Traveling

[Anna Demas]

Hi!

So I have been reading this forum since I got my bunny two months ago, but havn’t had a reason to post yet. I have to travel for thanksgiving. I am not sure what to do with my little lop bunny Marshmallow. I am going to be gone for about 5-6 days, and will have to travel for 7 hours by car. What I wondered is what do you think would be the best for my bunny, traveling in the car for 7 hours with me, and spending the 6 days with me or staying at a boarding place for the 6 days in my area? The boarding place would be a general animal boarding place, not a bunny specific one.

Any comments would be appreciated!!!

[Beka27]

welcome here!

i think only you can really make that call. the car will stress out a bunny, but so will being in a strange environment. i know folks have traveled by car with their bun and everything is fine. keep in mind that you will need to bring a lot of stuff with you, towels to refresh the bottom of the carrier, food, hay, water from home, a pen to stay in when you get where you’re going. you will need to make frequent stops b/c not all buns will eat in a moving car, so i would say about every 1.5 or 2 hours, you might have to stop for a half hour. another thing to consider is temperature. bunnies overheat very easily at ovr 80 degrees. so the car might be toasty for you, but it may be too hot for your bunny. also, consider what the environment is like where you’re going? are there dogs, loud children, a lot of hustle and bustle (very possible since it’s a holiday!)

boarding has it’s own inconveniences, strange location, unfamiliar smells, price tag.

i think the ideal is if you can have someone come to your home, petsitter, or even a friend or neighbor… but agian that might be harder over the thanksgiving holiday…

i know Osprey has a lot of experience in car travel with bunnies, so hopefully he can stop by and offer some more advice (or correct me… lol!)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Travelling with a bunny isn’t that hard, but there is a lot to bring and you have to take your buns pesonality into consideration. How fearful is she in the car? Would it be seven hours of torture or does she do OK in cars? Also for boarding have they taken rabbits before, is the price not too bad? I think the buns personality is the most important for considering the car ride/boarding and also how well is the boarding place going to be able to watch her health…ie. how many times a day do they feed and check on them? Can you leave specific care instructions?

Let us know what you decide to do! And Welcome!!

[KatnipCrzy]

I have some questions about the animal boarding place…I assume they board dogs also?  Will your bunny be able to hear and smell the dogs?  How well?  What about cats?  Is your bunny used to other pets?

A great place to get pet sitter references is from your vet- at most places there are some employees that pet sit “on-the-side”.  A good alternative to a noisy boarding kennel might be someone who will take your bunny to their home if they have enough room to keep the bunny in a quiet area and away from their pets.  If you have a good relationship with your vet- I would ask and see what you find out.

If you don’t think your bunny will be too stressed by travel and you have an appropriate place to keep bunny once you are there- if you are expecting that this would be a typical holiday trip that you make- you could consider getting your bunny used to travel.  But if you are going to someone’s house that will resent having the bunny there or has pets that could be bothersome to your bunny- then consider other options.  But if your bunny is welcome and this is a “typical trip home”- I can’t see any reason not to try it.

I would love to take my bunny with me to my Mom’s for the Holidays and trips home- but she has a cat and she would freak out about letting the bunny out of the cage.  And since I have other pets, cats and parrots that stay home- I have a petsitter come in anyway. Plus we usually take our dogs too- so my husband would refuse to travel with 2 medium sized dogs and 1 bunny- there would be not room in the car for out luggage after all the pet stuff!

[Anna Demas]

Thanks all for the replies!

Sorry, things got hectic at home and I wasn’t able to reply. I would be going to my house for thanksgiving, and we have cats which Marshmallow could smell, but i can keep them out of the room and not have them bother him. He is weird about things and gets scared easily, but then snaps out of it in about 5 seconds and is a happy bunny again. The vet I would be boarding the bunny at has a separate room where the bunny would be, away from the cats and dogs. I am still trying to figure out what to do. My biggest worry is just overly stressing him out. I really wanted to just have someone come in and watch him, but as I am a almost graduated college student, all of my friends go home over break too.

Well thanks for the input! I was hoping someone would go OMG! Traveling that long with a bunny is a horrible idea! or OMG! boarding bunnies is a horrible idea! But as it seems that they have pretty much the same amount of plus’s and negatives I will just have to think on it more!

Thanks again all!!!

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