Do you feed your rabbits Romaine Lettuce? E-Coli outbreak

[doodlebugger]

Romaine lettuce in the US - e-coli breakout. https://www.today.com/health/romain...-e-coli-13-states-t120778?cid=sm_npd_td_fb_ma

My question - what are you going to feed your rabbits during this time? Our rabbits are addicted to their romaine. Most of them haven't had much else in the way of greens. We do that because we have had a few issues with tummy troubles for several of our rabbits, and we know some things can cause trouble. We have tried Kale in the past, and they don't care for it. We have tried a few other things, but nothing compares to romaine lettuce for them.....but we are worried about e-coli now.

Also, does anyone know what symptoms would show up if you fed your rabbit romaine and they got e-coli?

 

[samoth]

Yeah, I saw something about this at work. I noted it, but am not personally concerned about it at this time. I don't think there were any recalls related to it yet, and the FDA didn't issue any statements to avoid romaine -- it was some other consumer goods organization that said that.

My rabbits aren't huge romaine fans (they love kale), but this news won't cause me to not buy some when I'm grocery shopping this weekend.

Also note that there are many more FDA warning letters and other health & safety notifications out there than the few you see picked up on by major news outlets. You can sign up to receive email notifications for wide range of food and drug topics on the FDA's web site

 

[minmelethuireb]

I decided to finish feeding the bag of romaine I already have.

Some good alternatives my rabbit likes are red leaf or green leaf lettuce and organic dandelion greens.

 

[stevesmum]

We have the recall here. And our preferred grocery store isn’t carrying it at all as a precaution. We are feeding green leaf lettuce as well as other greens but our rabbits aren’t picky eaters.

 

[samoth]

We have the recall here. And our preferred grocery store isn’t carrying it at all as a precaution.

I'd like to add to my previous post that if your state or country has a goverment-issued recall of any food or drug items, definitely avoid purchasing the item and dispose of anything you have that is part of the recall immediately.

 

[RavenousDragon]

The symptoms of E. coli can vary depending on the type of E. coli. Unfortunately each type has a different set of symptoms. Some (most) are harmless (note a recall would not be about these types). Some cause very watery diarrhea, some cause kidney disease, some cause bloody diarrhea (and sepsis as a sequela). The article mentions O157, but it doesn't say this strain IS O157, so I'd be most worried about diarrhea, but can't say for sure.

 

[maiyaeh]

i rarely give my buns romaine lettuce. but now i feel like all lettuces are not safe to buns so i switch to A choy which i can find in chinese markets. also offer dandelion, spinach, cucumber, carrot tops, kale, celery alternatively. my buns love all kinds of veggies