Can bunny catch illness from me?

[PupTheRabbit]

Hi. I've had the flu since Tuesday (sore throat, aches, low fever). My bunny's cage is in my bedroom. I don't kiss him and I wash my hands before I feed him. Can he still get sick from me? I'm worried!!:cry1:

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Generally no, rabbit can't get most things from you, and most things they can get, you cannot get from them. But, rabbits CAN be carriers of something you have had without contracting it themselves. So, the next person to touch your bunny can get whatever you have had; basically, all that to say just use general good handwashing etc.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Usually virus born illness are species specific, however, bacterium can and does cross over the species barrier--you can give ringworm to your bunnies and vice versa.

 

[HEM]

Over the holidays we were gone at my parents for a couple of days and I ended up at a walk in clinic on Christmas Eve and tested positive for the H1N1 Influenza virus and was put on meds, along with my parents and wife because they were in contact with me. Of course, I was worried about going back home, day after Christmas while our Dilly was boarded at the Red Door Animal Shelter in Chicago, and I was worried about the same thing. I asked the doctor at the clinic and she said that I couldn't pass that on to or rabbit, thank heavens. We picked up Dilly and she was fine after we got home.
Hope this sheds a little light.

 

[tonyshuman]

Like others have said, it is much more common for diseases to be passed to people from rabbits.

http://www.medirabbit.com/Zoonotic/Zoonotic_main.htm

That said, with some of the newer strains of flu there have been a few isolated cases of them being transmitted to pets, which isn't normally seen. One or two isolated cases would be considered exceptions, instead of the rule. It is very unlikely that your rabbit can get the flu from you.