Cage Disinfectant? What to use.

Hi guys. So the title pretty much asks my question.

For those of you who don't look at the chat, my pet rabbit DaBunnah passed away extremely unexpectedly on Sunday afternoon. I would like to clean/disinfect his cage, however it is attached to the cage that houses my only doe Roxie (And if everything is OK pregnant) only a thin sheet of plywood separates the cage sections.

My plan is to clean DaBunnah's part of the cage and then remove the plywood so Roxie has the same cage space as Amos. The cage as it sits is as follows: three sides are plywood, the floor is "baby saver" wire (1/2"x1"). All my cages have this as flooring, 1 as a preventative measure; we have several feral cats in the area, and 2 if popples accidentally get born on the wire, hopefully they will be somewhat protected. With the possibility of Roxie being preggers I can't use anything toxic. But with Dabunnah dieing the way he did I don't want to just spray it with water and call it good.

When I found DaBunnah he had a bit of a poopy tail and some wetness on his nose, mouth, and chin area, I don't know if these are because he died or the reason why.

Any help is appreciated

If you didn't do a necropsy then figuring out why he died is not as easy

Animals frequently dedicate, urinate, drool and drain snot after death so those symptoms are not much help.

But a 10% ammonia solution is recommended to disinfect for coccidia

Does your rabbits poop easily fall through the floor wire or does it stuck and make "poop pancakes"?

It easily falls through the wire. Except for where the cage is supported, but I lift up the cage slightly and clean those off when I do my weekly poop/hay clean up. I think he spooked himself and somehow broke his neck. The rest of him was in rigor but his head moved freely.

I think you should move her out of the hutch for a few hours and disinfect the whole thing...If he died from injury not illness there may be no problem but because you don't know it's best to be safe..If you don't have a cage for her maybe you can let her run around in a bathroom or another safe room..

In cleaning out his cage today, so far with just vinegar, will do a deeper clean tomorrow. I noticed that the night berries stilol in his sleeplease house are about 1/4 the size of his usual berries. In fact all the berries that were still caught along the back of the cage were either 1/2 to 1/4 normal size.

Could it have been GI Stasis a day I didn't see other signs?

I believe with stasis they eat and drink less..It's a possibility..had you changed his food, or added something new? Did you find any squishy or runny poop?

Only change in food was the amount of forage went up. Dandelion and crab grass with Timothy hay and fodder. Carrots once in a while with a pumpkin oat treat sometimes. I noticed no runny poop that morning, nor any while I was cleaning the cage. His berries were usually on the soft side but non appeared softer then normal.

The largest berry in the picture is just barely bigger then my pinky nail; normally his berries are the same as the ones found in Roxies cage.

I had read that cocci can travel in the dirt...did he get any roots? What I'm thinking is if he got any with dirt..that could be contaminated, but I would think there would be more symptoms. The pictures look like maybe he was constipated.. :?:

It's possible. If they do get roots I rinse them first to get rid of dirt, but he still could have got some.

Humm...With your doe being pregnant, you may want to try Michels4gardens natural remedy he uses garlic chives and onion chives.I would think that it would be safer than medications. And sense we really don't know and are just speculating...I would give that a go. I know he has a thread or two on this method...but it seems to me that you can give all she will eat. Green onions are available now but I'm not sure about garlic tops..You would probably have to sprout them yourself unless you know someone growing garlic..
Disinfecting the hutch is a good idea anyway...Just because...And watch her, make sure she is eating lots of hay and drinking...

She hasn't stopped eating or drinking. I'm filling her 8 Oz bottle about twice a day. When it's dry I plan on giving her DaBunnah's 32 Oz bottle and giving the Amos the 8 Oz bottle. My neighbor is growing onions, I'll see if she wants to do some trading for the garlic chives. Due to injuries, my seedlings are way behind schedule.

Your doing everything you can..hang in there ...Sometimes raising critters can be rough, especially on the heart...as you know...
I can't tell you how many tears I've shed over rabbits,chickens,goats,even stupid dogs...
Sometimes I think kids were easier then I look at myself with all my grey hairs and say who are you kidding?

katiebear":2vpv54zs said:

Humm...With your doe being pregnant, you may want to try Michels4gardens natural remedy he uses garlic chives and onion chives.I would think that it would be safer than medications. And sense we really don't know and are just speculating...I would give that a go. I know he has a thread or two on this method...but it seems to me that you can give all she will eat. Green onions are available now but I'm not sure about garlic tops..You would probably have to sprout them yourself unless you know someone growing garlic..
Disinfecting the hutch is a good idea anyway...Just because...And watch her, make sure she is eating lots of hay and drinking...

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A little caution is good, I give a large handful, and leave it in the cage until I am done with chores, [about 1/2 to 1 hr] there is almost never any left, but-- feeding a rabbit all they want [of anything new ]when they are not used to any new green is a potential problem. so a quarter size bunch [handful] is a good place to start. -- and-- I agree with cleaning every pen/ cage after a rabbit dies for any reason, before bringing in a new occupant.
If you ever start to notice small poops instead of regular size poops, it is a sign of slowed gut, or reduced food intake, both are a problem, sometimes additional greens will help to get motility back up to par, sometimes not, sometimes a little apple juice in the water will help rabbits drink more, sometimes [mostly for pets] metoclopramide can be administered SQ. but sometimes there are "other" contributing factors we never know about. Rabbits have a very complex system, a crash in any area can cause these symptoms... a little moldy feed can cause a system crash as much as 6 weeks after they have eaten it, sometimes we have to accept unexplained losses...

My brother swears by vinegar. Cleans with it daily. To clean my cages I used a very very strong bleach solution and allowed to dry in the sun. I plan to clean with a white vinegar solution either today or tomorrow. Then a bleach solution the day before I bring my buns home. It's a little over board, I know. But I would rather have it too clean then not clean enough. :x Just my view. As far as the passing of your buck, if it were me I would clean then dry in sun, and repeat a couple of times.

wamplercathy":50xu0uax said:

My brother swears by vinegar. Cleans with it daily. To clean my cages I used a very very strong bleach solution and allowed to dry in the sun. I plan to clean with a white vinegar solution either today or tomorrow. Then a bleach solution the day before I bring my buns home. It's a little over board, I know. But I would rather have it too clean then not clean enough. :x Just my view. As far as the passing of your buck, if it were me I would clean then dry in sun, and repeat a couple of times.

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Thanks cathy. Except the weather is against me. It's going to be cloudy with a chance of rain all week.

michaels4gardens":50xu0uax said:

A little caution is good, I give a large handful, and leave it in the cage until I am done with chores, [about 1/2 to 1 hr] there is almost never any left, but-- feeding a rabbit all they want [of anything new ]when they are not used to any new green is a potential problem. so a quarter size bunch [handful] is a good place to start. -- and-- I agree with cleaning every pen/ cage after a rabbit dies for any reason, before bringing in a new occupant

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Thanks for the tip micheal4gardens

if you suspect coccidiosis ,ammonia kills it better then clorox