Quarantining

Given that there have been a few rescues or individuals that have sadly suffered with outbreaks of diseases amongst their rabbits, I thought it might be a good idea for people to discuss quarantining and if/when/how it should be done
I know that some rescues on here keep their rescue rabbits seperate from their pet rabbits, but do you keep your new arrivals (either rescue or your own) seperate for a quarantine period incase they're carrying something nasty? Especially as I imagine lots of the rescue buns come in unvaccinated and several of them poorly.
What about owners with several buns, do you quarantine new arrivals? Infact, it could apply to anyone getting an addition bun to the one they have - unless you're 100% sure they're not carrying anything would you keep them seperate from your other bun?
I personally kept Rose seperate from Ben (different buildings, as I've got the animal shed) when she first arrived but I never thought to do it with past buns (though they did all come from my old workplace's quarantine room so technically had been through a long quarantine in a seperate airspace, which is probably the most effective kind!) and I know lots of members on here are in a hurry to get a new bun for an old one that's pining for company, so quarantine isn't done. Are we right to assume buns from rescues will be healthy or should we err on the side of caution?
What about those rescues that have buns come over for bonding? This could potentially cause the spread of disease if the visiting bun carried something and was tried with several partners, or if the area they were bonding in wasn't disinfected heavily afterwards (e.g. EC spores left in the urine)
What do you guys think?

I would be interested to hear other people thoughts on this When I rescued Beau he wasnt very well so he had no contact with my other buns, going in the same rooms and stuff, for a couple of months. I did the same with Trip and Scarlett but only for a couple of weeks until she had been vaccinated.

I keep my foster bunnies a certain distance away from my own bunnies, and I use separate dustpan, brush, bowls, litter trays, etc., i.e. try not to mix them up. I wash my hands after I have cleaned and fed the foster bun.

My own bunies have all been at rescues for a while before I adopted them, so I assumed that they were ok. Luna is on a several week course of Panacur, though, because she came from a very dirty place and Christobel recommended to be on the safe side.

It never even occured to me to quarantine Tia when I got her from rescue - she suddenly dropped dead a year later and I'm wondering if she had E-c, as many rabbits from 'bad' breeders do inherit it from mum, and she was ringed pedigree when dumped. The sensible thing to do with hindsight would have been to isolate her for a month's course of panacur I guess.

Because of the fact that I've got an EC problem here, I am of the view that everyone should consider EC when getting a new bunny and introducing them. Very difficult to manage in practice though.

All my rabbits are kept up to date on vaccs and EC worming, all the rescues are kept together away from my rabbits and wormed/flead on arrival.....I have two runs for rescues, one which I use for new arrivals.

Everything is disinfected and food bowls etc are linked to one/pair rabbits NOT shared about. Water bottles also follow rabbits e.g cage to run etc.

We will not rehome a rabbit for 2 weeks after it has arrived (foster time is included) as a quarantine period and yes outsiders do pose a risk but as far as EC goes we are protected by that stage, and we do ask about their current health as far as possible. Obviously if a rabbit was brought in for bonding and appeared ill it would be sent home.

In theory it should be done when any bun comes from a "rabbit intensive environment" - be that a rescue, pet shop or breeder as there are so many nasties that lurk away and only come to the surface when buns are stressed e.g. new home.

In practice I'm not sure how feasible it is and would also be interested to see how rescues deal with this.

good question

Good thread. I'd never even given it a thought. I did keep my foster buns apart from my own but that was because I didn't want the scent and smell of a new bun to disrupt my two. I'll certainly be more careful in future.

Sooz22 said:

Obviously if a rabbit was brought in for bonding and appeared ill it would be sent home.

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Not picking on you in particular but wanted to expand on this point - surely a rabbit would only look ill enough for a stranger to notice it (as opposed to an owner 'knowing' a bun is not quite right at the minor symptoms of being poorly) if it was quite seriously ill - you couldn't really tell if a bun carried EC or snuffles or things along those lines if it was showing no outside symptoms :?

Ben's mum said:

Not picking on you in particular but wanted to expand on this point - surely a rabbit would only look ill enough for a stranger to notice it (as opposed to an owner 'knowing' a bun is not quite right at the minor symptoms of being poorly) if it was quite seriously ill - you couldn't really tell if a bun carried EC or snuffles or things along those lines if it was showing no outside symptoms :?

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Of course but what are we supposed to do? It is an unfortunate fact of life that you cannot wrap everything in cotton wool and bonding is an important aspect of rescuing.

All we can do is take reasonable precautions and TBH an owner experienced and considerate enough to chose a rescue rabbit and be accepted for one is likely to have taken reasonable precautions themselves.

In theory my Rescue fosters are kept separate from my own buns, mainly cos if they come in un-neutered, I don't want them upsetting the bonded groups.

That said - bun feeding time, is bun feeding time for everyone, & I don't disinfect myself or anything between handling - although as a rule my own buns get seen to first. All my own buns are vaccinated, & I wouldn't bring in a visibly-ill free ad bun - they would go straight to the vets.

So no - I don't think I have a proper quarantine procedure - enough to mean I haven't taken in any free ad buns from unknown origin since last year, cos I worried about it. My fosters now are from Rescues or have been here since early Dec last year.