water, pellets and hay. Once we got to the new house, made sure they were the first out and them out to hop around.

[Beka27]

I haven’t considered change in altitude before, but I would think they would acclimate pretty quickly. I agree with the suggestion to have them last “packed” and first “unpacked”. When you get to your destination, get them set up immediately somewhere quiet, away from the in and out of moving things.

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