Hygiene for multi animal households - what are your routines?

Hi everyone,

(My second post today! Im on a roll...)

For those of you that keep multiple bunnies that aren't all housed together, or have many species as part of your pet family (i myself have buns, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, chickens, pot belly pigs and a snake); what are your hygiene routines? I always thought my routine was pretty good as i keep all food in seperate sealed containers, rinse out bowls & water bottles every day and give each home a good clean & disinfect once a week. But I recently had a pet sitter who was appalled by the fact that I dont sterilize water bottles and food bowls and that i dont 'sanitise' my hands in between going from animal to animal.

Does anyone actually do this?? I'm inclined to think that hes being somewhat over cautious, but perhaps hes right and I'm actually being shockingly lax!

This is why I'm interested to hear about what other people do I need a more balanced picture! Do you have a sterilization routine? How far do you take it? Do you sterilize food scoops and use different cleaning equipment for each hutch? Does anyone use sanitiser on their hands in between cuddles??

I do not, I guess it's one of those things you should do but I have to confess I don't xx

I don't sanitize my hands between going near animals, they all go in the same rooms anyway!

No, I tend to wash hands between species, but they are or go outside, if they cant cope with gems from wildlife and nature, what's the point of sterilising everything.
My worry would be it makes your animals more at risk because they will have no natural immunity!

The only times I would see it as relevant is for laboratory situations.

Nope I don't sanitize my hands either ! The buns have litter trays emptied everyday and food and water bowls rinsed out. Then once a week I wipe everything clean in their cage and disinfect the litter trays.

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Thanks everyone

Yes Halfpenny, thats exactly what i was thinking regarding the sterilization! I couldnt see how it would be relevant seeing as they all either go outside all the time or live outdoors! I would also wonder if over sanitizing their environment would do more harm than good re their natural immunity levels!

Im going to the vets tomorrow so i might talk it over with her and see what she says! I can report back if people are interested

bluebellfarm said:

Thanks everyone

Yes Halfpenny, thats exactly what i was thinking regarding the sterilization! I couldnt see how it would be relevant seeing as they all either go outside all the time or live outdoors! I would also wonder if over sanitizing their environment would do more harm than good re their natural immunity levels!
Im going to the vets tomorrow so i might talk it over with her and see what she says! I can report back if people are interested

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I totally agree.

I have 2 pairs of buns who live separately, and up until one of them developed snuffles at the start of this summer I never bothered washing my hands between handling them etc. This thread has made me think I should perhaps now get a second dustpan and brush to use so that each pair has their own.

I never sterilise bowls and never have, I just give them a good wash in hot water and washing up liquid every other day.

we have dogs, cats, hamsters, a rabbit and a snake. I wash my hands every time I hold or clean the hamsters and the snake before the other animals, I do most of the daily cleaning in the mornings when every thing is gutted and cleaned including all house hold furniture, and washed all floors, then go outside and bleach the yard and wash windows every day, once a week hubby does a deep clean of dogs beds (cage). some animals can pass salmonella on easier than others.

I don't sterilise my hands either, I mean I wash them after obviously, but like others have said I don't see the point of sterilising your hands when animals are supposed to cope with bacteria, I mean there is bacteria in the air and its impossible to clean that :lol:

Obviously it's very important to keep animals living conditions clean I clean their litter trays out every one to two days depending how messy they are, and they all get a good clean out every week.

I think it does more harm than good if animals or anything for that matter aren't exposed to any bacteria, it would lower their immune system and expose them to viruses.

Each pair has their own dustpan/brush. I disinfect hutches with a vet grade disinfectant and bottles/bowls with milton monthly (or after any period of illness) but between then I just use a water/vinegar or washing up liquid as I am wary of using too many chemicals around the buns and similarly worry about harming their natural immunity. I do wash my hands between pairs/groups as I do think this is very important. I have 12 buns, and some who've had Ec ect and I just cannot afford to risk having all 12 at the vets in one go because I spread illnesses between them. Each pair/group have a differnt colour bottle/bowl so that I always know who's is whos and can ensure there is no cross contamination between buns without having to go overboard with disinfectant. I think you just need to balance caution and being too chemical overboard.

All new buns are always quarantined when the arrive. In this instance or if somebun is poorly I will use hand antibacterial gel and change clothes etc.

I must be a right mucky begger

5 cats and an outdoor rabbit trio. All get clean bowls every morning, fresh clean water bottle / bowl every day.

I have a pile of pet dishes in the pet cupboard and a load of forks that are just for pets.

Then everything apart from the bottles goes in my dishwasher with our stuff.

I do the cat trays everyday and also the rabbit litter tray is done daily at least in summer and every other day in winter. the rabbits have their own dustpan and brush and get swept up daily at least.

I always wash my hands at the end of it all but not inbetween.

routine - get up - desperately try and cram work (self employed and work very hard), house (recently moved and LOTS needs doing), 36 buns, hare, tortoises, bantams - into my day - collapse exhausted at end of day.

All animals have forage/feeds/water fresh every day twice a day, hay as wanted and cleaning on a regular basis - although with our systems that may mean taking out/topping up weekly and total spring cleaning once a month - we have a 'deep litter' kind of arrangement in the large chalets/runs. Smaller (7ft) hutches all cleaned totally weekly.

Disinfectant and sanitiser do not darken my doors!!! and we are all very healthy and tough! If any of them have an active contagious illness then I will isolate but not otherwise - and tbh with EC I take the position that as they all run loose on same grass there is little I can do other than treat if one shows signs (have had 4 EC cases in about 10 years and even then related to other illnesses and EC just jumped in)

PS I might be different if I had more species that had zoonosis (diseases transferable to humans) or carnivores (dogs or cats) .

Surely, unless you are dipping your wellies in disinfectant as you move from area to area, there is not much point washing hands as you,ll carry bugs on your feet...
I too am a mucky beggar

I do wash hands in between animals - I have a dog, hamster, the rabbits and fish at home but I have regular contact with other animals, and used to have a lot more species at home. None of these animals would come into direct contact with each other - although the rabbits and dog obviously share garden space.

I also have "rabbit shoes" used just for in the rabbit shed because you can carry bacteria on your feet. Obviously when they are in the run certain bacteria will be floating around and it wouldn't be possible - or right - to try and eliminate that.

As said the hamster would not come into direct contact with the other animals so it is important to wash hands before and after handling - not least there are diseases (such as the common cold) that I could pass onto him.

Washing hands in between the dog and rabbits is important again because my dog spends time in fields where wild rabbits are, the dog wouldn't actually touch the rabbits where as I do. Besides which dogs and rabbits can pass many diseases between each other - Coccidiosis and Leptospirosis being two, although they are usually passed on via faeces and urine or water bottles and bowls infected by faeces, I obviously don't want to be handling rabbit litter trays then feeding the dog without washing hands in between as my hands have been in contact with faeces. I am sure that if the rabbits or dog had any of these things I would notice but it is a good illustration of why hand washing is important.

When I am pet sitting I also don't want to run the risk of infecting either mine or other peoples animals.

I have overalls for use on the farm as obviously there are other things that can be caught there, as well as the ones mentioned, that I wouldn't want on my clothes.

I am not over clean with the animals though, like I said the dog will be in the same area as rabbits and that is unavoidable. It is important though to make sure you do a little bit to prevent something being passed between species.