Pet rats and new finches

Question
Hello,

Thanks for your help a few months ago regarding my spontaneously nervous
pet rat. She recovered in a few days as you had said she would and is back to
her usual social self. Both of my rats are doing wonderfully! Anyways, I was
wondering if you knew any dangers of keeping pet rats and pet birds in the
same room (separate cages of course). I just bought two little zebra finches
and wanted to put my  rats' cage about two/three feet away. Are there any
transferable diseases I should be worried about? Thanks!

Answer
I would keep them very far apart, if not, in different rooms.

Birds can transmit many illnessess to both humans and other pets. Its funny because people write to me in a panic that their pet rat peed on their childs hand or that the owner just  found out she was going to have a baby and what diseases could the rat expose her to. I always say NONE.  Cats are a danger to the unborn child (toxoplasmosis) and the childs hands if they were not washed recently, probably carried more germs on them that the rats once sterile urine did before the rat peed on her childs hand.
Unfortunately, birds can carry at lease five different serious illnesses. Not all birds carry disease but the potential is there so you must be cautious, especially with very young children, very old people and immune system compromised people.

The five diseases that can be carried by birds are Salmonella, Chlamydia psittaci , Avian Tuberculosis, HistoPlasmosis and Cryptoccus.


Common sense is of course all you need to best protect yourself from getting sick, or passing anything along, simply by thoroughly washing your hands with soap and water after contact with birds or their droppings.

My honest advice is to keep the birds in a different room as the rats just as a precaution.