Should I bring her in?

[TurtleShark]

It is supposed to get down to 7 degrees (F) tonight. In fact, it's already down to 7 degrees. There is a wind chill of -15 here right now. Does my outdoor bunny need to come in?

She has a hutch. The hutch is blocked from the wind. She has a cubby with plenty of straw but she just never uses it. At all. I don't know why; maybe she doesn't like not being able to see outside. But the only time she goes in is if she feels threatened. She sits in her litter box, which can't be warm at all.

I'm just concerned that it's too cold for her, even without the wind chill. She's only a holland lop but she's been out all winter so far.

Her water is changed 3 times a day (once at 7:30 am, once at 3:30pm, and once at 10:30pm). Her food dish is kept full of pellets (in the summer I limit them, but I feel she needs the extra calories now), she has fresh hay every day, and she's given greens every day.

In addition, I'm concerned that bringing her in will compromise her winter coat. Would one night inside hurt it too much? Would the huge temperature change hurt her? We don't have a shed we can put her in. We did build a little shelter to go over her hutch out of two huge pallets and a pickup truck topper, but it's open on two sides.

What do you say? I'm not against bringing her in if you think it's best I just don't want to underestimate her.

 

[TurtleShark]

And maybe if I bring her in I can convince the family that she'll be fine inside... I hate keeping her outside, but I have to have the consent of everyone in the house before I bring her inside full time. They're convinced she'll smell..

:nono

 

[Watermelons]

I don't know temp conversions very well but that seems quite cold.
I know the feral rabbits here don't come out from their dens when its below freezing unless its been nasty for awhile (rain) and they are desperate for a snack.

Perhaps somebody who keeps their rabbits outside can offer advice.
But IMO that shelter she has doesn't sound very.... cold proof.

 

[TurtleShark]

I think she'd be plenty warm enough if she'd only go into her cubby... It's fully blocked from the wind and packed full of hay (with some wiggle room). But, yeah, the rest of it was made for summer not winter. She has a blanket over the door, but I don't think it does a whole lot... :cry1:

The current temperature in celsius is -14, the windchill is -28.

 

[Bville]

I have 3 rabbits that I have kept outside for 2-1/2 years now. They do just fine in the winter and we get very cold here in the Northeast US. Only Smokey goes into his cubby with straw when it's cold. He is the smallest so he seems to need it. My husband started giving them a lot of hay in their main part of the hutch and they sit in that. Smokey peed in his once so I took it away for a while but just gave him some back. I hope he learned his lesson. They are housed separately too so it's not like they snuggle up with each other. They have never gotten along so they each have their own hutch. I was nervous the first year and asked on this forum if I should bring them in. The people with outdoor rabbits encouraged me to leave them outside. I did try bringing them in a few times, but they seemed very sluggish so I figured they were too hot with their winter coats on. I have just kept them out all winter since then.

I worry more in the summer. I have to make sure they don't get too hot. I usually put them out in the grass in the shade in an exercise pen and once when it was 100 degrees in the spring before the leaves had grown, I brought them into the house for a few days. If you want to try them indoors, maybe wait until spring after they have shed their winter coat. That can be a messy process!!

 

[majorv]

As long as she's protected from the wind it should be okay. Put extra hay on the floor so she can sit on it. If you do decide to bring her in I wouldn't bring her in the house because of the big difference in temps. If you have a garage you could put her in there for the night, in a pen or portable cage.

 

[Aki]

I never owned any outdoor rabbit, so I don't really know about how cold is too cold for a rabbit - beside, my country is not as cold as yours. There is no problem with bringing an outside rabbit inside - the change of temperature from cold to moderately hot should not harm your rabbit. Nevertheless, you have to be aware that if you put the rabbit inside, you won't be able to put her outside again before spring - her body won't be able to take the cold again after spending days or weeks inside, and taking the rabbit inside / outside with quick changes of temperature (like putting her inside at night and outside during the day, as you might be tempted to do) is a big no no when it's that cold. So, I wouldn't advise to put her inside for one night (moreover, it's too short to prove that a rabbit can be a good inside pet - but I would like to point out that a rabbit in a hutch will always be a lot more smelly than a free-range inside rabbit, mine generally smell of celery or parsley XD). Rabbits are pretty resistant to the cold, but it depends on their size, the thickness of their fur, their age and of course their general health. A young medium sized rabbit with a thick coat can theoretically survive a cold winter with plenty of food. If there is no way your family wants the rabbit to live inside, I would just keep an eye an her checking often that the rabbit is active, eats well and doesn't seem to suffer from the cold. You're already changing the water often which is good as some rabbits actually die of deshydratation after the water froze (I remember some people telling me they put a ball, like a big marble, in the water dish to avoid the water from freezing too quickly, I don't know if that works).From what I know, the wind and humidity are a lot more deadly than the cold. I seem to remember people putting polystyrene against the outside walls of the hutch to insulate it. Maybe it could help?

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Turtleshark, don't keep us in suspense! What happened? Is your bun ok?

 

[flemishwhite]

When I was a child in Ohio, my father had pens in the back yard for New Zealand rabbits. It was a hobby of his to sell the baby bunnies for....I don't want to say. When we had really cold winter weather day, he would bring all the bunnies into our basement of our house. We had a beagle at the time, and the beagle was very interested in the bunnies! I still remember seeing the beagle hassling the New Zealand buck. He gave her a really strong slap in the face. The beagle didn't bother the rabbits anymore!

As for my opinion, I'm a real a softy when it comes to rabbits..I'd say bring them in. I don't think the changes in temperatures will be a problem.

Don't understand the comments about rabbits smelling. Rabbits absolutely positively don't smell. Their urine, if you don't clean their litter boxes, will smell. Bunny. lived in our house for 11 years and you could bury your nose in her fur and not smell anything...she had never had a bath. Same with my current two young rabbits...absolutely odorless.

 

[MissyAndMoonlight]

I always bring my rabbits in if its about 5-3 degrees or below. However, don't bring them into your house (which I'm going to assume is heated), and instead bring them into a garage or somewhere still pretty cold, because when u put them back out, the temperate change is too much for them. Good luck!