pingedward35
Member
My bunny lives in a cage with a wire floor. I read online that cages with wire flooring is terrible and can cause foot problems to rabbits. Is this really true?
Are cages with wire flooring really that bad?
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pingedward35
Member
Even if the wire is coated to make it smoother? There are rabbit breeders who use wire flooring on cages.
No it is not true. Most rabbits have no issues with proper wire floors, depending on the environment etc. those can have quitw some advantages. Very big breeds and Rex furred rabbits can have have problems though. There is agood reason many breeders in the US use them, they wouldn't if they would cause issues.
Wire has a bad reputation, here it's imho mostly due the decades long fight to free chicken wire cages. That got pretty uncritically gerneralized, without good arguments, anything wire equals evil.
Anyway, I don't use cages, whatever available would be way too small for my taste, and in our climate wooden hutches are better (mine have wood slat floors), and my two house rabbits don't have any enclosure, just need to stay inside during night.
Wire has a bad reputation, here it's imho mostly due the decades long fight to free chicken wire cages. That got pretty uncritically gerneralized, without good arguments, anything wire equals evil.
Anyway, I don't use cages, whatever available would be way too small for my taste, and in our climate wooden hutches are better (mine have wood slat floors), and my two house rabbits don't have any enclosure, just need to stay inside during night.
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Breeders often use wire bottom cages for convenience (they have many rabbits to care for) but they typically will also have a platform for the rabbit to rest upon so they aren't on the wire 24/7. Any rabbit that is kept on only one type of flooring has the potential to develop sore hocks. Some rabbits kept exclusively on carpet have developed sore hocks as well.
For indoor pet rabbits, there really isn't a reason or advantage to using a wire bottom cage. It can even discourage good potty habits. Rabbits litter train so easily that it is considered best to forego the wire flooring and instead provide a proper litterbox.
Wire bottomed indoor cages also are quite small for a rabbit's needs. Unless the cage door is kept open all the time to either an exercise pen area (or larger area like an entire room), then any store-bought cage with a wire bottom will be too small.
Here is some further information on indoor housing options:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/housing-options.html
For indoor pet rabbits, there really isn't a reason or advantage to using a wire bottom cage. It can even discourage good potty habits. Rabbits litter train so easily that it is considered best to forego the wire flooring and instead provide a proper litterbox.
Wire bottomed indoor cages also are quite small for a rabbit's needs. Unless the cage door is kept open all the time to either an exercise pen area (or larger area like an entire room), then any store-bought cage with a wire bottom will be too small.
Here is some further information on indoor housing options:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/housing-options.html
Momma Luvbun
Well-Known Member
I prefer to have free range buns.
They live with me sharing our space. There isn't anywhere I have to keep them out if due to how small my place is, but I have bunnyproofed all baseboards and wires to the outlets that are in reach.
They are impecably clean and have been potty trained to a litterbox that I have newspaper, then bedding pellets then a layer of hay and I continuously add handfuls of more hay throughout the day, ALWAYS giving them a fresh box at 7/8am to start every morning and it goes this way every day there forth
What I know now about buns, I would never have one in a cage. They deserve Soo much more than that.
They live with me sharing our space. There isn't anywhere I have to keep them out if due to how small my place is, but I have bunnyproofed all baseboards and wires to the outlets that are in reach.
They are impecably clean and have been potty trained to a litterbox that I have newspaper, then bedding pellets then a layer of hay and I continuously add handfuls of more hay throughout the day, ALWAYS giving them a fresh box at 7/8am to start every morning and it goes this way every day there forth
What I know now about buns, I would never have one in a cage. They deserve Soo much more than that.
Ours are exactly like the top right hand one above with a rabbit in there, but we use tiles, carpet patches, and a litter box, so ours aren't on the wire only--never had a problem with any bunny in more than 2 decades and almost 60 rescues.
Momma Luvbun
Well-Known Member
FlemishFloridians
Well-Known Member
It is not a good thing at all. I'm a Flemish Giant breeder and we keep our bunnies (breeders and all) on the ground on concrete tiles with different other options for resting. Bunnies can make a bit of a mess at times without wire, but it's 10000000% (if it were mathematically possible to have more than 100%) better than wire. Wire also causes major issues with litter box training.
