Is it safe to bring outdoor rabbits indoors during cold weather?

Hi, it is best to keep rabbits inside at night in very hot or very cold weather. They can go outside in nice weather and back inside at night. Predators love rabbits, since they have no way to fight back if another animal wants to eat them. Also, outside they are prone to get fleas, ticks, and other external parasites on their bodies. They can also get internal parasites from eating brush and dirt. If you live where dogs and cats go, I would only allow your rabbit outside in a very secure cage. Make sure it is large enough for the rabbit to get exercise, has shelter, and food and water available. It also should go underground a half a foot so predators cannot dig under the fencing. So in light of the set up it takes to safely keep a rabbit outside, it is better to keep them indoor where they are safe. Rabbits can be leash walked with a small harness for outdoor activity. Good luck, I hope this helps!

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I recommend bringing as much of the outside in as you can. For example, bring some of their toys or bedding that they've had outside to the inside of your house, so that it is familiar to them. If you think the inside of your house will be noisy, you can buy them a white noise machine to help drown out any strange noises they may not be used to, and eventually wean them off of this. I hope this is helpful!

I would not recommend putting a rabbit that has been living indoors outside permanently. They get used to the indoor climate and outside living can be a shock for them. And if you proceed to do it a metal/plastic cage is not an appropriate home for them. It will provide absoloutely no insulation due to the thermal properties of the materials. You would need to invest in an insulated wooden hutch or a specifically outdoor plastic hutch.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. As long as your bunnies are indoor only and are protected by either windows and/or screens, they are safe! If your bunnies are going to be outside, they need to be strictly supervised, so that a cat does not attack them. I hope this is helpful!

Hello. It is not cruel to keep a rabbit indoors if you supply a good environment, proper diet, & plenty of activities & stimulation. You can take her outdoors for short periods & only allow her to graze grass that is clean & never sprayed with fertilizers or herbicides. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I recommend introducing Fluffy in a large clean cage with plenty of room for her to move around and clean soft bedding such as Care Fresh or soft wood shavings with plenty of food, toys and ideally a sheltered portion of the cage where she can hide/not be visible. Rabbits are prone to overheating and should be maintained at a temperature of about 15-21 C (60-70 F). If moving her in the winter, be sure to put her cage far from heater, if moving her in the summer (now I assume it is summer in Australia), just make sure that her room is air conditioned /does not get too hot. Offering fresh veggies and treats daily will likely minimize the stress of the move. In addition, try to keep Human/pet traffic/noise in her room at a minimum. Good luck!

Here is a link to an article on the house rabbit society web page that discusses warm weather concerns for bunnies. http://rabbit.org/faq-warm-weather-concerns/ Hopefully some of this information will help you convince your parents to bring your bunnies inside.