Heat

[bunnylover78642]

It was a good 99 F. today!! Is that to hot for abunny? What can be done about the weather? They are mostly in the shadeand have vents on both sides of them for wind to get to them. Me and mymom are really worried. Today both me and my horse almost suffered heatstroke after about an hr. of working at jumping.

 

[Kricket]

Freeze some bottles full of water and lay themin the cage, your buns will LOVE it! Mine hug their bottlesand lick them when they perspire Also, some have suggestedto get some terra cotta or stone tiles from Home Depot for them to layon. In the hottest time of day, I soak one towel in water andclip it to the hutch for a cooler-type effect when the breeze blowsthrough. This weekend, it will be 108 here. CheetosMom will have to endure temps this weekend of 115 and up.Poor thing!

Anyhoo...about the bottles, I use 2-liter soda bottles. Makesure you take the labels off. And have several.Rotate them when one has melted, you will have a frozen one or twoready to go. I use two 2-liter bottles at a time, as it feelsSO hot here. When it is only 90 here, I use smaller bottledwater bottles. Start collecting those jugs and bottles, BabyGurl Your buns will be fine.

 

[Carolyn]

You definitely have to be careful of heat.Rabbits don't do well with it at all and can easily get heat stroke orsun stroke and it's fatal if not addressed quickly.

I'm going to bump up a post about "Cooling your rabbit in the summermonths". Please read through it, although Kricket has given someExcellent advice to you already.

You'll find out what things to look for and the symptoms of trouble and a few more tips on what you can do.

-Carolyn

 

First ofall youdont take horses out intemperatures that hotwhatthe heck were you thinking?what was your Trainer thinking , Nodoubt Your Horse surffered heatstroke your lucky it didnt die.I have had horses for most ofmy life andthats a conciderabletime, now unless somethinghas changed since i broke myneck, horses shouldnt be workedin temperatures over 80 degrees. I havedefended you too many timesthis time I will NOTand Can Not.

Put frozen water bottlesin with the rabbits ,or get a piece of marble that willstay cool .

 

[bunnylover78642]

Thank you for the advice!! I gave them, onefrozen water bottle, one frozen soda can, a lot of little ice cubes(they love the noise they can make with them and bite at them), ice intheir bottles, a iced wash cloth, and I covered their cage with towelsso they have shade. We are going to buy a portable fan for them sincewe do not have one that we can use. I think they will like that. I justfinished reading the other post about keeping rabbits cool in thesummer.

My trainer told me to take the horse out! We noticed he was gettingtired and stopped. We gave him a long bath and lots of grassand water afterwards. We noticed he had not been acting right in thefirst place so we stopped lessons. He gets a 3 day break intill theweather gets cooler. He had not been worked at all the past week so hehad to be taken out. He can not become a stall horse. Just sittingthere all day to never move. He also has a large fan his stall.

 

[cirrustwi]

For your horse, you can add a small amount ofrubbing alcohol to the water when you pour it over him, just make surehe doesn't have any sores and keep it away from the eyes. Itwill make the water cooler and it will evaporate faster so the waterdoesn't sit on him too long. You can also use Linatone.

Jen

 

[bunnylover78642]

Thanks for the advice!! The water that wassitting in the hose was burning hot but we had to wait for about 10min. for it to finally flow cold. Then he got a good rub down andreally enjoyed it.

 

[Bassetluv]

Hi bunnylover,

I don't have my rabbits yet (still hoping to have some by August), butsummer heat is a concern of mine as well. I'm building outdoor hutchesfor them; the 'hutch' part will be confined in a shed, but they willalso have access to an attached run on the outside of the shed. Here inOttawa the temps can go high very quickly during the day (+35 deg. C orso) and because of this I was concerned about what to do when it doesget that hot. So far I am planning on freezing plastic containers ofwater and placing them in the hutch, and have also purchased someportable fans that are designed to hang on cages to keep the airflowing. But I will also have a back-up plan...if I find it is stilltoo hot for them, I'll have cages set up in the basement so they canmove in there during scorching days, where it is much cooler. If youcould set up temporary cages in a basement or cellar that might serveas an alternate for you during the excessively hot days.

