Photos of rabbits in heat distress

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akane":3vhpvyyq said:
Of course rabbits are kept in their carriers. People should have open wire carriers that get plenty of airflow. Many people have several carriers of rabbits with labels or different genders and couldn't set up pens for them. Most shows are also so jam packed you can barely fit a carrier much less a pen unless you want to go out in the middle of nowhere and miss your breeds call. Usually I see carriers stacked upon carriers sometimes up to 4' high.

Now not watching for the sun is wrong. When we left ours unattended near the door at a fair we threw a light weight spring jacket over half the carrier in case.

Many only give water periodically and then remove the dishes. Most rabbits don't seem to drink or eat when traveling and at shows unless it's a long time and they have a chance to relax in one spot for awhile. Some like to eat or play with their dishes getting their coat wet after they have a drink and some just don't have room to move around without spilling a dish. We've offered water but only had one drink and she'd sat in the back of my truck with topper in cool weather for 2 days not drinking anything before the show day because we have to pick them up from the horse stable ahead of time to make it to shows on time. I've watched others setup next to us fill up 10-20 dishes and have 2-3 drink the whole day.

Thank you for your reply. :) (I've added the bolding and have responded in order.)

Agreed: rabbits need to be safely confined, but these particular three large-ish rabbits almost couldn't even turn around in their cages and were face-into the sun. They could've used an ex-pen to walk around, for sure. Water bottles would've been helpful for them, as would shade or an attentive owner. (still ticked off...)

There was lots of room at this outdoor show, held in a small city park, and there was a PA system with announcers who knew how to announce. :) ("Youth AmChins to Manuel's table in 5 minutes; Youth AmChins to Manuel's table.") I'm not sure how many breeds are usually represented at this level of show; I had hoped to see a Flemish Giant "in person," for example. What the low number of breeds meant was that there was actually unused shade! Which made those three rabbits even more obvious in their distress.

re. your note about no way to move without spilling a dish: I saw many rabbits (Angoras as well as some short-haired breeds) with clamped-on looking water/food containers in the shape of a half-circle. All of these half-circle dishes were bone-dry. Do they come off? Is that why they weren't being used?

The Angora owners, however, were extremely conscientious about shade! The only time the Angoras were in the sun was while they were being transported in their (yes, stacked) cages on a rolling trolley from one shaded place to the next. :)
 
i have never been to a show with space, an announcement system, or shade besides the building. Usually everyone is crammed shoulder to shoulder in the building with no choice where to move their rabbits as the sun moves and definitely no space for an xpen so most people probably don't own one. I don't. There's often 100s of people with 1000s of rabbits in a space about the size of my horse stable (36x60') with people spilling out the doors having friends telling them when their breed is up. Then there's 3 or 4 judging tables with as many judges running at once. It's utter chaos with barely the ability to hear your breed and where to go. Sometimes they have a dry erase board listing the order of the breeds but that only holds 6 or so and you have no idea how long each breed will take.

It was a complete shock after showing horses where they have a full class listing plus an announcer on speaker telling what class is up and what class is next every class. I even went to one rabbit show where they didn't know what they were judging next. They just randomly picked a breed as they got done with one. Which meant we couldn't go anywhere and had to sit on the concrete for 6 hrs waiting for our breed. My butt and legs were sore for days.

This is why I don't go to many shows. I like showing but I don't really want to wake up early to register, drive several hours, force my way in to a spot in the building, sit around for half a day, and then the several hour drive home since only 1 show is within 45mins of me.

I asked my husband and he said he's never seen a rabbit drink at a show even when they had water.
 
I've never seen my rabbits drink or eat at a show either.
I feed and water them before the show, and after the show.
Sometimes I put a trickle of water in. I wander past periodically, and see if they've drunk the trickle.

I've never been to an outdoor show in Ohio, don't think they have them this far north unless it's a fair, which I still think are in the barns. If it was that hot here, I would not take the Rex, SF or Angoras to a show.
 
--in their cages/carriers
--in the direct sun, after it came out,
--WITH NO WATER :angry:

In cages/carriers is safest. Mine stay in them unless I'm grooming or they're about to go on a table. I had a buck panic and nearly break his back at the first show I had rabbits entered in...no way am I repeating THAT nasty experience. :( The carriers are "cramped" for a reason: if the rabbit panics, they can't bash themselves into a wall at speed and break their darn fool necks.

