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How strict are you about hygiene?

Bavarian Bunny

Wise Old Thumper
I am feeling bored today, bf has a big family get together and is gone most of the weekend, and it's raining, so I thought I'd ask something that has been on my mind for a while.

How much hygiene do you think is necessary for bunnies, and how far do you go to keep them clean and safe? It will be different for rescues, who have new bunnies coming in all the time and need some kind of quarantaine hutches etc.. But I am also asking the "normal" bunny owners among you.

Part of my biology degree included microbiology, so I am quite aware of how bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. spread and how difficult it is to get rid of them. If you look at hospitals, they are supposed to be very clean and hygienic, but even there you get those super bugs and other airborne germs. So when someone with a poor immune system goes to hospital, they can actually get sick there. I assume the same can happen to bunnies.

Do you think that too much hygiene is bad, too? Do you try and prevent certain problems by spraying the buns to keep flies away, regularly worming them, flea stuff and things like that? Or do you only intervene if there is a problem? How often do you clean the hutch properly with desinfectant?

Lots of questions, but I would like to hear your view on some of them. Personally, I don't exaggerate with hygiene, I change the litter boxes daily and check that the bunnies have clean bums. I wash the water bottles and food bowls daily. I use deinfectant for the litter boxes and the hutches about once or twice a month only. Do you think that is too little? I have always done it like that, with indoor and outdoor bunnies, and never had major health problems with them. But when I read about all the cases of pasteurella, EC and other diseases here, I get a bit paranoid and wonder if I need to do more. If one of your bunnies does get an infectious disease, how do you protect your other bunnies from getting it? I read this week that pasteurella can even be transmitted to humans by bites or licking, someone got an ear infection because his pet liked to lick his ear. Not sure if human "carriers" can then pass it back onto pets, but I know how "clever" germs are, they always find a way.

Sorry about the long blah blah, you don't have to answer everything, just add your views and what you think is important. Thanks! :D
 
I think if your bun is healthy and doesn't have any underlying problems or a bad immune system then it is better not to disinfect too much. Keeps things more natural. I empty the litter tray when it needs doing, about every third day, (more at the mo as it's warm) I wash it out with a touch of soapy water and then sweep the cage, once about every two weeks I give the cage a good wipe over and I spray the cage and litter tray with a pet safe disinfectant spray and leave it to dry.

For my boyfriends though we make up a dettol solution and give everything a good scrub and wipe as he had two sprayers and messy buns. Although as of last week they're all using the litter tray/ all been 'fixed'. So we shouldn't need to do that anymore.
 
I think if your bun is healthy and doesn't have any underlying problems or a bad immune system then it is better not to disinfect too much. Keeps things more natural. I empty the litter tray when it needs doing, about every third day, (more at the mo as it's warm) I wash it out with a touch of soapy water and then sweep the cage, once about every two weeks I give the cage a good wipe over and I spray the cage and litter tray with a pet safe disinfectant spray and leave it to dry.

I agree that too much cleaning is actually bad for their immune system, and I pretty much clean as you do for the rabbits, although I do the trays every 7 days - they pretty much keep them nice as I give lots of hay on megazorb, and it gets all covered over with hay by the rabbits daily. With the pigs I clean more thoroughly as they are not only dirty little tykes :rolleyes: but succeptible to fungal infections - so I use spray on dilute bleach on their cages once a fortnight and leave it to soak.
 
I do a full clean-out every other day, but change litter trays more frequently if needed... I use fragrance free baby wipes to do any light cleaning, but have disinfectant available for certain situations e.g. change of foster buns.
 
I clean out the litter tray with petsafe disinfectant every 2-3 days. I don't clean out the shed every week, I usually clean it out twice a month and will wipe the floor with disinfectant.
 
If you are using Dettol it should be allowed to dry complely before allowing rabbits access to any surface that has been cleaned with this. Dettol or any other sustance which turns white in water contains Benzal Komium (sp) chloride. This causes ulceration of mouth, tongue and oesophagus. Respiratory effects and is incredibly irritating to eyes.
 
If you are using Dettol it should be allowed to dry complely before allowing rabbits access to any surface that has been cleaned with this. Dettol or any other sustance which turns white in water contains Benzal Komium (sp) chloride. This causes ulceration of mouth, tongue and oesophagus. Respiratory effects and is incredibly irritating to eyes.

Is Dettol something like bleach? I am not so familiar with brand names over here, yet. I only use a spray which says "pet safe" on it, it probably isn't very strong. I don't let the bunnies back into the hutch for a while, until it has all dried.
Do you think I should use something stronger for the foster hutch, before a bunny change?
 
I also agree that you can clean too much, not just animals, our own homes too. I don't agree that everything must be disinfected all the time although I wash the kitchen floor and all surfaces each day its only with diluted washing up liquid unless something particularly nasty has been walked in by the animals or kids! Then I still only use ecover household disinfectant.
Me, my son and animals are all healthy and I think being exposed to germs early on in life is vital for a healthy immune system.
Vinnies hutch was swept out every few days (the bottom half) and his bedding area only changed once a month as he and Lovage only slept in it. He is out in the garden all day so his excretions are mainly laid on the lawn which make it grow more lush!:lol:
He has been sleeping indoors since Lovage passed away and I have a corner in the kitchen papered, which I change each morning as he poo's on it. I wash the floor with washing up liquid and thats it. I wash any bowls up if they get dirty. He has his own soft bed which he rarely pee's on so I only wash that if that happens.

