Question
frozen rabbit
I live in Arizona and recently adopted a domesticated rabbit.I am not sure how old or even his past. He is cage raised. Everyday I let him roam the yard twice a day about 30 minutes. About 3 days after we got him I came in the house to get something while he was out and when I returned he was sitting in the pool on the top step. I fished him out, dried him off and put him in his cage. I was shocked. Now daily I give him a huge bowl of ice twice to keep it cool as well as frozen water bottles. It is common for him to be sitting in the bowl of water and ice. He also will soak half his body in it. I am wondering if I should be concerned or is this his natural being. He loves the water and has even been out is a rainstorm. He was jumping the happy jump and running around. The best thing about him is that when he is done playing in the yard , he goes back in his cage by himself. He is really trained. Are there any rabbits that like water or do not get sick and die from it? Thank you.
AnswerHi,
please be real careful with him outside. So many people have their rabbits killed by predators because they let them outside to play. A safer thing for him is a large fence run that is fenced on the top to protect from predator birds.
But anyway, yes there are a small minority of rabbits that like water. They are more on the rare side. Most rabbits do not like and do not want to be in water. It's pretty clear he enjoys it, it probably helps cool him down. It is good you dry him off though. Having his skin wet all the time could become a problem. Drying him off after he is soaking wet every once in awhile is good. Perhaps frozen bottles filled with water, is a better option that ice in a bowl where he can get drenched. Now, a little fresh ice in his drinking water bottle is a good idea.
If you fill the water bottles up full and cap them, they will be solid and they won't burst during freezing. You can cover some of them with a dishcloth so that they don't freeze to him, which is important. If he gets in the pool, dry him off. The higher chlorine in the pool water is not good for him and really not good for thin rabbit skin. You may even want to rinse him off with cool, fresh water before drying him to get some of the chlorine off of him. Otherwise when he grooms he'll ingest some that's dried onto his fur.
A real issue that can kill them is if they wind up getting chilled. If the combo of the temperature dropping and them being wet down to the skin, they can get chilled, which starts dropping their core temperature, and this will lead into shock and death. It is why it isn't a bad idea to, if he winds up in the pool (probably not good, better idea is a small little tub of fresh water if he really want to hop in water, one he can also easily hop out of on his own) or in a small fresh water tub, is to dry him off. And give him cooler things to lay next to like the frozen 2-liter soda bottles, that will sweat, but won't drench him to the skin. If they are covered with a light cloth he'll get even less wet, which may be a good thing.
And always be real careful with him in the pool - if something above sees him as a target (and hawks and eagles see miles away), you don't want to be another rabbit owner horror story. Nothing is worse losing a pet because you were doing something for a pet because you thought they'd enjoy it, only to lose them tragically because of it.
Other things you can do to is grab some ice in your fingers for a few seconds, then run your cool wet fingers over his ears. His ears are his main heat exchangers - they are his main radiator. Don't get water in his inner ear, just run fingers on the outsides of the ear.
And please be careful of snakes and scorpions out there for him as well.
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