Christmas – heat stress vs moving stress

[Rufus]

I’m heading to my parents place for Christmas Day and Boxing Day – they live about an hour and a half away from me. It’s starting to look like it’s going to be pretty hot here for those two days. My housemates said that they would feed Rufus for me but they will be gone most of both days. Rufus is indoors but we don’t have airconditioning so normally on hot days I will try and shift my work hours to 7am-3pm in order to get home and check on him (swap his ice bottles and frozen tiles, supervise him with his cooling mat etc) so I’ve never left him home for a prolonged hot period.

I’m wondering if you guys think I should take him with me to my parents place where I can keep an eye on him? I wouldn’t be able to take his normal cage as it’s an outdoor hutch that’s too big to fit in my car but my brother is giving me an XXL dog crate for Christmas so he could stay in that. It might be a little noisy there with my extended family but I can keep him downstairs where it’s really nice and cool and no one would really bother him except me.

Do you think the heat is more of a worry? Or the moving him for two days and taking him out of his home?

[Roberta]

Being a fellow Aussie and knowing how hot it can get I would advocate taking him with you and using the dog crate…. Just keep other pets and children away from him to reduce the stress of the temporary relocation and put a sign on his cage asking family etc not to feed him anything without checking first.. No doubt other people are going to be fascinated and attracted to his bunny cuteness.

[Rufus]

Thanks Roberta! I think you’re definitely right. I get so anxious when it’s hot here that I can’t enjoy anything anyway unless I can keep an eye on him.
The forecast has now dropped to 24 for Christmas and Boxing Day so I think I’ll leave him home if it stays in the 20s but bring him if it’s more in the 30s or (god forbid) 40s.
Tomorrow is supposed to be 41 at my place. I’m already stressed to the max as this will be my first over 40 day since I got Rufus. He did live through the hottest day on record (46 where he was) when he was just a baby though so I’m hoping that means he’s pretty hardy. I think I’m going to move his hutch into the bathroom, pop a fan on and a wet towel over his cage, tiles and frozen water bottles inside the cage. Then just get home asap to keep an eye on him. Any other suggestions would be welcome!

[jerseygirl]

Good plan! Both taking him with you at Christmas and moving him to bathroom on hot days.
I wondered if you’d be able to relax over Christmas if you didn’t have him. :p

You sound well prepared for the heat, I’m not sure there is anything else to suggest. I wish other owners were as diligent. I hate thinking of the outdoor ones in this heat.
Forecast here is 43C and currently at 40C. Ugh!

ETA: I’m anticipating new pictures to oogle of your parents “puppy” after Christmas…

[Deleted User]

Hey Rufus – if only we could rely on the weather forecast???? Not! If your anything like me (pathetic, lol…) take him with you. If your going to be wondering/worrying about Rufus while your gone (which I reckon you will) your not going to have a good time. I know it’s stressful taking your baby out of his environment, but I’m a great a believer – if ‘your’ there (he knows/loves you) that will reduce his stress levels, especially compared to being home alone and if the weather turns into a stinker? Our forecast for Qld is hot, steamy with cloud and possible rain – drats! (At least my weather man covered it all?!?!) What a crappy chrissy day! (weather). And getting Rufus’s new home, bonus!

[Deleted User]

Hey, curiosity has gotten the better of me – what state do you live in Rufus (NSW?) and Jersey (SA?)? WOW! You hit 40+ degree’s?!?!? Bloody unreal!

[Elrohwen]

I like the idea of taking him with you, instead of leaving him more or less alone in the house during hot weather. Most bunnies are pretty adaptable and are ok visiting another house if they have a quiet area to hang out in.

[Rufus]

Thanks everyone! I just got to work for the day and I can say that I have definitely done everything I can to make that bunny as cool as possible today! I’m planning on taking off about 2:30 or so to go and keep an eye on him. My housemate kicked up a stink about me leaving the fan on but I just told him that I’d pay more of the electricity bill if that’s what he wanted! He only believes that the house electricity is for his own personal use.
Jersey – 43already! Eugh! That’s awful. I always associate the really scorching days more with February. Hope you and the buns are keeping cool. I promise to bring back a bunch of puppy pics. I might even put up a growing sequence, I picked her out when she was just ten days old – so tiny! – now she’s a monster!
Andi- Yeah, I’m in Sydney. I work in the city but I live out west where it’s always at least 5 degrees hotter. I hope Christmas is better than the forecast! You must have aircon though living in QLD yeah?
Elrohwen – that puts my mind at ease! The last thing I want to do is stress him out further when it’s hot.

