Volunteering and then changing

I am just curious if I need to be doing this or not because it is kind of a pain and I am going through a lot of clothes lol. When I come home from volunteering, I always change my clothes and wash my hands and arms real good. Do I need to be doing this? Is there anything my rabbits could catch from the humane society rabbits? The humane society rabbits are checked for things before they are put on the floor for adoption where I would come into contact with them.

Yes, it is very important. You could carry VHD on your clothes and EC from touching their urine (or even picking up a rabbit and putting your arm under their bottom). It is very important to change your clothes and wash your hands and arms thoroughly before handling your own rabbits.

Amy, why don't you consider getting of those nurse's uniforms? They have them at Wal-Mart.

Yes, I don't always do it immediately because I forget, but I really should! Sometimes it isn't apparent but a bun might have ear mites or fur mites and it's extremely important to get all that off your body before touching your bunnies. ONce the shelter had a poor bun who had a real bad fur mite situation and when I got home, I had my husband give me a bucket to put my shoes, a pan to put my wallet, bag, and everything else I had with me. I run right to the washing machine, pretty much strip, and run to the shower. Ok, that might have been overkill. But for my buns, I really can't be too careful.

I have played with the thought of getting a set of hospital scrubs that nurses wear but the one I want was out of stock. Maybe I should get a cheap one at Walmart!

Definitely important. In all my paying and volunteer jobs that I've had working with animals I've basically stripped as soon as I walk in the front door and showered before touching my pets.

Our shelter is pretty good with isolation and quarantine of diseased or sick rabbits. Only the fixed and healthy bunnies are up for adoption in the small animal ward. Any new rabbits are first checked and then held in the backand fixed before they are considered ready for adoption. A sick rabbit is held in an isolation room separate from the small animal ward. And a real sick rabbit is put in the hospital ward with restricted entry.

Lately all our rabbits are healthy so I am at no risk. But I do have two volunteer T-shirts and 4 hospital scrubs that I use because I am covered with rabbit hair when I get home.

:embarrassed:

I feel like an idiot now! I never change when I come home. I do wear disposable gloves but obviously it can be on my clothes as well. A bunny sneezes on me then I go home and pet my buns. That is all it takes. I never really considered this... *head desk* Wearing scrubs is a really good idea. Comfortable and you can take them off when you get home then put them to be washed.

Pet_Bunny wrote:

Our shelter is pretty good with isolation and quarantine of diseased or sick rabbits. 

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This will depend on the shelter quite a bit!
Our shelter is 90% dogs and cats. They give the rabbits 1 little room with a couple walls of cages. We don't have the luxury of isolation of sick and healthy buns unfortunately. We've had to fog bomb one of our previous rooms because of a tick infestation in 1 bun and it was starting to get out of hand. Of course we moved all our buns to a different room.

Thanks guys for the replies. I will keep doing what I am doing. Changing and washing up as soon as I get home.

My rabbits got ringworm from me because I didn't change my clothes and wash when I got home from a shelter. It was a mistake that cost somewhere around $500.

Yikes! :shock:

Good thing I just bought some volunteer scrubs today.