Broken AC

[Ella]

Today our AC broke and it is starting to reach up to 80 degrees inside the house. I have tiles and a frozen water bottle in for my rabbit, though he doesn’t seem interested yet. I also have the ceiling fan on in there and the blinds closed to keep as much heat out as I can. It’s still pretty warm in there.

So far, I think he is acting normal. He is stretched out next to his normal spot (I put the tiles where he normally stretches out). 

I tried to find some warning signs of over heating but I couldn’t find much. Does anyone know what behaviors or indications of possible over heating that I should keep an eye out for? Or any other tricks that I can use to keep him cool? 

I have read people say that drafts are not good for rabbits. Would this include drafts from a fan? I have fans that I could put in there…

We should have it fixed tomorrow but it is starting to get pretty hot!

Thanks!

[Muchelle]

You can use fans but don’t aim them directly at the bun. I’d say to watch out for fast/laboured breathing, hot ears and back of head, excessive lethargy

[Ella]

Thank you! I was going to ask about ear temperature. Right now his ears feel pretty cool. I’ll put another fan in there to keep come cool air circulating!  

I live on the east coast of the US so it should start to cool off a little bit here in a few hours. . .

[Ella]

I put an extra fan in there that is pointed at the side of his room but he could lay somewhere else and not be in the breeze. Is this ok? He did decide to lay directly in the breeze so I think he doesn’t mind it right now. He could move out of it if he wanted to. 

The thermostat in his room says 81 (F)  Is this a dangerous temperature? I am doing my best to keep it cool in there. 

[Muchelle]

My bun’s tested up to 32°C without AC (90 fahreneit??), so don’t worry. Keep it shady and give him his frozen bottles and whatnot, he’ll survive

In my experience it’s better to check both ears and back of the head, cause ears not always are reliable indicators of the bun’s status. If his head is hot too, wet it with some temperature room water and it’ll help him cool off. But for 24 hours it shouldn’t be a problem

[Ella]

His head doesn’t feel hot yet either. I think he is fine right now. If anything, I am the one annoying him rather than the heat. 

I just hope we can get it fixed by tomorrow!

[Mikey]

It depends on the bun. Most have trouble 80F and over, but some buns can adjust easier than others

Signs of overheating that I know of: lethargy/laying around longer than normal/refusal to play, heavy breathing/labored breathing, over drinking/refusing to drink/refusing to eat, wet lips/full on drooling

If it gets to the point of drooling, cool him down ASAP

[Ella]

He’s seems to be doing ok. Still curious enough to explore and he ate all his dinner and is eating hay. He doesn’t want to sprint around like usual but he isn’t completely lethargic.
I am sleeping in his room tonight so I can keep an eye on him. I’m so worried that they won’t be able to fix it tomorrow and it will get really hot!!! Right now it’s been at 80 inside for awhile but it’s night time now and it’s supposed to be 86 tomorrow! Tonight should be in the 60s so I hope it will cool off for a bit.

He really likes laying in front of the fan now.

[Ella]

Gosh, I am worried! I don’t think I will be able to sleep much tonight.
There are tons of fans going, tiles, and ice bottles. He is showing no interest in the tiles or the ice bottles. He has ice water which he has drank some. His ears are starting to feel hot and he decided to get in his card board house which has to be even hotter in there!

Is there anything else I can do for him? It’s still 80 degrees inside despite it dropping down to about 68 outside now. It’s almost 1 AM where I am.

I don’t know what else to do!!!

[Azerane]

I understand this feeling. Our AC broke down during a heatwave earlier this year and I had to improvise until I could borrow a portable AC unit from a friend. I draped cold damp towels over the cage and directed the fans at them to promote cool air flow, in addition to other things you have listed. You can dab a little cool water onto their ears to help keep them cool. Most of their heat loss is done through their ears so dabbing a little cool water on will help aid the cooling process for them

Panting/rapid breathing, open mouth breathing, wet nose/mouth are all indicators of heat stress.

[Ella]

Thanks all for your replies. We got through the night and Eli seems to be doing well this morning. He ate most of his breakfast, sometimes he is a slow eater so I don’t know if this is the heat or he is just being Eli. His morning routine is some good litter box/hay time and then slowly eat breakfast so things seem pretty normal with him.

It’s still a bit early here and we have not heard back from the air guy but it will start heating up here pretty soon so I am hoping he can get here and get it fixed!

Thanks again. Sorry for being so worried and frantic about this!

[Ella]

Just a little update.
The air is fixed!!! It has slowly crept back down to about 72 degrees and should get cooler through the night. I think it was just in time, too because I could tell Eli was starting to get a little lethargic. I think he is very happy that it is cool again, he did a couple binkies across his room and danced in his favorite corner – such a great thing to see after a stressful 24 hours! He hasn’t pooped much today and the poops that he did do are very small. He ate all his pellets and greens for dinner and has been eating hay so I will keep an eye on this but I think it was just out of stress and he will probably be back to normal in a bit!!

If anyone is reading this because their air broke or because it is just hot in the buns space I think fans are a really good addition to keeping cool as long as they can escape it if they need to. Eli did not like the water bottles. I think that the big additions to his area freaked him out a bit, he would slowly move to investigate and then dash away. He also wasn’t all that interested in his tiles. He did like moving in between the air flow and the corners where the fan couldn’t get him. So if your bun is like mine, this may help them out!

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