Disaster planning with rabbits

Disasters can strike anyone at any time, and it is important to be prepared, especially upon short notice.

Natural disasters
For rabbit owners in areas prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes, consider tuning into the NOAA Weather Radio and downloading the FEMA mobile app for early warnings.

Evacuate early before conditions become critical to avoid having to abandon your pets in an emergency evacuation. Increased heavy rain and the smell of smoke can make rabbits harder to locate and more difficult to load in their carrier. Consider purchasing emergency stickers to place near your front door that can let rescue workers know that you have rabbits and other pets inside your home.

Sheltering in place
Unsafe weather conditions and pandemics can lead to shelter-in-place orders that make shopping and outside travel for rabbit supplies increasingly difficult.

What should I stock up on?
The important food supplies that rabbits should have are hay, pellets, and water. Try to aim to have at least several weeks of dried stable food available. You should be able to order these online, but local pet stores will also likely be open under shelter-in-place orders as an essential service. Call or check online before heading over as they may have limited hours.

While less urgent, you may also want to make sure that you have a stock of at least a month of rabbit-safe litter on hand as well.

It is also a good idea to use this opportunity to stock up on a rabbit first aid kit and emergency supplies, especially for GI stasis. This includes basics like liquid infant simethicone, Critical Care, Pedialyte, syringes, and Metacam and a motility drug from your rabbit-savvy veterinarian if possible.

What about fresh vegetables?
Most grocery stores will still be open as an essential service under shelter-in-place orders. Call or check online before heading over as they may have limited hours.

You can also buy or make dried herbs and dehydrated vegetables, but your rabbits will be fine on just hay and pellets indefinitely in the worst case as that should provide all the fiber and vitamins and minerals they need. Be aware of their hydration levels and make sure that they are drinking enough water if you don't feed fresh vegetables anymore.

While frozen greens can still be edible and safe, most rabbits will not like the change in texture, and the vegetables will spoil faster when thawed. We would recommend dehydrating them instead for storage. You may use an oven or a dehydrator for this task.

Alternatively, if you have a green thumb, you can try growing rabbit-safe vegetables and flowers at home.

What if I run out of pellets?
If you run out of pellets, feeding only hay for a few weeks is okay for most healthy rabbits - however, keep an eye out for excessive weight loss, as some rabbits (especially senior 6+ year old rabbits) will need some more easily digestible foods for optimal nutrition. Supplement appropriately with vegetables and treats if available.

What if I run out of hay?
Running out of hay is not optimal, but if you at least have pellets, you can increase and split their daily portion over the course of the day into at least 3 feedings to make sure that they are still eating throughout the day. If you have a yard with grass, you can also harvest fresh grass to feed your rabbit until you can obtain more hay. If you still have access to fresh greens, we would recommend increasing that portion as well.

Try to offer more chew toys such as rabbit-safe branches and grass mats to help with teeth wear in the meantime.

However, do watch out for signs of poopy butt as some rabbits may get messy behinds from the lack of fiber in the diet.

We would recommend stocking up on recovery foods such as Critical Care and grass hay cubes or hay stacks as a double backup if you do not have space to store much hay.

What if I run out of litter?
You can use newspaper or shredded paper as a rabbit litter, although it usually isn't the most absorbent. If your rabbit does not chew or eat disposable pee pads, those are an alternative as well. Otherwise, blankets and towels and other fabric can be washable pee pads in the worst case if you have no other option.

If you use wooden horse bedding or stove pellets, we recommend pre-expanding them with water to make them last longer with the same effectiveness. u/bookman796 has written a great image guide on the topic here.

What should I do if I get sick?
If you or anyone else in your household end up being unable to care for your rabbit(s) due to sickness or hospitalization, please try to plan ahead and figure out if there are any local family, friends, pet sitters, neighbors, or boarding facilities that may be able to help. Reach out to local rabbit rescues and your local rabbit veteriarian for more ideas.

Also prepare a list of emergency info including your rabbit-savvy veterinarian and emergency contacts as well as written pet care instructions in case you are urgently taken to the hospital.