Road trip

[Ali925]

I wasn’t sure where this question belonged…

What is your opinion on taking bunnies in a car with you?  Obviously I’d need to have her in a secure carrier, etc, but would you say that it’s a good/bad idea?  We have a vacation home about 3.5 hours away and we wanted to bring her up with us but have never taken her in the car before, except for bringing her home the first time.  I know bunnies can get freaked out easily, especially with such a change in surroundings, etc.  so I don’t want to do it if it’s not good for her….  On the flip side, I’d rather have her with us then stuck in her cage for 3 days without us around.

Thanks in advance!

~Ali

[Bren]

I suppose it depends on the rabbit, however, I travel 2-5 hours with mine in a carrier and he does just fine!  In fact, if my husband is driving, I will hold him a good portion of the trip. He has never had a problem. I would think, just with any other animal, get them used to it and you should be just fine!  I also have his litter box and water bottle right in the crate. (It is a larger transport crate.) however, not sure if he will always be ok with that, he is a growing boy! 

[Bunnies Galore]

I agree with Bren, it depends on the rabbit. But if you want to play it safe, I would say try it out. Take your rabbit on an hour long trip sometime. Just see how she reacts to it. Mine all do fine on car trips.

[Ali925]

 Thanks for your replies.   I’d definitely like to try it.  Can I ask though, what exact carrier do you use?  I know that I’ll have to have something big enough to accommodate food/water, etc.  Do you have any recommendations?  Thanks!

[Monkeybun]

Monkey has done well with long car rides, she isn’t happy at first, but after about 15-20 minutes, I can see her all flopped and relaxed in her carrier. It just took her some getting used to

[Elrohwen]

I’ve taken Otto on a number of car rides from 45 minutes (his vet) to 7 hours (my parents) and he’s done fine every time. He’s not the happiest bunny when he’s in the carrier, but he’s not super stressed out either. He just kind of hunkers down and waits it out. He’s also very good when he arrives – he jumps right out of the carrier, starts exploring, eating, etc. I would be much less likely to take him places if he was so stressed out that he didn’t eat for hours afterwards or something.

I would absoutely give it a shot – 3.5 hours isn’t very far. If it’s too much of an ordeal, just get a pet sitter the next time.

ETA: I wouldn’t worry too much about providing food and water, especially for so short a trip. Most rabbits will easily go 3.5 hours throughout the day and not have a single drink or bite to eat (my bun easily goes 10 hours at a time at home even with access to food and water). For this reason, I leave the water out. I do provide a handful of hay and a lettuce leaf or two for long trips, but Otto rarely eats it. The lettuce leaf is much less messy than water and if he really was feeling thirsty he could just munch on that.

ETA2: I use a small cat carrier for all of his car trips. Small carriers are actually safer – if you have to slam on the breaks or something, your bun has very little room to fly around. With a big cage, they could be sent flying quite a way. Bunnies also like small dark spaces, so having a small enclosed carrier helps them feel secure.

[BinkyBunny]

I triple ditto – It really does depend on the rabbit. When I was volunteering for a rabbit rescue, many times I would help by transporting. Most of the times the rabbits were stressed, but not freaking out. However, one was so freaked out that she ate through the carrier (they are the cardboard carriers that Animal Care and Control gives out, and of course, as owners we normally wouldn’t travel with those) and tried to jump out the window (it was closed) I pulled the car over and held her which settled her down a bit.(poor thing) But that drive was only about an hour and I’ve never seen a bunny so stressed out. Granted everything AND everyone was new to her as I just had picked her up from ACC so rabbits in this situation are already going to be stressed in addition to this.

But most of the time bunnies do okay. Bunnies Galore’s suggestion to try it out was a good one. You can just test out how your bunny will react prior by taking her on a car ride for half an hour or so. (Like Monkey said, the first 15 minutes they are extra nervous)

If you do decide to take her with you here are some HRS tips about car rides http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/travel.html#THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CAR TRAVEL

Also, 3 days really isn’t that long. I mean if you were going for a week that would be a different story, but if you have a pen where she can exercise in and you have a trusted pet-sitter to check in on her, then being in familiar surroundings for that short period of time isn’t so bad either if you decide to keep her at home.

[Ali925]

 Thanks everyone.  I’ll likely get a small carrier like suggested.  I know this is probably an obvious question, but do you have a separate larger cage to set up away from home?  Or do you bring their cage from home (unless of course you don’t have a traditional cage..)

 

Thanks!  We’re still very new to having a bunny (only a little over a month) so there’s a lot I still have questions about..

[Elrohwen]

Otto’s cage at home is an xpen attached to a petstore cage. When we travel, we just take the xpen, a mat to put under it, and other things he would need. Works great! If you have some kind of NIC cage, I would either get an xpen, or use grids to make one to bring. They’re just so easy to travel with.

[KatnipCrzy]

If you plan to go to the vacation home often then I would definitely get her used to the car ride- if it is a one time thing I would consider the pros/cons more carefully.  But if it a regular thing then of course bunny wants to go to vacation home too!

[bunnytowne]

OH I would take him then thats just me.    I don’t want to be seperated from my babies and if I am staying somewheres a couple of nites they come or I dont’ go.   Thats just me tho.

Cotton has no problems traveling.  He stretches out relaxing and I pet him too.  I have oh dang I can’t remember the name of the carrier I have.  When we take Cotton or Ruby with us I put hay for them and Cotton will munch when he gets hungry.  

The pet carrier is  called Cabrio.   They are real nice.  OH if you don’t want a cabrio you can get one that opens from the top too they are less expensive.  The top opening ones are so much easier especially when going to the vets.   The Cabrio carrier I can put the seat belt thru the handle for longer trips.

My dear departed Laith bunny.   He HATED leaving the house.  I could tell cause he would flatten himself out when a car went by.   We would be in a grassy area and I had him on a leash.  HE even flattened himself out when he saw a squirrel.   After that he took to hiding his head behind his litterbox when he thought I was going to take him out of the house for a bit.  I could see his whole body except for his head.  lol was so funny.  

Upon Laith’s insistence I no longer took him anywheres.   But Cotton he doesn’t mind.   Ruby well… now n then she doesn’t mind.

 

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