[Rufus]

Here he is spooning with a frzen water bottle in front of his little fan.

[Bam]

Oh, Rufus, I just want to say how incredibly cute he looks with his frozen water-bottle. I can’t really imagine how hot it must be where you live. We never have days that are too warm except perhaps for really really fat people and dogs with really short noses, like pugs, but even pugs will be comfortable indoors.

I too would’ve brought my bunny with me. I have brought Bam on New Year’s. Can’t leave him home alone with all the fireworks going off and nobody to turn to for comfort (not that he’d actually turn, but just having his human around is comforting, I imagine.)

[Deleted User]

Hey Rufus, firstly – ‘love’ the photo! How precious…. I put a frozen water bottle in for Henry once, trying to avoid putting the air on, and all’s he did was toss it around! Silly bunny!
Yes, yours and Jersey’s (SA?) weather made the news here! Poor Rufus (and you), I feel bad for whinging about our hot days – I don’t ever recall us hitting the 40’s here. What makes our weather feral here is the humidity, for eg., we could have a day at 28 degrees but the humidity makes it feel like 35! and everything is sticky, damp, and nothing dries properly. It’s horrible, so yes, an air conditioner is a must, otherwise you literally can’t move. But thanks to the electricity prices (Grrrrr!), I really try to only put it on when I’m at the stage – you can’t move! & I agree, it’s February that we normally suffer these disgusting temps. (And your room mate – I see why you wanna move next year. How selfish!).
Oh, and did I read right? Are you getting a new puppy? Exciting!!!!!!

[Rufus]

Thanks guys. I’m thrilled to say Rufus did really well with his first 40+ day. When I got home to him it was 40.9 and he still jumped up to greet me and then started eating everything in sight. He had a decent amount of energy all evening too despite the fact that it was sill 35 degrees at 9pm.
So now at least I can relax a little having lived through it once. Yesterday I felt sick all day until I could get home. Tomorrow and Monday are 36 and 37 respectively so I’ll be keeping a close eye again.
Bam – I was in Sweden in the middle of summer a few years ago. I loved it! Nice and sunny but not stinking hot. In Oz you do get used to the heat but it can be really dangerous. It’s a shift having to think about the bun and leaving work early. Normally I stay as long as I can to take advantage of the aircon!
Andi – Nah, unfortunately I’m not getting a puppy. Jersey was talking about my parents’ Great Dane puppy. She just turned a year old. I’ll post some pics when I get back from Christmas

[Deleted User]

Rufus, I thought I must have read wrong (& that will teach me to read into private notes, ha hah!). I just got super excited – a new puppy! Lol…. I too can’t wait to see pic’s! Another day of ridiculous heat?!?! I’ll keep my fingers crossed your weather for Chrissy day is the 24 they predicted, our forecast hasn’t changed ‘yet’.
And bam, yes, as Rufus said our weather can be dangerous – when they report on weather conditions like those for Rufus now they also come standard with warnings, for eg., the sick, elderly and very young to keep indoors, use the air con (if you have it), drink lots of water and don’t hesitate to call an ambulance if you are showing signs of heat stroke.
I’m not speaking for everyone in Oz, but I don’t have the traditional roast dinner for Chrissy – we have cold meats, salads and ‘seafood’ (yum), followed by cold desserts (yummier). Lol.
I’ll be thinking of you both Rufus while your enduring this hot spell. (My hubby’s sister lives in Sydney and he is taking his parents to the airport today (Sat) to spend xmas with them – I bet they wished they had of stayed home this year????). Oh well, what can you do…. Cheers Rufus. Andi.

[Isabelle]

About two years ago I was a situation where I needed to attend a funeral and there was no one to take care of Dutchess. So I ended up bringing her along, the drive was about 3 hours and she was stressed but I tried to make her as comfortable as possible in her cage in the back seat. We stopped the car two/three times to let her rest from the car movement and make sure she was getting water/food. Then I left her quiet with a blanket on her cage when we got to the house we were staying at and kept people from her. Vet recommended making sure there was a 24 hour rest period before taking the trip back. That was fine because we had the funeral and stuff, so I ended up bringing her home myself the next day and she was more comfortable and I didn’t make a stop, but she did perfect and was glad to be home! I also made sure to map quest a few vets along the route just in case. I also prepped her for the drive by putting her in her cage in the backseat and driving 2/3 times for 30-45 minutes to start getting her used to the movement and stuff.

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