# wire bottom?



## Zibb (Jul 18, 2012)

Can a cage with a wire bottom hurt Benny's feet?


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## mdith4him (Jul 18, 2012)

Yes. If you buy one, you'll need to cover at least some of it with a hard surface that the bunny can stand on. I think it's easier just to buy a cage with a hard plastic bottom.


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## cwolfec (Jul 18, 2012)

:yeahthat:


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## LakeCondo (Jul 18, 2012)

If you already have a wire bottomed cage, you could try adding a folded up piece of fiberglass window screening. This probably would have to be fastened down in some way.

But you won't want your rabbit to spend much time in a cage, so you could do without one entirely. If you have an xpen [exercise pen], you'd only need a carrier. The xpens usually come with 8 2-ft panels, so you can make a 4x4-ft space. Indoor-outdoor carpeting with a low nap will protect the floor from nibbling as long as the none of the rug's sides are inside the pen. The height of the pen depends on whether your rabbit is a climber or not.


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## Nelsons_Mom (Jul 18, 2012)

Let's put it this way, would you want to stand on that in your barefeet all day? I tried it for a matter of minutes and it hurts! If you already have a wire bottomed cage, I'd put a blanket down to protect his feet.


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## LakeCondo (Jul 18, 2012)

Even though rabbits' feet are more padded than humans' are, hours on hours of it would be uncomfortable.


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## woahlookitsme (Jul 18, 2012)

We use wire bottom cages for all our buns with no problems. We do provide ceramic tiles since they are outside buns to help keep them cool and to be a rest area if they need to get off the wire.


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## silversky2668 (Jul 18, 2012)

I've heard of a lot of cases where rabbits get sore hocks from wire cages, and I've seen cases as well, but I know that some rabbits don't seem as bothered by it (at least, they don't always get sore hocks-I don't know how it actually feels to them, though). I personally don't use one for my own rabbit, but I can understand how they make things easier for breeders. For one rabbit that you're litterbox training, though, I think a plastic bottomed cage would be better. Either that or cover the wire with something.


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## majorv (Jul 18, 2012)

For all those who keepmaligningwire bottom cages, how many have hadexperience using them, as opposed to those who just "read" or "heard"it's bad?Granted, there are some breeds that don't do well on wire, but - for the most part -as long as the rabbit has something else to sit on besides just wire, it shouldn't be a problem. If humans had more padding and fur on the bottom of their feet then it wouldn't hurt. :wink


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## silversky2668 (Jul 18, 2012)

Does it also depend on the size of the holes? I've seen cases where people have hutches with wire, but the holes in between are extremely large so that the rabbits feet are constantly almost going through. 

And as for your question, I admit a lot of it is what I've read. Most sites I go on say that wire is bad for the hocks and say, like you pointed out, that there should at least be a non-wire spot for the rabbit to rest. But I do have a couple cases I've actually seen. One was a girl who kept her rabbit on wire, and when he hopped you could see the sores on the bottom of his feet. The other is a rabbit at a daycare I work at where they had him on wire and his feet were sore. (There were other issues there that I complained about as well, but I won't get into those).

But like you said, I think it does depend on the breed (not that I have that much say in the matter, lol). And I can definitely understand how, when you have a lot of rabbit cages to clean, pull out trays are much simpler than worrying about scrubbing litterboxes or hutches everyday. It's when people have a tiny wire cage (I always see really small ones for sale on craigslist) for "convenience" for one rabbit that I get kind of annoyed, because I think there are better options out there.


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## MiserySmith (Jul 18, 2012)

I've made or customized a lot of cages for pets through out the years, and working with wire kills your hands. You have no idea how sore they were just from bending the wire into place and attaching it. I wouldn't want to stand on wire like that all day.
I really don't feel it's any extra work to dump the bottom of a cage/litter box vs a pull out pan though so it'd be the same either way work wise.


