Quarantining - What is it and how do I go about doing it?

Why is Quarantining so important?
The first year we got started in rabbits, we lost all but a few that didn't go to that particular show and were in a different barn. I had no idea what was going on but I knew that it couldn't be good when I heard one of the rabbits sneeze and then the next day a couple more, and then a few more. It started spreading to everything in the outside rabbitry.

I called a friend who came up and checked out the situation. He had to put down what seemed like a ton of rabbits.

I tried to explain to the kids what was happening and why. I also explained to them the importance of quarantining all new animals and to check out everything very carefully.

It was a hard lesson for my children and myself. The breeder that put the rabbit on the raffle table knew exactly that the rabbit was sick, because she treated the rabbits clinical signs and pawned it off to some unexpecting breeder such as ourselves, (I almost bought the same rabbit at a show the weekend before but it was sneezing and she said she would fix him, he had dust in his nose). I should have known, but we were new, and when my daugther saw him on the raffle table she put tickets in for him and won him.

I think that we learned some of the most valuable lessons that day as we watched our friend put down all those rabbits. This is why I now believe with all my heart that you need to take precautions so that what I have described that happened to us, doesn't happen to you.

1. Always quarenteen new animals.

2. Know who you are buying from. Check around if you don't know them. See if any of the people you do know has ever bought an animal from the seller.

3. Never, Never pawn off a sick animal for any reason. It isn't fair to the person getting the sicky nor to the rest of the new owners herd. It is easier to put down a sick animal than to knowingly send a sick one out the door to possibly spread
problems to someone elses herd.

4. Talk with your children ahead of a problem. Let them know of the possible problems that can happen in raising rabbits and what the outcome would be if that problem should arise. This way, if a problem does arise, it makes it easier to talk to them about it. You can start off the conversation like; Do you remember when we talked about Snuffles? And I said that it was incurable, and that if our one of our rabbits got that problem..... I am sure you can see where I am going with this. I hope that this helps in some way, although, I know it is not an easy task or conversation ever with a person who does indeed care for animals. Things have gotton easier for me, but I still get upset when I have to put down an animal for some stupid reason. In My Opinion, I feel that you should quarantine and animal for no less than 3 weeks, and here is my reasoning.

1. Most diseases that have been hid by someone treating their animals and then pawning them off will not show clinical signs again for at least 2 weeks and usually not for a couple of days after that.

2. If you quarantine, it must be done so in a totally seperate area or at least have some kind of solid divider between your animals that were already there and the new ones.

3. You must devise a plan that would keep quarantined animals quarantined. This means, that if you go to feed your rabbits, you really need to feed the orginal animals first and make sure that you are done, and then go do the ones that are in quarantine. Making sure that when you are done there, you do not go back into your non quarantined barn for any reason unless you change your shoes, clothes, and wash your hands with a disinfectant.

4. Any items that you keep in your quarantine area stay there and are routinely cleaned. Rabbits in quarantine will require nails to be clipped and sometimes grooming depending on the breed and sometimes medical treatment. It is a good idea that if you can, have 2 first aid kits set up and 2 pairs of nail clippers and etc. This will eliminate possible transfer of infection in case something is wrong with one of the quarantined animals.

It kind of makes it hard to quarantine animals that you are showing weekend after weekend without taking some risks. We will normally try to only take the animals that we took the week before and then the time spent away from the other rabbits is started all over again as day one. We do not keep our quarantined show rabbits in a new animal quaratine area though, (it is 2 totally seperate areas).

Chances of picking something up from a show is IMO much less than buying an animal that you don't know much about. Most of the time, you are more attentive on what animals are near yours, or if your animals have been cooped on the judging table near a sick one.

Quarantining animals can be tough and tricky. I say this because we sometimes don't think about the simple hand touching a rabbit with fur mites or ear mites and then we touch another one and BINGO, we have now, in our own barns spread something without even thinking about it. What we do need to do, in a case like this, is to be strick on ourselves and use a little more practical isolation, sanitation and disinfection proceedures. I have found that using a plastic/rubber place mat to examine the rabbits on works great. I can wipe it down with a bleached wet wipe quickly and go on. I do this between each animal. It took some training on my part to be thorough doing this though. I also have hand santitizer stuff that I use inbetween each animal that is examined. This can be bought for as little as $.50 at any local store.

I guess I should stop rambling. The way you quarantine your animals will have to be something that you feel comfortable with, and what works for you and your family. If by some chance, you do end up with a rabbit that is very sick, then be responsible and cull it by putting it down. It is not a fun nor easy task, but something we all one day will have to do.

© Copyright Rochelle Cooley 2000

Culling.......the real story