Too cold outside for Bunny?

Hey all... have a concern. My ELop,"Pie", who is essentially an indoor bun has been begging to go outside but it is sooo cold now. Since I have had him I have always allowed him to play on our closed-in deck area outside. He goes out with our cats, plays around, and then comes in a half hour or so later when the cats decide to come in. He loves this outside time on our deck... really loves it. It has been cold this past month so I make sure he is wearing his sweater when he goes out. But these past couple days it has been incredibly cold... in the 30's. Sweater or no sweater it just seems too cold to allow him out. He doesnt understand this atall and will continually scratch at the sliding glass doors to go out (a bad habit my cats have taught him). Just scratches and scratches and will just stare out the glass doors onto the deck. Its so sad. I guess my question is... what constitutes "too cold" for Pie to go out and play? Certainly this winter the weather isnt going to get any warmer. I do admit I am a slightly paranoid "fur momma" when it comes to my animals (my cats are also indoor only animals, so this time on our closed-in deck is all they get outside as well). I certainly dont want to expose Pie to anything that may result in him catching a cold... so any advice anyone can offer will greatly be appreciated. Thanks!

Considering that rabbits live outside in temps well below zero (like -50F) and do just fine, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

incredibly cold... in the 30's

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:rotfl:

Where exactly do you live? I'd love to see temperatures in the 30's.

Your bunny is wearing a fur coat - I'm sure he'd be just fine. If it gets to -20 and a howling wind, I'd suggest you don't put him outside.

Trinity... wow -50F... guess I never thought of it that way. Seems like a bun would freeze to death. I know I would... brrr...
The last time I let Pie out was 2 days ago and when he came in his ears were sooo cold... like 2 big floppy ice cubes (LOL). I had never felt them that freezing before and it startled me. I was afraid he was going to get sick or start sneezing or something.

Caper Farm... Im in Georgia, so the 30's is a bit cold here. And as winter sets in we will see weather in the 20's and even in the teens (with the wind chill making it much colder than that).
Eventhough buns can withstand those temps... is it healthy for them? Especially being in Georgia where Pie's body is used to a much warmer climate (and of course the warmth of being mostly indoors)?

Why not let him out, but shorten the time to say 15-20 minutes. I would imagine those huge ears would feel the cold. What I find with my cat is that she will ask to go out on cold sunny days, but is quite happy to come in again once she's had a few minutes out there. (Just as well because we have her on a harness and leash and won't leave her unsupervised.)

A lot of people on this forum live much further north than we do and even though rabbits can survive in much colder temperatures, they are usually protected from the wind, etc. or they don't do so well. Pie was born and raised as pretty much an indoor rabbit in a state with very mild temperatures comparatively and it doesn't help that he does have giant ears that can and will freeze before the rest of him does, lol. I agree with Maggie- I don't think it would do any harm to let him out for a little while at a time to play/exercise/get some fresh air, but I wouldn't leave him out much beyond that because he isn't accustomed to the weather we have been having- and the wind today gave us a cold index here in my town of 19 so it might even feel colder than it actually is. That might not be all that chilly to some rabbits or people, but to us here in the south it was a freezing day!

Lauren

Thanks so much Maggie & Lauren... the cold has been something I have been very worried about. Eventhough he gets plenty of playtime & exercise in the house (he is mostly free-roaming with only cage time at night and a few hours during the day for his "nappy time" so he can sleep undisturbed) but he does love to play out on the deck in the fresh air and it has become part of his daily routine, so the past couple days of keeping him in has clearly upset him. I think I will let him out tommorro for about 10-15mins or so and see how he does. My husband says I should make him some "ear warmers" to match his sweater... now that would be funny (but not exactly a bad idea). LOL!
Thanks again for the advice everyone... it has been very helpful.