Traveling with Bunny

[lisa]

I am moving from NY to Ak.  I am trying to decided what will be better to drive with Bunny with his cage in tacted, which will take about 1-2 weeks, or fly which will take 13-16 hours with Bunny in a carrier?  Any suggestions?  Which is best to do????  Please help I want this move to be as easy as possible for my Bunny. 

 

Thanks

 

Lisa and Bunny

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Wow, why Alaska? That’s an interesting move.

And the problem with flying buns is that most airplanes do not allow rabbits to ride in the cabin because of allergens, and they are not well-suited to travel in storage because they are very sensitive creatures. And either way, you’ll have to pay a hefty sum to fly him with you.

So it’s really up to you… if you can find a liner that will let you take him in cabin with you, you can give him some medication to calm him down and monitor him during the flight to make sure he eats and drinks.

Either way will probably shake him up a bit, but it’s based on your time and money.

[Gravehearted]

Honestly, it’s going to be a tough call to make, both will be somewhat stressful on your bunny.

Is the flight to Alaska direct or a several connecting flights? There are several airlines (alaska/ horizon, continental,  that do allow bunnies to fly in the cabin below your seat.  They only charge the normal pet fee, which I think is $50 or $75.  I agree with digitialmeow and that flying in cargo is not a good idea.

There’s a very helpful article that discusses both air and car travel and how to prepare for the trip

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/behavior/travel.html

if you choose to drive, you’ll want to start now with taking short trips with your bunny about a half and hour twice a week and then try several hour trips so bunny can get used to it.  My friend drove all over the US with her bunny who loved traveling, so some bunnies can travel well via car.

there’s a great site that will help you find hotels on your journey

http://www.petswelcome.com/

 

[MooBunnay]

Hello! I have actually both flown and driven bunnies, when I moved from Los Angeles to Dallas, I drove my bunnies, and I have flown bunnies twice for adoptions.

I traveled with seven bunnies – and found that while the bonded pairs did really well, I was a bit concerned about my single bunnies because they weren’t moving around as much and got nervous. However, all of them at some point on the trip were either eating, grooming, or digging around in their carrier for part of the trip. When flying bunnies, they are quite cramped in a small carrier in the plane, and I have found that they tend to be panicked for almost the entire trip because the plane is loud and you can’t really get to them, and they don’t have enough space to stretch out or to eat.

My personal recommendation would be to drive, with overnight stops where your bunny can be put into a cage and have the whole night to relax before starting out in the car the next morning. I’d recommend a carrier big enough to have a litterbox in it, and a big towel for the ground that way bunny does not slide all around, and also as much hay as possible. I put a water crock in each bunnies cage and only filled it up a few centimeters so it didn’t spill all over.

Some things to keep in mind if you drive:
1. Pack a bunny first aid kit – and go to your vet and request some critical care in case your bunny doesn’t want to eat at some point on the trip
2. Have both a carrier and a cage, the carrier for the car and the cage for the hotel
3. Do’t forget that during the day you won’t be really able to make any stops except for gas because you can’t leave the bunny in the car without the AC running

Concerning the hotels – my boyfriend and I weren’t able to really figure out which city we would be on on which day, so we didn’t reserve pet friendly rooms ahead of time. Once we got to the city we wanted to stop it, we would look for hotels where you could park outside the room (ones where you don’t have to walk through the lobby to get to the rooms – more like a Motel 6 type) and that way we avoided the whole pet situation – while I guess there is a risk of getting caught, since you just have a bunny and not a dog or cat that would shed all over or pee or make noise all night, I think that would be an OK route if you can’t find a pet friendly hotel around.

[Gravehearted]

Moobunnay – thanks for sharing your experiences, I’ve always wondered which made bunnies less panicked. it cracks me up that you snuck them into the hotel rooms. I can just imagine maid service in the morning wondering why there’s hay on the floor. ha ha

[lisa]

MooBunny-

What you mentioned were my fears of flying.  Bunny has a rather large cage 4x4x2 and he is only 5lbs.  Should I drive i will keep his cage erect and him in his large cage so that he has the room and the comfort. ( I have an SUV) I will just add a small box or something that he can hid in when he feels shaken. 

 

Thanks for your input

 

Lisa and Bunny

[MooBunnay]

Hahaha Gravehearted – so true, there was hay EVERYWHERE and we had the seven bunnies with us so it was about three trips each for us with a carrier each time + the 5 rabbit cages, so it was about a 45 minutes routine in the morning and at night just to get them in and out of the hotel!

Lisa – I’d think about getting a carrier for your bunny that is a little smaller than the cage – the main reason being that in a cage he still might slide around quite a bit when you are making turns or if you stop suddenly. In a carrier, he will also be a bit more enclosed. I would definitely put the cage into the hotel room at night for Bunny to hang out in at night, ,but during the day he might feel more secure in a slightly smaller space. However, if you feel you can make the inside of the cage easy on him for traveling (maybe by covering the floor with large towels?) so he doesn’t tumble everywhere, then that could work too.

A couple more things I thought of:
1. I brought a sheet to cover the rabbit carriers so direct sunlight didn’t shine on them and toast them
2. I bought some hard plastic water bottles and froze them to put in the cage in case I had to stop, or in case the AC had any trouble. The advantage of those is you can always empty them out and fill them with ice along the way if the water unfreezes
3. In addition to their regular hay, I brought some alfalfa hay just to make sure each night that they were still eating by tempting them with the tasty alfafa as a treat
4. A rescue friend of mine recommmend I put almost a quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce in the carrier, even though it is not nutritional for them, there is a lot of water in it, so if they can’t drink water because the ride is to bumpy, they might be likely to eat some of the lettuce

If I think of anything else I’ll let you know!

[Author]

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