The Rex Difference: Fur, Feet and Flooring
Packing for a Rex starts with his feet. The breed's famously plush, velvet coat comes with thinner fur on the underside of the hind feet, and Rex rabbits are well known for developing sore hocks when they spend time on hard, rough or wire floors. So alongside food, pack flooring: thick washable mats, fleece blankets or a deep layer of soft bedding to cover the whole pen base at the sitter's house, plus spares for midweek changes. Do not assume the sitter's spare pen or hutch floor is suitable; if it is wire or bare wood, your mats are the difference between a comfortable week and a rabbit who comes home limping.
Hay, Pellets and Greens for Seven Days
Send his usual hay in real quantity, since a Rex is a medium-to-large rabbit with an appetite to match, his pellets in a tub marked with the daily measure, and his familiar greens in two fresh batches. Keep the diet boringly identical to home: a gut used to one hay and one pellet does not need a holiday menu, and the sitter should know that hay, not pellets, is the item that must never run out. Pack only his usual treats, labelled, and note any greens he does not tolerate. A spare bag of hay left with a neighbour or ordered for delivery is a sensible backstop for a week-long stay.
Tray, Water and the Rest of the Pen Kit
Include his own litter tray with a week's worth of his usual litter, and make sure the tray sits on the soft flooring too, because Rex feet spend a lot of time in the tray. A heavy ceramic water bowl he cannot tip, with a bottle as backup, his hide house, cardboard and willow chews, and a digging box if he has one complete the kit. His coat picks up little debris compared with long-haired breeds, so no grooming kit is needed beyond a note that he should never be bathed; a damp cloth for a specific spot is the most cleaning he should get.
The Foot-Check Page of the Care Sheet
Ask the sitter, in writing, to look at the backs of his hind feet daily while he is resting or eating, without flipping him over: pink, bald or broken skin, any swelling, or a rabbit shifting weight off a foot all go on a photo to you and, if the skin is broken or he is reluctant to hop, to the vet. The sheet also carries your vet's number, the emergency clinic, your contacts and written consent for urgent treatment, plus the standard rabbit red flags: not eating across half a day, shrinking or absent droppings, hunched teeth-grinding, and limping for any reason.
Comfort and Calm in a Strange Room
A Rex is usually a sociable, inquisitive rabbit, but a new room still warrants a quiet corner, a hide he fits in fully, and handling that supports his hindquarters whenever he is lifted, since a kick against an unsupported back risks injury. Ask the sitter to rabbit-proof the exercise area's cables before his first run, and to keep any resident dogs behind a barrier even if they seem gentle. A midweek video of him stretched out on his mats tells you his feet and his mood are both fine.
Write the Flooring Rule Down Where It Cannot Be Missed
Of everything in his bags, the mats and the daily foot check are what a sitter is most likely to undervalue, so they belong at the top of a single clear handover. KinsLe's Care Pass gives your Rex's sitter temporary, clear access to that routine, feet first, for the whole week.