Meat rabbits and treating with food grade DE

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ekaelliott

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This morning I discovered signs of fur mites in my rabbitry. I raise rabbits for meat. My primary breed is new Zealand Reds but I also have some mutts. Does anyone know anything about safety of eating rabbits who were treated with food grade DE prior to butcher? In one of my pens I have nine rabbits who are ready for butcher and an adult doe. The doe has signs of mites but none of the fryers do. I was planning on butchering next week. If I treat the doe and the pen with DE is it still safe to eat them or should I wait to treat until after butcher day?
 
Along those lines, what is the difference between food grade and non food grade DE? <br /><br /> -- Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:46 pm -- <br /><br /> Along those lines, what is the difference between food grade and non food grade DE?
 
Food grade D.E. is perfectly safe- hence it being labelled Food Grade.

It is commonly added to dry goods like grains and flour to prevent weevil and moth infestations (I do this at a rate of 1/2 cup per 50lbs of rice, beans, flour, etc.). It can also be used as a "cleanse"- you take a Tablespoon in a glass of water daily for a month or two- it's been a while, so I don't remember the specific time frame.

My whole family has done the D.E. cleanse in the past (tastes like dirt, lol) and we are all still alive. ;)

I used to add D.E. to all of my animal feed (including rabbit pellets) since there are claims that it will kill internal parasites. However, I did find pinworms in a few rabbits one time, so I do not believe it is as effective as claimed.

DBA":1hz8rals said:
Along those lines, what is the difference between food grade and non food grade DE?
Click to expand...

Pool Grade D.E. has been heat treated and somehow the composition is changed rendering it poisonous. <br /><br /> -- Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:59 pm -- <br /><br /> What is the difference between food and feed grade diatomaceous earth?

Although these two types are very similar there is one very important distinction between them. Food Grade DE must meet certain specifications regarding heavy metal content. To be considered Food Grade, the Diatomaceous Earth must not contain more than 10mg/kg of arsenic and no more than 10mg/kg of lead.

What is the difference between food grade and pool grade DE?

The difference here lies with the way that each type of DE is treated. Pool grade DE is calcined, meaning that is treated with very high heat. This turns the silicon dioxide that is present in the DE into crystalline silica. Pool grade diatomaceous earth has more than 1 percent 1% (in fact, it can it can range from 60-70 percent) crystalline silica. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth, on the other hand, has less than 1% crystalline silica and is not calcined.

http://www.absorbentproductsltd.com/foo ... grade.html
 
I have treated fur mites on a few rabbits, and probably used only 1/2 to 1 teaspoon on each rabbit. Sprinkle some into the palm of your hand and rub it into the fur at the base of the ears and nape of the neck. I also apply more all the way down the back just to be safe.

Fur growth should be seen in just a couple of days.

If your pens are all wire there is no need to treat them, but if you have wooden hutches I would sprinkle it into any cracks and crevices.
 
I sprinkle it in the dropping pans and on the ground underneath and around my wire cages a few times a year as a preventative measure. I figure it's cheap and it can do no harm.
 
From what I know it is safe to eat but not to inhale, so I don't use it in feed, but every month or so I sprinkle all the droppings areas (did again today as houseflies are getting numerous. I also used it on a buck I bought with fur mites and did him twice over a week and they were gone and fur back in quickly.
 
Food-grade DE is absolutely safe.

It is not a medicine at all. It is the fossilized shells of diatoms -- algae that has a silica shell. At the microscopic level, DE is very sharp, like millions of shards of glass. This is not harmful to mammals at all, but to anything with an exoskeleton (insects and similar animals), it is deadly. It scratches the protective coating, causing the bug to dry out and die. Sort of a death by a million paper cuts.

It can cause eye and lung irritation, just like any dust can.

You can mix it with water, spray your plants (not blooming ones, though... don't want to hurt the bees!), and let it dry.

Pool filter DE (which is not food grade) is crystallized silica, and is toxic. Food grade is amorphous silica.
 
Thanks for all the great information! I'll have to be careful how much I sprinkle in the cages with the inhalation problem... I have a pseudo colony thing going and one of my pens is just a big dog kennel that I have made escape proof. I also have one wooden hutch that I hate but can't replace yet and am using old chicken coops as well.

