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Please Help, Is This Safe? - E.cuniculi Transmission And Hygiene

TheLottiediarys

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Hi guys, our rabbit is sick with E-Cuniculi shes indoor with fleece and towels,

Is it safe to wash this bedding in the washing machine and give it to the Guinea Pigs or could they get sick if i do this?

If its washable, should i use a high temperature? wash it twice? What should i do to protect the Pigs?
Please helps, I've looked everywhere and cant find an answer!
 
Hi guys, our rabbit is sick with E-Cuniculi shes indoor with fleece and towels,

Is it safe to wash this bedding in the washing machine and give it to the Guinea Pigs or could they get sick if i do this?

If its washable, should i use a high temperature? wash it twice? What should i do to protect the Pigs?
Please helps, I've looked everywhere and cant find an answer!

Guinea pigs can catch e-cuniculi from rabbits and die from it. :(

Please do not share stuff. Use good hygiene and feed, handle, wash your guinea pigs before any rabbits. Keep your guinea pigs in a different room if possible.

The same hygiene measures as the ones for ringworm apply; you may find them helpful:
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
I know you asked this before and didn't get an answer. I didn't reply because I'm no expert. Personally I wouldn't share the bedding with the piggys and I would wash it on a very high temperature to make sure you are not reinfecting your rabbit each time you change it.
 
I know you asked this before and didn't get an answer. I didn't reply because I'm no expert. Personally I wouldn't share the bedding with the piggys and I would wash it on a very high temperature to make sure you are not reinfecting your rabbit each time you change it.

I wouldn't.

Gosh this is so stressful,

So i should use this bedding specifically for the rabbit, wash it separately and then when the rabbit is no longer needing the indoor bedding i should chuck the towels and fleece away? Instead of using it for the Guinea's?

Now I'm really concerned because my partner didn't realise it needed to be separate and he's mixed it all up!
Should i just play it safe and buy new lots of bedding for the Gp's?
 
Crickey! Okay, I'm going to buy the Gp's whole new sets of bedding tomorrow then! Just to be safe! I'll have to be more careful from now and keep everything separate :/

Please do - there are several bugs that rabbits carry without being affected that are lethal for guinea pigs (bordetella, pasteurella, e.cuniculi and rabbit ear mites).
 
NO! I have said clearly 'please do not share stuff' in my last post!

Sorry, i got a bit confused as to what you meant, thought i should clarify that you meant 'bedding that has been washed' rather then 'bowls and toys'.
This is very stressful because there's not a lot of information i could find about contamination after washing bedding, and i guess i'm just stressed in general about her prognosis and I'm second guessing everything I'm doing, :(
 
Sorry, i got a bit confused as to what you meant, thought i should clarify that you meant 'bedding that has been washed' rather then 'bowls and toys'.
This is very stressful because there's not a lot of information i could find about contamination after washing bedding, and i guess i'm just stressed in general about her prognosis and I'm second guessing everything I'm doing, :(

Just keep everything as separate as possible - bedding, bowls, toys. The less opportunity for transmission and contact you create, the better.
 
Totally agree with Wiebke's advice, also regarding bowls/preparation of food/cleaning out I personally would do the guinea pigs' stuff/cleaning first & then do the rabbit's afterwards, using disposable gloves & throw them away afterwards. It is better to be safe than sorry :)
 
My Bramble has e.cuniculi and while her companion Ebony shows no clinical signs, they were introduced post recovery where the parasite was dormant and not shedding into the urine. Even so I still do everything with them and their cage last just to be on the safe side. I am currently trying out verm X which is a natural antiparasite pellet, this 'can' make the digestive tract toxic to e.cuniculi and help prevent spread, as I can't see transmission or know if it has or not I cant say whether it has or has not been of any benefit, but I would absolutely use it with the pigs should Brambles EC ever become active again. Imo it's vital it can not and does not spread, it was a miracle Bram survived according to our vet and I'd hate to have it spread to the others :/ so I'd definitely keep everything separate, it's not worth the risk. I hope your bun is on the road to recovery asap!
 
My Bramble has e.cuniculi and while her companion Ebony shows no clinical signs, they were introduced post recovery where the parasite was dormant and not shedding into the urine. Even so I still do everything with them and their cage last just to be on the safe side. I am currently trying out verm X which is a natural antiparasite pellet, this 'can' make the digestive tract toxic to e.cuniculi and help prevent spread, as I can't see transmission or know if it has or not I cant say whether it has or has not been of any benefit, but I would absolutely use it with the pigs should Brambles EC ever become active again. Imo it's vital it can not and does not spread, it was a miracle Bram survived according to our vet and I'd hate to have it spread to the others :/ so I'd definitely keep everything separate, it's not worth the risk. I hope your bun is on the road to recovery asap!

Yes i totally agree, its a horrible parasite, and hard to get rid of too, Luckily I had been keeping everything seperate before we knew it was E-cuniculi else the piggies would have been open to it without us even realising, thats a horrible thought,
I know there are some bacteria and disease's that can be killed in a wash cycle so i thought its worth finding out :)
 
Yes i totally agree, its a horrible parasite, and hard to get rid of too, Luckily I had been keeping everything seperate before we knew it was E-cuniculi else the piggies would have been open to it without us even realising, thats a horrible thought,
I know there are some bacteria and disease's that can be killed in a wash cycle so i thought its worth finding out :)

Yes a very worthwhile question, I didn't even think of whether washing on high actually kills it. I use separate towels etc for Bramble when she needs bathing, syringe feeding and stuff and make sure there's a clean and lots of other washes between her things and anything the others might use. But id just been assuming a hot wash would make her stuff safe, I didnt even think to ask!
 
To be honest, I would not even wash piggy and bunny fleece and cosies together. For myseIf, for instance, I keep any ringworm bedding and cosies strictly separate from their usual stuff at all times - including different washing loads - and I always give my ringworm quarantine fabrics a 90 C wash before they go back into the attic, ready for the next outbreak.
It is alwayas a pain, but I have managed to keep the last ringworm outbreak in October confined to one guinea pig out of a room of 30!

Since I do not exactly know whether 60 C or 90 C is enough to kill to e.cuniculi, I would just not risk it in any form or shape.
 
I couldn’t agree more. Absolute separation of all piggy and rabbit items. No cross contamination. I’d wear separate aprons when dealing with each and maintain strict hygiene after handling or dealing with either.
Good luck
 
What treatment is your bunny receiving? Is she on Panacur? x

As of right now she hasn't had any treatment for it, all that's been done at the vets so far is two sets of blood tests to rule out an ear infection then to confirm that's it is e-cuniculi, we only got the results last night for the second blood test set even though the ear infection was ruled out over a week ago, so she's not had anything, we need to ring the vets this morning to tell them whether we want to try to treat her or have her PTS, and we need to weigh her two companions to get them treated two, all in all it's upsetting to think she's been showing symptoms since 29th and Is only now going to get treatment for it, she
 
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