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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Extended car rides with a bun?

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    • parsleybun
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        Hi! First of all, I hope I am posting this in the right place. If not, please let me know for future posts!

        So, I’m a new bunny mom. His name is Parsley, and he’s an adorable little 9ish week old I adopted recently. Anyway! In about a month I’m going to be going to my parents house for break and he has to come with me because there’s not anywhere up here I can keep him for a week. My question is, how do bunnies do with extended car rides? It’s about an hour and a half drive. It’s straight interstate so it won’t be a bumpy ride or anything. I just want to make sure I am 100% able to make his ride as comfortable as possible. Is it safe to keep him in a small cage (about the width of the two back seats?) so he’s in a familiar place? Or should he stay in a carrier? I really wish I had a way to let him stay in my apartment while I’m gone but I just can’t this time.

        Any advice or past experience stories would be sooo helpful!


      • Little Lion Head
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          We used to take our last bunny, Boston on long car rides frequently. My hometown was about 3 hours away and Boston did fine. She would dig a lot in her carrier, but acted fine once we got to where we were going. I always kept her in her small carrier and put it on the floor by the front passenger seat. I think this made for the least amount of sliding around and I could hear here best there too. I think Parsley will be ok w/ the ride. Just be sure to let him integrate slowly into his new surroundings at his grandparents house!


        • MeketatenBun
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            I just took my bunny on two 4-hour car rides this past summer a week apart and she did well. Well… well enough. She did go through bouts of stasis each trip, but it’s hard to say if it was the car ride or her medicine since I had started her on antibiotics just prior to the drive each time.

            I do what Little Lion Head does and keep her in a small cage (so she’s not sliding around and hurting herself, a small cage is a bunny seat belt) on the floor of the front passenger side so she could see me and I could see her and make sure she was doing alright. I had her harness on her in the cage so I could clip her leash on and get her out in case I needed to. On the first 4-hour trip I stopped halfway and let her out of the cage and sat with her on my lap to calm her down, let her eat, and use her litter box. She did much better on the second trip and ate hay the whole way home and was generally much calmer.

            When you go to your parents, I recommend bringing his favorite treat, or even a bag of Critical Care in case he does stop eating from the stress. Keep a CLOSE eye on him for the first few days, especially when you first get him there, and make sure he’s eating. Worse case scenario, what I did with Meki was I mashed her pellets into a powder, added water to make it a paste (essentially home-made Critical Care), and put it into a bowl and let her lick it off my finger until she licked it out of the bowl herself.

            If you can, to get him used to the car, give him short rides here and there, gradually getting longer, leading up to when you’re going to take him. Start off with maybe 15 minutes and gradually make it longer rides.

            I heard putting a carpet square under his cage can reduce the bounciness of the car ride, and try to attach his water bottle to the cage somehow with some fresh hay for him to nibble if he can.


          • Flopsie
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              Bunnies do not like car rides and I have not typically seen them ever get used to it. That being said, an hour and half isn’t really that long. To me a long trip is one where you must stop for a break. Maybe my views are skewed since I’m from LA, the land of traffic lol

              I’ve driven my bun 5 hours before so I think that duration is fine. Furthermore you are staying a week which is a fairly long stay so I honestly think it’s fine

              I would use a carrier that isn’t too large. In case you have to slam on the breaks bunnies can be hurt in giant cages or big carriers. However it would make sense for it not I be too small as well

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          Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Extended car rides with a bun?