Reporting on VHD Lapinject Bad reaction: incl. Vaccine makers comments

Ok - so some of you may have seen this on the thread for Damson - but I thought it was worth posting separately so it might come up in searches in future.

We have always had our rabbits jabbed for VHD - and have in the past had reactions to Cyclap (leg limp, lassitude etc). However since changing to Lapinject we have had no problems.

We therefore decided to have Damson vaccinated in his regular annual vaccine 10 days ago, along with three other buns. Damson had one of his kidneys out a month ago (due to kidney stones) but had recovered very very well and quickly and had gained weight again, had good urine and bloods etc etc.

36 hours after having the vaccine I found him limp and his ears hot and not wanting to eat. (he had been fine a couple of hours before that).

We rushed him to the vet who confirmed a fever and suspected muscle inflamation (causing muscle pain) etc and immediately confirmed this was the same reaction she had seen with other buns who had had VHD vaccines - BUT only ever with Cylap before not Lapinject.

He was placed on metacam, bupronorphine, sub cut fluid etc. he was very very slow responding to any treatment and at first got worse.

The vet informed the vaccine maker who commented that there had been reports of reactions in the past including some deaths. However unlike Cylap, the reactions were NOt usually muscle pain and fever but respiratory. Deaths of pets usually occurred within 48-72 hours.
They therefore apparently suggested that this was not a reaction - a suggestion that my vet did not believe. (this is a report of a conversation I had with the vet - I did not directly hear from the vaccine company so it is second hand so to speak). They did however record it and offer to pay some of the costs.

After 3 days he seemed past the fever etc but by now was suffering from gut problems - at first stasis but then including gut spasms etc.

Obviously with only one kidney our medication options are limited - but we treated with at first metacam and metaclop and then moved to ranitidine and questran.

After a week he was still up and down - and 10 days after the vaccine he is still somehow not quite right. His eyes are not as they were but have narrowed, he does not seem so alert and mischievous. In short we feel there might have been permanent damage of some kind perhaps in the nervous systems when the vaccine resulted in muscle inflamation..

I should stress that all the other buns that had that batch are fine.

However I just wanted to warn people that there are side effects of Lapinject - we should be as careful as we always were with Cylap and also watch for other symptoms.


We are now debating what to do with our other 'special needs' bunny. although we are still confident in giving Lapinject to our well bunnies. Obviously if we were to have another bun with only one kidney - even if he was very very well like Damson - we would not give it to him.

Sorry for long post.

Thank you for posting this.

It helps me feel a bit less guilty for deciding against vaccinating our sick and special needs bunnies.

I really hope there is no permanent damage to Damson xx

:shock: How awful!
Is it still safe to vaccinate with Lapinject even though some deaths have occured?!

rachylou said:

:shock: How awful!
Is it still safe to vaccinate with Lapinject even though some deaths have occured?!

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Personally I have no problem with vaccinating a HEALTHY Rabbit with Lapinject.

To me it would seem that the reported deaths may have been due to the fact that the Rabbit's had an under-lying undiagnosed Respiratory Tract problem. The Lapinject did not 'give them an illness' but it impacted on the Rabbit's immune system's ability to keep on top of the under-lying respiratory tract issues.

If your Vet examines your Rabbit and considers him to be healthy then IMO it is far more of a risk to not vaccinate than it is to vaccinate

Jack's-Jane said:

Personally I have no problem with vaccinating a HEALTHY Rabbit with Lapinject.

To me it would seem that the reported deaths may have been due to the fact that the Rabbit's had an under-lying undiagnosed Respiratory Tract problem. The Lapinject did not 'give them an illness' but it impacted on the Rabbit's immune system's ability to keep on top of the under-lying respiratory tract issues.

If your Vet examines your Rabbit and considers him to be healthy then IMO it is far more of a risk to not vaccinate than it is to vaccinate

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Thank you Jane

Jack's-Jane said:

Personally I have no problem with vaccinating a HEALTHY Rabbit with Lapinject.

To me it would seem that the reported deaths may have been due to the fact that the Rabbit's had an under-lying undiagnosed Respiratory Tract problem. The Lapinject did not 'give them an illness' but it impacted on the Rabbit's immune system's ability to keep on top of the under-lying respiratory tract issues.

If your Vet examines your Rabbit and considers him to be healthy then IMO it is far more of a risk to not vaccinate than it is to vaccinate

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I agree with this - the reason fr posting is to make people aware that there are risks but that those risks may be related to buns with underlying problems or (in the case of Damson) some particular circumstance which although not affecting their general well being and health may unexpectedly result in a problem when faced with the vaccine.

I too suspect the rabbits had underlying problems . . but if they were 'underlying' they may simply have been thought to be healthy buns. I don't think that a vet would give a full set of bloods etc every time they injected what was assumed to be a healthy rabbit so owners must be aware of the risks. I think many rabbit owners have breather a sigh of relief at the release of lapinject and did not realise that side effects are still present with Lapinject.

As I said - I will still be vaccinating my buns - although I did put one off today as it is so hot and did not want to add to stress by giving a vaccine.

i *think* Kirsty and Lola lost a bun after the lapinjet vaccine and i beleive that was recoded by the manufacturers as a possible reaction.

i know everyone raves about this newer vaccine but im wary of both and this is why i do not insist on the lapinjet and am happy to continue with cylap, its a nasty illness and a nasty vaccine who ever makes it by the looks

I still havent given my Inca her VHD vaccine as she was ill.

I dont know when to decide that she is well enough for it......might get her done when she is up with Herbie to get his teeth out.

My vets use Cylap. Kermit used to get a limp with it, but Herbie was fine with his.

donnamt said:

i *think* Kirsty and Lola lost a bun after the lapinjet vaccine and i beleive that was recoded by the manufacturers as a possible reaction.

i know everyone raves about this newer vaccine but im wary of both and this is why i do not insist on the lapinjet and am happy to continue with cylap, its a nasty illness and a nasty vaccine who ever makes it by the looks

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Yes she did, it was Rory who she adopted from me. He had similar symptoms to those described by Parsnip Bun, and died the day after vaccination. He had seen a vet very recently to be neutered and came round slowly after the GA, so whilst he appeared perfectly healthy he could well have had a underlying problem which was asymptomatic.

I had to report a nasty chemical burn on one of my rabbits last year to Fort Dodge following Cylap vaccination and at the time my vets thought he would be scarred for life (he also had facial swelling which was a new side-effect to me). Thankfully he healed fully and FD picked up the medical bill. I have now switched all my rabbits to Lapinject.