As for sun...all the shows I've been at have been indoors, no sunlight. I keep a few towels in the car so I can keep the sun off of them when driving, but that could overheat them at a show. I'm not sure how I'd handle that.

Some of my rabbits drink at shows...most of mine do not.

Also consider this: they may have been given water after the show, so that DURING the show they don't pee all over the judge. ;) I had a random bunny pee on me at the last show...I was helping a friend and picked up her little buck to put him back in his carrier, and he pee'd down my shirt. :roll:

PERSONALLY, I'd rather a judge get peed on and my buns stay hydrated, but...most of 'em won't drink til I get home.

Some owners had ex-pens with tarps for their rabbits to stretch their legs and get a break;

No! NO! Unsafe!!!! Someone stomps by and the rabbit spook, and go careening into the sides of the pen, they could kill themselves. Last show I was at, a bunch of kids came in from the skate park, and one jerk of a kit rolled on his skateboard, scared the crap out of my rabbits. If they had room to get up a bit of a run they could get HURT!!! No ex-pens EVER at a show for my rabbits...safety FIRST, always!

Those folk who had pens up, I am a little shocked. :eek:

NO WATER OR SHADE! PANTING RABBITS!

I'm very confused, I haven't seen anything like that (except the no water thing) at shows. :( Maybe it was just an off day?

Of course rabbits are kept in their carriers. People should have open wire carriers that get plenty of airflow. Many people have several carriers of rabbits with labels or different genders and couldn't set up pens for them. Most shows are also so jam packed you can barely fit a carrier much less a pen unless you want to go out in the middle of nowhere and miss your breeds call. Usually I see carriers stacked upon carriers sometimes up to 4' high.

I stack my carriers...all two of them. :lol: It saves space.

Agreed: rabbits need to be safely confined, but these particular three large-ish rabbits almost couldn't even turn around in their cages and were face-into the sun. They could've used an ex-pen to walk around, for sure. Water bottles would've been helpful for them, as would shade or an attentive owner. (still ticked off...)

No ex-pens at shows unless you are okay with potentially killing a rabbit. ;) I'm super-paranoid about space and carrier sizes.

And btw, my Champagnes have almost no room when at a show. They're kind of squished into carriers; Boss could never comfortably turn around without squishing his face into the wire first. He could stretch out on the grooming table, though he never did; he kind of hated shows and would stay crunched into a ball no matter what. He wouldn't have walked a step if his life depended on it...except when he panicked and nearly broke himself in two. :(

re. your note about no way to move without spilling a dish: I saw many rabbits (Angoras as well as some short-haired breeds) with clamped-on looking water/food containers in the shape of a half-circle. All of these half-circle dishes were bone-dry. Do they come off? Is that why they weren't being used?

When they call your breed, a lot of people have multiple rabbits of that breed entered, so they lug the whole carrier over. And the water SLOSHES ALL OVER THE PLACE, dousing the rabbits............right before going on the table. ;) Hence why most of the water bowls I see are filled AFTER they've been judged, not before...plus a clever rabbit can often get the bowls off and make a mess anyways.

I don't know what could have been done for those panting rabbits...maybe alert someone at the show entry table there's some rabbits in distress? :(
 
Wish I had read this thread a month ago .... Might not have lost my Altex/!???? buck .....


You might just leave this stickied .... till the end of time. Summer comes every year and so do noobs like me!


mystang89":1ofgkhgh said:
Also, a question. I think I remember reading or hearing somewhere that if a rabbit starts to have heat distress that it is more susceptible to it and heat stroke in the future. I don't know if that is true but I do know with humans that if a person suffers from heat exhaustion or heat stroke that they ARE more susceptible to future bouts with it.


Saw this and thought I'd respond as I have a good friend who is a trauma surgeon here in Houston.

He & I were discussing concussions recently (In Humans, specifically athletes such as MMA fighters & football players) and what he said was pretty simple , a concussion is trauma to the brain and a heat stroke is very similar (caused by swelling rather than impact).

Once you have a concussion , you are 9x more likely to have subsequent concussions. I'd assume heat stroke is similar in reoccurrence .... I'm going to pick his brain tomorrow and follow up on this topic.
 