I have one more question too. I'm going to treat regardless but is it possible for rabbits to recover on their own? One of my bucks has patches where the hair is already growing back and there are no longer any signs of flaking anywhere on him. To me it looks like he had mites but doesn't any longer. Two of my does both have a couple of patches of flaking and the rest don't have any signs at all.
 
ekaelliott":2r0pcov3 said:
I have one more question too. I'm going to treat regardless but is it possible for rabbits to recover on their own? One of my bucks has patches where the hair is already growing back and there are no longer any signs of flaking anywhere on him. To me it looks like he had mites but doesn't any longer. Two of my does both have a couple of patches of flaking and the rest don't have any signs at all.
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I guess it is possible that they could, but that would definitely be the exception to the rule.

Sometimes rabbits will chew one another's fur, but you usually see that on the face or sides.

I never saw any flakiness to speak of on the ones I treated for mites.
 
Rabbits will often pull patches of fur while mounting each other. That can create little bald spots on the back, shoulders or neck.

Bucks sometimes mount other bucks, and does sometimes mount each other or bucks too. So anyone could be pulling out clumps of hair.
 
The one with the clumps growing back is by himself in the cage. It just seemed strange to me that the three infected ones all seem to be in different stages including possible recovery. I'll be treating everyone though including the ones with no symptoms at all. Just to be safe. Not sure how I'll manage the cages though. Don't want to give any of them lung problems.
 
ekaelliott":16n2vwj6 said:
Don't want to give any of them lung problems.
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After inhalation of amorphous diatomaceous earth, it is rapidly eliminated from lung tissue. However, crystalline diatomaceous earth is much smaller, and it may accumulate in lung tissue and lymph nodes. Very low levels of crystalline diatomaceous earth may be found in pesticide products.

Has anyone studied non-cancer effects from long-term exposure to diatomaceous earth?

In a rabbit study, researchers found no health effects after applying diatomaceous earth to the rabbits' skin five times per week for three weeks. In a rat study, researchers fed rats high doses of diatomaceous earth for six months. They found no reproductive or developmental effects. In another rat study, the only effect was more rapid weight gain. That study involved 90 days of feeding rats with a diet made of 5% diatomaceous earth.

When guinea pigs were forced to breathe air containing diatomaceous earth for 2 years, there was slightly more connective tissue in their lungs. When researchers checked before the 2-year mark, no effects were found.

A very small amount of crystalline diatomaceous earth may be found in pesticide products. Long-term inhalation of the crystalline form is associated with silicosis, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory problems. The bulk of diatomaceous earth is amorphous, not crystalline. The amorphous form is only associated with mild, reversible lung inflammation.

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html

Crystalline DE has been heat treated- i.e. pool grade.
 
I use food grade DE for my dog and cats. In my dog it was pretty dramatic. He had tapeworms so I added DE daily (which I do periodically for a few weeks at a time) and 3 days later worms were gone. I've not used DE as a dust since we don't have any fleas here, and the chickens seem to have eradicated the ticks. No sign of any mites either so I can't say how well DE might do for those critters.

I've been meaning to add it to the bunnies fodder, which is wet, for internal parasite prevention but I keep forgetting and now the fodder won't grow in this heat :evil:
 
MamaSheepdog wrote: I used to add D.E. to all of my animal feed (including rabbit pellets) since there are claims that it will kill internal parasites. However, I did find pinworms in a few rabbits one time, so I do not believe it is as effective as claimed.
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How did you get rid of the pinworms? :? My rabbits got pinworms in the past and since I only had the two I ended up taking them to the vet for dewormer, which I would like never to do again. :x Way to expensive.
And I'm not entirely sure where they came from? My irrigation? Do you know where yours came from?
 
Easy Ears":hj48xs3x said:
How did you get rid of the pinworms? :?
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I took the "wait and see" approach and didn't medicate my herd. I never found any more, thankfully. :)

We discussed treatment options in the thread at the time:

pinworms-graphic-gut-photos-t8694.html

Easy Ears":hj48xs3x said:
And I'm not entirely sure where they came from? My irrigation? Do you know where yours came from?
Click to expand...

I was feeding a lot of fresh forage at the time, some of which I was gathering from a neighbor's ranch which has a large population of cottontails and ground squirrels. I assume that is where they may have come from.
 
The DE doesn't seem to have worked. Last Wednesday (almost a week ago) I treated all of the rabbits and sprinkled DE throughout all of the cages. I even washed my hands between each rabbit. Now, one of the rabbits that didn't have symptoms before does and the other ones are still losing hair. HELP!
 

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