My basil has downy mildew!

[JackRabbit]

I just found out today that the basil I’ve been growing for my bunnies has downy mildew! I just thought some of the potting soil had splattered up on the underside of the leaves when it rained. I’ve always rinsed the basil before putting it in their salads. This morning I leaned over for something and happened to look up — all the leaves have it, and the basil sits right next to my mint and thyme. What do I need to do to make sure my bunnies are ok?

[Sarita]

Is it toxic? I’m not even sure what downy mildew is. I know not all mold is toxic.

[JackRabbit]

I thought all mold (ingested) was toxic to bunnies?

[JackRabbit]

Called the vets office and they don’t know if downy mildew on basil is toxic to rabbits (this type of mold is new to the US). Vet said only way to tell is via bloodwork. Do I have the bloodwork done? Visit and bloodwork = $200 per rabbit so $600 to start. If it needs to be done I’ll definitely do it, just want to make sure I’m not just over-reacting before I spend $600+.

[Sarita]

Wow, it’s new! Interesting. How much do you think they actually ingested?

[JackRabbit]

No idea. They get @ 2 basil leaves per salad, with the lops getting 1 salad per day and Kieko getting 2 salads per day. I rinse the leaves off as part of making sure their salads are wet. When I’ve noticed what I thought was dirt on the back of the leaves, I’ve rubbed what I could see off but from what I’ve read, the spores are pretty much invisible until they build up.

[manic_muncher]

If I were in this situation, I would take the wait and see approach. As long as they seemed happy and healthy, I would think discontinuing the exposure to the toxin would be fine. I would get rid of the basil, the mint and thyme too, in case they were contaminated also.

Out of curiosity, you wouldn’t happen to have used that Miracle Grow with Moisture Control? I think it comes in a blue bag? I had a case of mildew when I used it. Because I had not done anything else different, I blamed the potting soil and stopped using it. Next growing season, no problem.

[JackRabbit]

I used Miracle Gro flower and vegetable garden soil — same stuff we mix into our garden.

If it is toxic to rabbits, vet says it would affect the liver. I’m assuming that there would be no outward signs until damage was done. If it is toxic, is it treatable? If treatable, isn’t it better to catch it early?

[Sarita]

I guess you could do bloodwork on one and if there is any sign then treat them all….I’m not sure how much they would have to eat for it to be toxic though….

[Katie779]

This literally has me freaking out. I noticed the same thing on my basil plant but had no idea it was mildew. I thought the same that it was plotting soil splashed up from heavy rains we’ve been having, but i just looked up downy mildew and what I have looks just like it. Holly eats a good amount of basil (and my mint plant is next to it also but I havent noticed any mildew on the plant). If you find anymore info please share!

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this.

[Katie779]

Could I ask where you purchased your basil plants or seeds? I bought my plants already established from the supermarket (the plants stores near me all spray their flowers, and I didn’t want to risk it).

[JackRabbit]

I got some of the plants from Lowes and a few from Southern States. I had bought some from the grocery store that I had growing inside a few months ago but they didn’t do well (not enough sun). My husband said the plants in our garden seem ok, but I’m not taking any chances. Told him to get rid of everything. The deer already ate our cucumber vines and tomatoes so he can get rid of the whole garden as far as I’m concerned.

After losing Mysti on Friday, I can’t handle any more bad things right now so I’m taking all three buns to the vet Thursday morning for exams and bloodwork. Will post their results as soon as we have them.

[Katie779]

I called my vet also but he told me not to worry and to just stop feeding it but that she should be fine. I think I’m still going to have bloodwork done for my own peace of mind though (probably Friday, so I’ll post our results also).

Pretty interesting, I took some samples from my plant and made a few slides. I also compared those slides to one I made of my mint and did find a few on that as well (but I don’t think it’s actually infected. I’m going to stop feeding it as well though).

One of my “bad” leaves.

On the basil.

One on the mint.

[JackRabbit]

Ok, now I’m really grossed out!

