Chewy is suffering from the heat. Is a fan ok?

We're having a particularly hot summer this year, and Chewy is really suffering from the heat.
The 3 previous summers he (and Kenzo before) didn't have a great time either, but I managed to make it be ok for them, by just letting them out in the early morning and during the evening and night, and giving them frozen water bottles in the hutch during the hot afternoons and they were fine and full of life when they did go out, but this year it's really not going so well.

Chewy is lethargic, when I open the hutch in the morning he goes outside and runs around for 20 minutes, but then he's already too hot and he just flops out (always in the sun for some reason, although he has tons of spots to go to in the shade).
So then I put his morning pellets in his hutch and he goes in to eat them (for the last few days he hasn't even been eating them all), and doesn't come out again he just flops in his sleeping corner and stays there, so I close the hutch door in the late morning.
He hardly eats any hay, only his greens at lunch time.
In the afternoon I give him the frozen water bottles but he ignores them (the previous years he loved to lay next to them) and again he doesn't do anything.
The other day he scared me, because when I reached in to pet him and wet his ears a little he didn't get up and search me for noms like he usually does, he stayed flopped out (this had NEVER happened before) with his eyes half open until I started to shake him a bit and he decided to sit up.
In the evening when it's nice and fresh again I open the hutch and he wanders around in the living room for a bit usually but he doesn't go outside, so a bit later at night I pick him up and put him outside but he runs straight back in to his hutch and flops again.
He perks up a bit when I give him his evening pellets, usually he also eats some hay and drinks at that time but that's it, and he doesn't want to go back out.

He's really not drinking much or eating much hay so I'm worried he'll go into stasis, and he's really too hot (his ears are really hot) so I'm getting really worried.
He lost intrest in running around, playing, digging in the pots outside...

The other day my mom put an electric fan infront of his hutch, and to my surprise he perked right up.
He sat infront of the fan for a long time, then went to drink and eat some hay, then went to lay down right infront of the fan again, in the middle of the afternoon!

So I wanted to know if putting a fan infront of his hutch during the afternoon is ok or not, I think I read somewhere that the breeze could make them sick, and I really don't want that to happen either.

And what other things can I do to keep him cool apart from the frozen water bottles and passing a wet towel on his ears and head from time to time?

There's no AC in the house so it gets really hot in here.
The cat usually sleeps under the beds on the cool floors so she's ok and the hamsters don't mind the heat too much as long as their in the shade, but I'm very worried about Chewy.

In july we'll be in France and it's alot less hot there, but I'm scared of what will happen in august when we're back in Spain...

I think in the Hopping mad mag, there was a section on keeping your rabbits cool

http://www.hoppingmad.org/E2/HoppingMad2.htm

not sure if anything in there will add more to what you already know. I don't know about the fan, I wld've said it will be okay, but then I've never heard of the breeze making them sick :/. Sorry I'm not much help!

That's weird I didn't see all those feature titles when I checked out the Hopping Mad mag.
The titles aren't clickable like the ones I saw though so how do I read the articles?

Oh...I got to the bit about keeping cool by clicking on "Health" at the top and then "Sarah Jane's tips and remedies" http://www.hoppingmad.org/E2/healthHOT.htm << does that work? Unless u mean you can't click on any of it :/

Oh yay thanks for the link, I'll read through it now see if I find any extra advice.

I cant understand how a fan could make him poorly hun. I would let him have the fan when the sun is at its hottest, just to help him out a bit.

I hope he is okay hunnie x x

I thought the breeze from the fan could make him catch a cold, but I'm guessing it's better than him feeling too hot.

I think a cold is a germ hun, I dont think its something you can catch from being cold (as far as I know).

K x

For my other pets when it's got I have frozen cans of beans in a fleece suit and give them marble slabs or tiles to lay on as they're really nice and cool. I have pets rats that have frozen peas in water. They love it its more or a game and really cools them down. Shame its not the same for bunnies :-( Hope he's ok bless him

Xxx

I love this website it's American.

http://www.hopperhome.com/hopperhomebunsinthesun.htm

I use old. Coke or squash bottles filled with water and put in the freezer. I then lie them next to the buns which works. I also use a fan. Over here in the pet shops u can even buy fans that attach to hutches so I don't think there would be any problem with using a fan at all. Bless Chewy x

Ok I'll keep using the fan, and I'll give him a water bowl in his hutch with ice cubes, I'll see if that helps.

Good thinking Lottie x

Lottie wrote:That's weird I didn't see all those feature titles when I checked out the Hopping Mad mag.
The titles aren't clickable like the ones I saw though so how do I read the articles?

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