Hi, I'm new here, just hopped over from ms.m's blog. I also wanted to say that I agree, this post should be stickied forever!
I don't have any rabbits yet, but plan on getting French Angora rabbits for their wool and meat. So glad I stumbled upon 24carrots and through them, found my way here. :D :bunnyhop:
 
Hi, 3LilMonkeys, and welcome to RabbitTalk! :welcomewagon: This thread is stickied, and I imagine it will stay that way.

I'm so glad you found my blog, and then this forum! :D

That is my old blog... you can find my new one below in my signature. :)

French Angoras are so beautiful, and so versatile! When do you plan to start?
 
Plan on starting in the Spring. I want to go out and buy them now, but that is how I get myself in trouble, and the animals deserve better than unprepared/impulsiveness. I want to be prepared as much as possible before buying any bunnies.
I also plan on getting some American blues for meat rabbits in the future. There is a breeder about an hour from me that is breeding both French Angoras and Americans. 85 for French pedigree, 65 for non pedigree, and 35 for American Blues.
 
***Bumping this for those who are new to raising rabbits since summer is upon us once again!***
 
HOWsMom":1xng5sfy said:
Thank you, MSD

You're welcome. :)

People often have no idea what the problem is when they see their rabbits acting like this, so I hope the post will help save lives.

HOWsMom":1xng5sfy said:
I'm going to make sure Bug4H sees it.

Good!
 
This is very good information. Last week, a few days before our heat wave was due to hit I got an email from a customer who had purchased a buck from me earlier this spring. Just by chance I mentioned ice bottles and he then asked me what they were for. We were only two days away from 105+ heat! I explained and he got his bottles in the freezer in time whew! I am pretty sure he doesn't know what a hot rabbit looks like either. Sometimes it's hard to find pictures that show things that are important to recognize, like heat stress. He is a nice young man, interested in learning, and I've pointed him to various resources including this forum :)
 
Yes, thank you for bumping this post as a reminder. I got caught off guard our first really hot day and by the time we got back from church I had all 4 does at the back of the house showing some major signs of heat distress.... thankfully I already had bottles in the freezer and a fan ready to go. A little misting and it didn't take them too long to perk back up. I have found my one Creme D'Argent doesn't appear to tolerate the heat well at all. All the others are fine, and she's laid out with her head back (no salivating though, thankfully).
 
We have been considering a misting system to go with the auto-water system we've picked out. Does this sound like a reasonable effort? It would run along the cages on the inside (Where they would be able to lay for maximum shade, to avoid sunburn), with the non-metal tubing blocked off from chewing mouths by a wire screen. We've always been told not to get them wet but this summer I noticed they were practically soaking themselves on the frozen jugs and seemed just fine. We travel and it's hard for us to know if they are getting enough ice from the bunny sitter on the scorching days. <br /><br /> -- Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:26 pm -- <br /><br />
imajpm":2wfbpn79 said:
He is a nice young man, interested in learning, and I've pointed him to various resources including this forum :)
We've all been him at some point :) Without others to pass along the information the rabbit world would be doomed! Rabbit lovers are by far the friendliest and most helpful bunch I've ever dealt with.
When we had horses, if you had a problem and asked someone for advice the answer was usually something along the lines of "Loose the competition or figure it out for yourself".
 
This is great info. I live in South TX close to the Gulf of Mexico, and we alway get quite a few summer days that are really hot. It's not feasable for me to keep my bunnies in A/C, so we do as much as we can and watch them closley. Thank goodness I have never seen them look like this, but now I know what to watch for! Thanks for sharing:)
 
PinkPenguin":ihks9qdm said:
We've always been told not to get them wet

If they are show rabbits, you might ruin the texture of the coat (especially in the case of Rex- their fur crimps when they get wet), and in the case of hard water they will get a mineral buildup on the fur from constant exposure to the misters.

I have a misting system in my rabbit barn, but it is run along the rafters. I think it is more effective to cool the air in the area. I haven't run it at all this year though. A few times when it was very hot I hosed down the dirt in the barn which cools it very well.

PinkPenguin":ihks9qdm said:
ith the non-metal tubing blocked off from chewing mouths by a wire screen.

I would use 1/4" hardware cloth. Screen is not going to stand up to determined chewing.
 

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