Rabbit around dog’s feces!

[SenorCharlie]

I have a young beautiful boy rabbit named Senor Charlie. He is my first rabbit I have ever owned and I LOVE HIM! I also have a very old male dog named Zeke who is pretty blind and often steps in his own poop by accident and occasionally tracks it into the house. I of course do my best to clean Zeke’s paws and any poop I find within the house hold. Where my dog comes in from outside is right through the bunnies play area. The easy solution is to obviously not have the dog go through there but it sadly is the only option. I wont have the dog much longer due to him being VERY old, but I am afraid Charlie could get sick or catch parasites from the trace amount of dog feces I can’t see or find. Is this something I should be worried about? Is there a way for me to tell if my Rabbit is already sick or infected with parasites. Physically my rabbit looks very healthy, I haven’t noticed any issues with his litter box like diarrhea. 

Basically I am just asking: 

1. Is there a serious threat here or am I being sensitive. (Obviously will continue to clean the feces up and not neglect it if I am being sensitive.) 

2. What should I look for to make sure my Rabbit stays healthy and his distress or illness doesn’t go undetected. 

I have only had my Rabbit for about 8 months and love him to bits and will be a rabbit owner for life! I just have a lot to learn and I know this. Thank you for you attention and if you have any insight to my distress PLEASE feel free to reply!!!!

[Bam]

There is a possibility of parasites spreading to your bun if your bun eats the dog feces. Good hygiene would be the only way to prevent that. Don’t feed the bun in the play area, to prevent contamination with trace amounts of dog feces. I think the risk is low since you’re around and can clean up messes when you see them. There are disinfectants that are bunny safe, I’ve used Virkon S, a disinfectant often used in horse-stables. It has no odour and its biodegradable.

As for your rabbit’s health you have to go by appetite, poop, look (coat, eyes etc), general demeanour and activity level. You can deworm routinely with panacur (fenbendazole), but that won’t kill all possible parasites.

We all have lots to learn =)

[SenorCharlie]

I really appreciate the feed back, currently I am using some sort of detergent as disinfectant which I know isn’t good and will definitely look into the brand you mentioned. Aside from that, he only gets fed in his cage which the dog doesn’t go inside of. When Charlie is out we leave his cage open so he can have access to his litter box and food. We used to keep these out but the dog saw Charlies liter pan as a second food source and needless to say it was a disgusting habit we couldn’t have. Once again thank you for the information and I will make changes and keep my eyes peeled for symptoms and changes in behavior until old pup passes.

[Author]

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