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## MyBabyHasPaws (Jul 18, 2012)

The wire hurts like bloody hell if you bend lots of it! When I attempted to make our bunny run I was all scratched up! Mind you, I suck at that stuff so I might have been doing something wrong lol.


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## LakeCondo (Jul 18, 2012)

On the one hand, we aren't made like rabbits, so we can't tell from how it would be for us.

On the other hand, rabbits hide the fact that they're uncomfortable, so no one can say for sure that they're not uncomfortable.

My preference would to err or the side of comfort & use the smallest mesh possible. So it becomes, not wire or not, but if wire, what wire.


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## Nancy McClelland (Jul 18, 2012)

All our hutches have wire bottoms. However, we have a litter box, carpet, tiles and wood for them to lounge around, on, or in as the case may be so there is not very much wire showing. The only rabbits we've ever had hock problems with have been our Rex bunnies.


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## majorv (Jul 18, 2012)

*MiserySmith wrote: *


> I've made or customized a lot of cages for pets through out the years, and working with wire kills your hands. You have no idea how sore they were just from bending the wire into place and attaching it. I wouldn't want to stand on wire like that all day.
> I really don't feel it's any extra work to dump the bottom of a cage/litter box vs a pull out pan though so it'd be the same either way work wise.


When we first got rabbits it was for my daughter's FFA project. We built a traditional 3 cage hutch for our trio of Californians. I don't like dealing with cage wire because it IS easy to get scratched when you're trying to bend it. Looking back, I don't think we used the correct gauge wire either.Both the grid spacing and the gauge can make a big difference in how well the rabbit does on wire.


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## majorv (Jul 18, 2012)

*LakeCondo wrote: *


> On the one hand, we aren't made like rabbits, so we can't tell from how it would be for us.
> 
> On the other hand, rabbits hide the fact that they're uncomfortable, so no one can say for sure that they're not uncomfortable.
> 
> My preference would to err or the side of comfort & use the smallest mesh possible. So it becomes, not wire or not, but if wire, what wire.



That's true, but we allknow our rabbits and you can usually tell if something is 'different' with them. I looked on two well known cage manufacturer's websites and they recommend 16 gauge wireforsmall to regular size breeds and 14 gauge for larger breeds. I personally think 1/2" x 1/2" grid spacing for the flooris best. It's small enough to support their feet (even that of a growing kit) but large enough to allow poop to fall through.Iprobably wouldn't use a wire bottom cage if it didn't at least meet that criteria....and, of course, like others have said, always having something elsein the cage for the rabbit to sit on is necessary, too.


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## Blue eyes (Jul 18, 2012)

The entire purpose for having a wire bottom is so that the poo & pee goes through it. So if bunny is litter trained I don't see any reason or purpose to have wire bottom. It obviously wasn't designed for the comfort of the rabbit but for the convenience of the human. I understand people put alternate flooring on wire, I just don't see any reason to use wire at all *IF* bunny is litter trained. (I'm not trying to be snooty or contentious, it just doesn't seem logical to use wire-bottom when it isn't necessary and there are better alternatives.)


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## majorv (Jul 19, 2012)

I agree that a wire bottom cageisn't necessary if the rabbit is litter box trained. However, the OP only asked about wire flooring on a rabbit's feet and doesn't mention whether their rabbit istrained or not.


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## Blue eyes (Jul 19, 2012)

*majorv wrote: *


> I agree that a wire bottom cageisn't necessary if the rabbit is litter box trained. However, the OP only asked about wire flooring on a rabbit's feet and doesn't mention whether their rabbit istrained or not.


Yep. Agreed. Just making a point about litter trained buns.


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## Zibb (Jul 19, 2012)

Benny has only been with me for a couple days so hes not completely potty trained.But he's getting there


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## LakeCondo (Jul 19, 2012)

*majorv wrote:*


> we allknow our rabbits and you can usually tell if something is 'different' with them.


It's amazing what some people can miss. Plus a new rabbit might be hard to judge. Then there's the first-time rabbit owner, who has nothing to compare the behavior to.


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