Keeping a rabbit with injured ears cool in the summer.

[KenoshaRabbits]

Hey gang I recently got some french angoras, they are doing well and are in quarantine. The buck, Van Gogh, is missing parts of both ears. I would say he is missing about 40-60% of each ear. According to the lady I got them from, the buck's mother damaged them during kindling.

With the summer on its way I have concerns with keeping him cool since he is missing most of his ears. I was wondering if anyone out there has been in a similar situation. It doesn't get too hot by me since I'm right next to Lake Michigan. It should be 5-10 degrees cooler in the summer.

In the end I figure I will have to frozen bottle him.

 

[2CrazyFools]

We tend to go the frozen bottle route for all our buns during the summers but I've also heard of doing the damp sand method and we are going to give that a shot this go around. The gist of it is a small tray of sand in their cages, and keep it damp so they can lay on it and cool off without getting wet. I don't know how long it will stay damp until it all evaporates but we're going to see what happens. I need to pick up some trays from the dollar store here soon...

We also have a mister system set up that we'll turn on if it gets over 90-95, it's attached to a timer so it goes on every hour for 30 minutes after I turn it on around 11am and it stays on until 5ish depending on the day.

I've also heard of frozen tiles but I don't know how long those stay cool compared to the frozen bottles.