I read that basil downy mildew is not toxic to humans, so I’m hoping the buns didn’t ingest enough to do any harm . . . We’ll definitely compate notes!

[Katie779]

Yup, I was thinking the same and the vet also said it shouldn’t be harmful as she was eating only a small amount among other things.
Every thing I’ve read says it’s not toxic, like you said, but we’ll definitely feel better just being on the safe side.

[Bam]

If the amount ingested had been toxic I think you’d have seen a health-problem in your bunnies by now. It seems basil downy mildew is a big problem of recent. It is carried by the seeds and thrives in moist environments with little air around the plants. It’s supposedly plant-specific so it shouldn’t spread to your mint and thyme. It’s not supposed to be toxic to humans but you shouldn’t eat it.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/vegetables/basil-downy-mildew/docs/basil-downy-mildew-pub.pdf

[JackRabbit]

Back from the vet. All three look good. While the in office blood tests would show the liver enzymes, vet recommended going with an outside lab so we could get a full blood workup (was also cheaper to send out even though more tests are being done). Since the lab is doing the tests and we’re already doing bloodwork, we decided to go ahead and screen for E Cuniculli.

Vet did thorough physical exams (she was with the buns for 2 1/2 hrs!). She only charged for a visit for one bunny plus the bloodwork and nail trims for all three. Spent a small fortune (breaking in the new CareCredit account) but I feel better knowing that they’ve been checked over. Will get blood test results back Monday.

I got to actually hold Moshi for 1/2 hour — he just laid in my arms and let me cuddle him and pet him. It was so wonderful and made my day! All three of my bunnies were so good for the vet. Starting to wonder if I should just go sit in the vet’s office whenever I need a bunny cuddle!

[JackRabbit]

Got the first part of the bloodwork test results back. Kieko’s numbers are all normal, whit blood count higher side of normal likely due to a little gut irritation from previous gi stasis. Marlee and Moshi both have one liver enzyme a little high but vet said not high enough to worry about. Will retest Kieko in a year and the M&Ms in 6 months. All kidney function normal — guess Kieko is a very light drinker and the M&Ms are just heavy drinkers normally.

I’m feeling better so far, but still waiting on the results from the E Cuniculi screening.

[manic_muncher]

Yay… more cuddles in 6 months!! hehe seriously… that’s great, I’m glad everything has come back good so far!

[JackRabbit]

Me too. The vet said that the liver enzymes could just be normal for them since they are half-siblings or it could be that they were higher and are on their way down. The six month check should tell us and will make sure they don’t go higher. I think Kieko is one of those iron gut mutt bunnies so any mold on the basil hasn’t affected her!

[Katie779]

What a relief! I had intended to make an appointment for Holly’s bloodwork, but our vet assured me that she would be fine (she also just had bloodwork done last month). Hearing your results definitely makes me feel better about my vets decision not to have her brought in.

[JackRabbit]

Mine had never had bloodwork done before. With as much water as the M&Ms drink and as little water as Kieko drinks, and the bloodwork covering kidney function as well as the liver enzymes in checking for any effects from the basil, and after likely losing Mysti to cancer that no one (including vet) knew she had, I wasn’t risking it. When the vet mentioned possibly screening for E Cuniculi since we were already there and had enough blood to test for that too, I jumped on that as well. Now I’ll be worrying while waiting for those results for the next week or two!

[Katie779]

You’ll feel much better after you get the good results, though! It’s such a worry. The only good thing that came from Holly’s bout of severe stasis was that we had her checked for everything afterwards to try to find the cause. We never did figure out why it happened (it was likely stress) but she had a full blood work up done and an x-ray which all came back normal, and it really put my mind at ease.

[JackRabbit]

Now if they could just come up with a quick test that told the cause of stasis and a pill to cure it we’d all be set! It’s awful — one little corner hunch, a little less poop, water bottle or bowl not as low as usual and I flip into hover mode!

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