Indoors or Outdoors? Where Should You Keep Your Rabbits in Winter?

It is that time of year again when you think about where best to keep your rabbit: indoors or outdoors? Having a rabbit indoors or outdoors, especially during chilly winters, is the subject of ongoing debate.

Wherever you decide to keep your rabbit this season, you will need to keep them well fed, warm and dry. A vital part of their care is keeping a good supply of rabbit litter. If you do choose to keep your pet indoors, you will need rabbit litter for the litter tray. If you have an outdoor pet, you will need rabbit litter to line the bottom of the hutch to keep it well insulated.

So with snow forecast for the early part of 2012, you will need to consider the options. Here we shall look at all sides of the argument to help you make up your mind. We shall first examine the rabbit’s natural habitat, whether they are adapted for the cold, then look at the implications to the owners of having an indoor or outdoor pet.

Whatever you decide, this will affect the care of your pet including hutch design, choice of rabbit litter and bedding.

Rabbit Litter - click here to buy our universal bedding from our online shop.

What is a Rabbit’s Natural Environment?

In the wild rabbits live in draught-free underground burrows which retain some heat during winter. As they live among other rabbits they frequently huddle up together to keep warm. Although they live underground, rabbits need to take frequent trips to the surface to get food, even in freezing conditions.

How Well Can Rabbits Deal With the Cold?

Rabbits grow thicker fur coats as winter approaches and also have fur pads on their feet, so they naturally adapt to winter weather. However, they generally keep out of the cold by snuggling up in sheltered burrows.

This means although they cope with frosty weather quite well, they do need shelter from draughts and extreme conditions. Avoiding the cold is vital for very young rabbits who have not yet grown a winter coat.

Individual Adaptation

There are more than five dozen types of domestic rabbits and variations between the breeds. As a general rule, rabbits will get used to living either indoors or outdoors. However, pay close attention to whether your rabbit seems happy and avoid exposing them to sudden changes in temperature. For example a cold-adapted rabbit may find being indoors uncomfortably hot and vice versa.

Owner Preferences

Where you keep your rabbit is mainly down to owner preference. An owner may want to keep their rabbit indoors for convenience so they can clean, water and feed the rabbit with ease all year round.

Keeping your pet indoors prevents owners worrying about their rabbit’s water freezing over or if they have enough rabbit litter/bedding in freezing conditions. Others prefer to keep their rabbit outside for hygiene reasons; because odour is an issue or they are affected by dust from bedding materials. You may also decide to keep pets outdoors if there are space limitations, especially if you keep a lot of rabbits.

Many of these potential problems can be overcome by SmartBedz. For example, if you have a pet outdoors in the winter, SmartBedz makes cleaning out easier. This is because the cage can be cleaned daily quickly and easily by replacing the dirty pellets with new ones. If you spot clean the cage, it makes a more thorough cleaning job less frequent. SmartBedz is organic so once you have made the cage spotless, you can dispose of any soiled waste on the compost heap.

However, if you prefer to keep your pet indoors, SmartBedz can keep allergies at bay as it is virtually dust free. This is because it has had its dust extracted during the manufacturing process. It is also odour free as it quickly soaks up urine and prevents it coming into contact with air and creating ammonia, the main cause of smells.

Indoor Care Regime

If you do decide to keep your rabbit indoors this winter, you may want to think about house training. Introducing them to a litter tray is much easier than you think as rabbits tend to use the same places for toileting. Make sure you have a layer of SmartBedz to keep the tray odour free.

A rabbit pen, cage or hutch is suitable for rabbits kept indoors. Rabbits like to have a sleeping and eating area but make sure it is large enough for the comfort of your pet - so buy the biggest you can afford. Line the bottom of the cage or hutch with SmartBedz to keep odours at bay. Also make sure your rabbit has a sufficient supply of food and to keep your pet healthy.

Outdoor Care Regime

If you are going to keep your rabbits outdoors in winter, there are lots of steps you can take to keep them warm.

Layer the bottom of the cage with a thick layer of newspaper before adding a layer of rabbit litter. You should then top up sleeping areas with soft hay or similar material for them to burrow into. Their sleeping quarters should have enough bedding to keep them cosy. If you are worried about draughts (especially caused by high winds) you can bring your rabbit’s hutch into a shed or garage. If you do this, make sure you are not using your car in the garage as the exhaust fumes will harm or potentially kill your rabbit.

Many rabbit owners drape a blanket or a waterproof cover over the hutch for extra insulation. You can also put a water proof cover over your rabbit’s run. Keep two water bottles handy, one for use in the cage and the other on stand-by as your rabbit’s water bottle can freeze over. You can also give your rabbit an extra bowl of water just in case this happens.

Cages need a regular clean out in winter because wet areas will freeze. This is what makes SmartBedz an ideal rabbit litter because it immediately soaks up any wet patches and keeps the moisture inside the pellet to keep your pet dry.

Made entirely from straw compressed into pellets, it also works as an insulator to keep your pet snug.

Rabbit Litter - click here to buy our universal bedding from our online shop