Bunnies that come to stay, however, is a different matter, purely because I don't want to pass on anything to them or the next buns that come to stay.
The indoor plastic cages get cleaned out and washed thoroughly at the end of each stay and it depends on the buns as to how often I change their bedding etc whilst they are here as some are uber clean and only need doing once a week where as others can be very messy and I have to change all their bedding daily! Litter trays changed daily if needed. Some I find do most droppings during in the day in the runs so I may only need to scoop out a corner of the tray from overnight.
The shed buns get their litter trays changed daily or like above and the shed swept out and bedding replaced once a week unless, again, they are particularly messy.
I disinfect with a mild solution and then spray the shed with a parasite spray at the end of each stay.
 
I clean out the litter trays every day using "Keep it Clean" which is a pet-safe cleaner, disinfectant and deodoriser all in one. I wash out their bowls every day but only do a proper clean once a week. I groom them and check bottys every day but apart from that i'm pretty relaxed about it all. I do get worried about flies but have been told not use botty sprays unless my babies actually have a dirty botty, which thankfully they haven't so I don't use it. But I do have a bottle here just in case one of them has a dirty botty day...:oops: :lol: I always worry that I'm not doing enough or forgetting something to protect them. But I don't really like using lots chemicals so don't overdo it.
 
change the hay and dirty litter in the trays daily, and a full clean every other day - lola's every day as frenchies produce a lot of waste :lol:

clean the trays with vinegar fortnightly

check bums twice per day and on rare occasions they are dirty, wipe with baby wipes. gus gets bathed monthly in antifungal shampoo as he had a nasty fungal infection and this also deters mites which he's prone to

i also put bugs be gone in the litter trays. i dont use rearguard anymore - i have fly screens at the windows instead. i dont like using chemicals on them if i can help it, after 3 of them had an awful reaction to that xenex mite treatement

water bowls cleaned weekly

and i hoover daily but thats purely because i cant stand hay all over the floor
 
I agree too much cleaning is not a good thing - I clean mine out every other day then litter trays as and when needed - I only swill them out tho cos my lot are terrible litter tray users so I deliberately try to keep them a bit smelly to encourage them to keep using them.
 
empty litter tray, sweep the room, clean up any toilets they do in the cage :roll: and wash out the water bowl daily. once a week give the tray a good clean and scrub. when it needs it give the cage and the room a thorough clean
 
Difficult isn't it? I wouldn't say that my 2 are healthy bunnies at all, but I don't think exposure to too many chemicals is good for them.

I wash their litter trays thoroughly once a week (emptied twice daily), water bowls and food bowl varies depending on the weather. I always use a disinfectant when I do the litter trays, but I rinse thoroughly.
 
I am obsessed with checking poor Jacks bottom :lol: - I think its because I am quite new to rabbit ownership and I have heard so many horror stories about flystrike. I'll probably start to relax eventually. I clean his litter tray as needed, usually once evry 1-2 days. I change his vetbed and clean his cage every 4-5 days, again as needed. His vetbed is washed and dried. I use a Johnsons pet disinfectant that I bought from PAH :)oops: )
 
I empty litter trays every other day and use Trigene Disifectant in the lemon (added bonus of repelling flies) every time. I'll give hutches a quick spray too when I do the weekly clean out. Probably about every couple of weeks I'll soak the trays in strong disinfectant too. I have just started using MegaZorb thanks to Hilda and think its great! Much more absorbant but it doesn't go far with my lot! :(

All my rabbits are reared-guarded in April but I do have Beapher Fly-Free to hand too. I am obsessive about Flystrike. I know of 2 people who've rabbits have died from it and it is my biggest fear. My rabbits have to be transfered to their runs everyday and I use this as an oppotunity to always check bums while handling. As someone has already said added bonus of fertilising the grass and less cleaning!! :D

I don't worm my rabbits. I would but the risk is slim and the medicine ridiculous - you have to give them a syringe full of Panacur every day for 7 days - as if! Radar got very stressed when he had to have baytril for a cold and started to avoid me all the time - it was horrible :(
 
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I'm fairly relaxed on hygiene, which may surprise some people, as I lost poor Nougat to flystrike - BUT she was overweight and had had a change in diet (I'd been away).
The buns are very clean, and use their litter trays perfectly. As I use wooden cat litter pellets, I clean their trays once every three days, and do a full sweep of the runs once a week. Water bottles and bowls are cleaned out once a week, litter trays cleaned with Genie once a month.
It's more important to me that the buns are their ideal weight, and have a good diet. We have a strict feeding regime here to make sure the buns are healthy.
 
I think being too clean is as danergous as not being clean enough. We're talking about animals that in the wild live under ground and eat off the ground, so they are quite resiliant to dirt etc. Obv I make sure the hutches are clean, flystrike terrifies me, but I don't disinfect as I think it is harmful to animals to have things too clean.
 
I'm strict on hygiene after my bun died in February, without an answer as to what killed him. I looked up all common diseases and their causes and was surprised at how easily pathogens that kill can get into the home. I'm mostly obsessed with insect and mouse proofing as those both are major disease pathways. Also I read that pathogens can be carried in from infected mice, raccoon or bird droppings on our shoes unknowingly by stepping on grass, so I started a no shoe rule in the house. I clean out their litterbox and their room everyday and check them over twice a week, but only use regular detergents, no disinfectants because I came across information that strong cleaning products can cause respiratory failure.
 
I give the hutches a proper scrub once a week, I use dettol one week and just washing up liquid the next. The hutches are rinsed properly and completley dry before my bunnies go back into them :D I also spray it with that stuff you can get from bunnybasics ti keep flies away

I clean litter trays every day and wash the vetbed every 2 or 3 days :D

I dont use anything on my buns to prevent flystrike, I just make sure their trays are always clean and check their bums everyday.

I do use Assisi grooming lotion on them once a week though to keep fleas away, but only because a cat with fleas comes into our garden a lot and has passed them to my bunnies before :D
 
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