I also like the suggestion of tiles in the hutch that someonementioned...I'd seen that listed on another site as well. I'm wonderingif placing the tiles in the freezer for a little while before puttingthem in the cages is a good idea...?

 

[Alice]

gypsy wrote:

First of all you dont take horses out in temperatures that hotwhat the heck were you thinking? what was your Trainer thinking , Nodoubt Your Horse surffered heat stroke your lucky it didnt die. I havehad horses for most of my life and thats a conciderable time , nowunless something has changed since i broke my neck , horses shouldnt beworked in temperatures over 80 degrees. I have defended you too manytimes this time I will NOT and Can Not.

I don't know how the weather is up in New Hampshire, but I'm guessingthat Texas (where bunnylover78642 lives) is more similar to here inFlorida, where I've grown up & had a horse (and trained that horsefor endurance/competative trail rides).

Not that I want to encourage anyone to work their animals intemperatures they can't handle, but here in the South, we sometimeshave to do things a little differently... and that includes workinghorses (and ourselves) in ridiculously high temperatures (if wecouldn't work horses in temps over 80 degrees, the horses would be idlefrom around April till at least October every year ).

Bunnylover78642: I sincerely hope that you're well-versed in keeping ahorse (and yourself) going in extreme heat. Make sure that the horse isfed extra electrolytes. If you're working in 99F heat, do you takebreaks to allow the horse (and yourself) to drink water? That would beone of my main concerns.

Can you work w/ that horse & trainer in the evening or earlymornings? That should help w/ the heat. If not, are you able to hoseyourself & the horse off before & after class? If you hose offthe horse, stick to his chest/legs/neck/belly area... if he's hot &you throw water on the large muscles of his back, you could cause himto tie up (Not Good).

Hose off yourself (especially the nape of your neck & the base ofyour hair, if you have long hair... that's where most of the heat tendsto build).

Hopefully, you & your horse should make it through an hour longlesson that way. Even so, if you start to feel at all faint, or noticethat your horse is in any way "off", tell your trainer! If s/he blowsyou off, stop immediately. It's easier to find another trainer beforesacrificing yourself and/or your horse.

All of that aside, rabbits should *never* be subjected to that kind ofheat. If you can't bring your buns inside, I hope you've taken to heartthe advice provided here, about providing them with frozen sodabottles, etc. I know horses can survive in extremely hot weater (giventhe proper environment), but I don't think that rabbits can.

 

Alice : your talking toa deaf ear here , She isnt about tolisten , she asks for advice , recieves it andeither justifies her way or ignores you .I am so done responding to her , Ibelieve some where on the Texas Lawit clearly states animalscannot be worked in suchextreme temperatures. JMO

 

[bunnylover78642]

Thank you Alice for the advice. I have given thebunnies; another froxen water bottle. Removed the cage away from theshade, and gave them a large jar that has ice inside. They climb in theice and then hop out. (dorks) I also bought them a portable fan w/ myown money.

You do not have to worry about the horse anymore. He was hosed offaround the neck and chest before we got on him and then when we noticedhe was not acting right we stopped lessons (usually 2hrs.).Then we sprayed him all over after letting him cooldown a bit. He is getting everything he needs to keep him up since hegets more food than any horse there. (he needs to gain weight). We havehad to give up River (the horse) because we can not afford him rightnow. We were only leasing him and told the lady that if and when moneyproblems become less than we will try to lease him again. But his billwas more than $1000 this month because of hoof bills, vet bills, andriding lessons, then we also had to pay for his lease.

Gypsy I hate your attitude. I have done everything this post has toldme to do. I try to listen all the time but some of the time it is notcapable for me to do something someone suggests. I am sort you are sucha rude, huge jerk. All I have done is try to get things done and askmore advice. I would likke to know as much as possible about rabbitsand that is why I ask. If you think I do not listen then don't post upon a subject I have posted.