As the Autumn gets a grip and the rain and the cold start to appear we sometimes like to go home and shut the door on it all. With animals it may not be the same. We have kept our rabbits outside all year round and their coats have naturally grown to accommodate this. They are never live alone so have a partner bunny to keep warm with and an area or two in their run set up where they can be free of draughts and insulated from the wind and rain.
As humans we cannot imagine what it is like to be a rabbit. We have no natural fluffy coats or an instinct which requires us to listen for natural noises all the time in order to flee. When we brought a sick bunny home it has never felt to us like the best place for him. Generally we have nurtured poorly ones outside in their runarounds with frequent attention and carefully foraged food. This way they do not disconnect from their fellow rabbits or their environment.
If you have a connected set up then you will be able to see where the rabbits choose to be and it may surprise you if they are outside in grim weather. So long as they can shelter from the rain they may still quite like watching it we find. Most of the day our rabbits are in their large runs or watch tower plus. In the morning they are often in their top boxes.
If there are enough places to go it relieves us from deciding what might be best and challenges us to trust the rabbits to make the decision. There might be a thing or two to learn from what they do.
The fun we have is in changing their options and bringing in new things to see how they respond. It is particularly interesting to see how they get on when older as well. We firmly feel they appreciate being out seeing, smelling and listening to the natural world in safety.
