outdoor safe temperatures

Question
Our rabbit is kept in a raised metal cage on our rear (roof and two walls) porch. We live in the CT and overnight temps. have been 0 - 15deg F. We have a wool blanket over the top and 3 sides of the cage (All the way to the floor)to act as a wind break w/the sheltered side nearest the house open for rabbit view (to us) and air quality. She is a chinchilla type and has never lived indoors. She does have her thick winter fur coat and is 6-8 months old. Is she in danger with temperatures dropping this low and/or lower. Please advise.

Answer
Dear Gary,

Any raised hutch, no matter how well draped against the wind, is insufficient protection when temperatures are this cold.  In the wild, rabbits retreat to fully protected burrows to escape the winter elements.  Your rabbit might not die right away, if she's covered, but she will certainly be miserable and very uncomfortable in temperatures this cold.

Although she has her winter coat, I would recommend that you take this opportunity to make her into a house rabbit.  A lonely hutch on a roof is no place for an intelligent, sensitive animal such as a rabbit.  If you wouldn't keep a dog or cat in such housing, then why a rabbit?  Despite still popular misconception, rabbits are not livestock. They are interactive, social, and thrive on the company of the family they love.

Please get this bunny inside where she will be safe and comfortable.  Rabbits are happiest when the temperature ranges between 45 - 70 Farenheit, and though they handle cold better than heat, the temperatures you describe are torture for her.  She could get frostbite on her extremities, or worse.  At best, she will be very cold and unhappy.

For more information on how to properly care for your bunny, give her a good diet, and how to litterbox train her, please visit:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/rabbithealth.html

and

www.rabbit.org/

I hope this helps. Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana