Dogs can indeed get sick from eating rabbit poop

Question
You need to view this and comment. Your previous statements to pet owners about disease transmitted via rabbit feces is 100% contradictory to this video.


http://www.ehow.com/video_4757654_dog-diseases-caused-bird-rabbit.html

Answer
Dear Raj,

I appreciate your sending the video, and it is interesting.  It has been a really long time since anyone asked me this question, and I'm pretty sure they were referring to *domestic* companion rabbits, not wild rabbits.  Wild populations of almost any animal can carry any number of parasites or opportunistic bacterial pathogens, but whether they will cause illness in a dog depends on many factors, including whether the dog is the correct host for the parasite, the general overall health of the dog, etc.

The vet in the video mentions coccidia (Eimeria spp.) as a possible parasite transmitted from rabbit to dog.  However, these particular microsporidian parasites tend to be very host-specific, and I would be very surprised if rabbit coccidia could successfully colonize a dog host.  Giardia, Leptospirosis, and a few other pathogens are also mentioned in the video, but these are pretty unlikely to be harbored by a healthy, domestic companion rabbit.

With wild animals of many different species, though, all bets are off.  I completely agree that dogs should not be allowed to drink stagnant water where wild animals may have defecated, and certainly not allow them to eat the droppings of wild animals of any species.  Better safe than sorry.

Thanks for the link!

Sincerely,

Dana