Hello hello! So my spring break is coming up for college, and I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to plan my traveling around my bunny boy Clover. Clover comes to school with me, and we go back and forth between school and home about every 1-2 months, for breaks and such and when I need to get things done at home. He’s pretty used to the drive at this point. It’s a little stressful for him. I used to have to syringe feed him during the trip, since it’s a six hour drive and I just wanted to make sure his gut keeps moving through it, but nowadays he’ll eat a bunch of hay whenever we stop. So he’s used to traveling at this point! But here’s my question.
So during spring break, I’d really love to visit my sister. She lives in Connecticut while my school and home are both in New York state. I would also like to go home for at least a couple of days, to see friends and see my hematologist and whatnot. So I have a couple of ideas for how I can do my traveling with Clover during spring break, and I was wondering if someone could weigh in and suggest which plan would be the easiest on him? He’s a notoriously healthy bunny and he doesn’t stress very easily, so he’s pretty good at traveling. He does have a little breathing abnormality that I am keeping an eye on right now, not a respiratory infection or any knowable health problem, but it is just a little abnormality that he has. I’m watching it right now to make sure it doesn’t get worse, and I think it should factor into my decision on the travel plans.
Option One: Bring Clover home, go to Connecticut without him
Now, this is probably the least stress-inducing plan for Clover, since he’s used to being at home and it always makes him very cheery to visit. What I would do is once spring break starts, drive home with him. And then I’d leave him with my mother for a couple of days while I visit my sister on my own. Then I’d go back home, pick him up, and we’d head back to school together at the end of the break. But the unfortunate thing about it is it really gets in the way of my plans and what I want to do for my spring break. I really hate leaving him at home cause while my mom can feed him and whatnot, she’s scared of him so he’d be alone for the vast majority of that time, and my mom doesn’t really know how to look out for illness signs in bunnies. If his strange little breathing problem got worse, I don’t think she’d notice. And it’s a lot less convenient for me because I wouldn’t be able to go see my sister for a long time, and I’d have to go all the way back to New York to pick Clover up. The main benefit is he’d be staying somewhere he knows.
Option Two: Bring Clover to Connecticut, visit home without him
So the second option is that Clover and I would leave school and head straight to Connecticut. My sister has a big room in her house that he can stay in, with plenty of space to run around. The main worry with it is he doesn’t really know the place. Clover at least has experiences with being in unfamiliar places- he had to get used to a new place when we first went to school, and he’s boarded at the vet’s a couple of times without issue- but it still worries me a little, just cause I know how delicate bunnies can be. But I would bring his litter box and bowls and cardboard house, so he at least won’t be without any familiar smells at all. The major benefit of this plan is that it’s the least amount of travel time for him. The drive between school and my sister’s place is four hours rather than six. I’d still need to visit home for a couple of days, but my sister could keep an eye on Clover while I’m away, and unlike my mom, she’d interact with him a lot and be able to keep an eye on his little breathing issue in case it gets worse. The major inconvenience of it is just having to go back and forth between home and my sister’s place, but it’s at least less of a hassle.
Option Three: Bring Clover home, then bring Clover to Connecticut
This is the plan that by far is the most convenient for traveling, but has the most travel time for Clover. What the plan would be is I drive home with him once spring break starts, then sometime in the week drive with him to Connecticut, and then at the end of the break, drive back to school with him. The convenience of the plan is I don’t have to go back and forth anywhere, I could just make all my stops, and I wouldn’t have to leave Clover with anyone. The major worry of it is just that it’s a lot more travel time for Clover, on TOP of staying in an unfamiliar place for some time. He’d also have to take the ferry with me, which is just a crazy new experience on its own. The plan is convenient for travel, but I just worry that it’s a lot, maybe a little too much for him. He’s a spunky, hardy boy, but I worry about pushing him to his limits, yknow?
So, does anyone have any advice on which you think would be the best plan? One of these three options, or perhaps something I didn’t think of? And just to say, I’d rather not leave him at school and get boarding or pet sitting. Boarding is just so expensive that it’s not quite in the cards for me at the moment, I’d rather just take him along where I go cause imo it’s less stress for him (a few hours of driving and then being in a comfortable place with me versus being somewhere alone and completely unfamiliar for over a week). And I just don’t trust pet sitters. >w< So I am looking to take him with me and am not really interested in the other two options. Any advice? Thank you!
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