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myxomatosis - I'm confused

C

ChristyRose

Alpha Buck
How do rabbits actually catch myxomatosis? I always thought it was from flies but the vet told me that its from rabbit fleas. So if my rabbits are kept in the summer house all winter does that mean they wont catch it? Do house rabbits not need vaccinating then? How would rabbit fleas get into my garden if we dont have wild rabbits in the garden?
 
:wave: It's through biting insects, so that includes fleas and things like gnats and mosquitos.

So yes even indoor bunnies do need vaccinating as gnats can and do easily fly inside houses - they manage to get everywhere!
 
p_prod_uk said:
Can it be transported in hay bales?
Click to expand...

I think it can, I think I heard someone say that if a bunny has been caught by a thorny bit of hay and that bunny had myxo then they hay got dried then if your bun gets pricked by it then they could catch it too?
Hopefully someone will be able to clarify that!? :?
 
I really dont know. If it is spread by biting insects then I'd say it wouldn't be transported by hay bales - unless there are insects in it?
Is there a time of year when myxi is at its worst or is it an all year round threat?
 
Rabbits can pass it on to each other too.
It is an all year round threat as far as I am aware and should be vaccinated every 6 months against it and once a year against VHD.
 
One of the original academic papers on myxomatosis transmission (from about 1910 or something) identified that it can be transmitted through thorns etc - it's basically through bodily fluids so it would have to be pretty aggressive thorny hay but it's a technical possibility that an infected rabbit could infect hay, which in turn could infect another rabbit if it got in through an existing or caused an injury.

As for whether they are 'safe' all year round - it used to be the case that one injection given in late spring would cover rabbits for the peak myxomatosis season, but these days the weather is wet and mild for most of the year which means that the biting insects are around all year too - hence the recommendation in recent years that they should have a booster every 6 months. So although the risk may be lower during a very severe winter period, it doesn't last long enough to mean that one injection per year is enough, and it only takes one surviving insect to transmit it.

For the sake of an extra £20 a year it's not worth the risk in my opinion.
 
ChristyRose said:
I really dont know. If it is spread by biting insects then I'd say it wouldn't be transported by hay bales - unless there are insects in it?
Is there a time of year when myxi is at its worst or is it an all year round threat?
Click to expand...

Now-a-days it is more an all year round threat tending to peak in the Autumn.
Hence the recommendation of 6 monthly vaccination (the vaccine only gives proven immunity for 6 months)

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...onepage&q=epidemiology of myxomatosis&f=false
 
I had Jake done for myxi today and I asked the vet about VHD and she said she hadnt actually see a rabbit with vhd but she had heard of it. Is vhd quite rare and is it spread by biting insects like myxi?
 
i'm also in cornwall, i ask my vet about vhd last week.his reply was only a couple of years ago in the redruth area, nearly all pet rabbits were wiped out by an out break of it.
 
I would not run the risk of not vaccinating them against VHD to be honest.
Our vets once said that because Jims has such bad reactions do jabs that we could give the VHD jab a miss but I think having the possibility of having a a reaction to the jab is the lesser of two evils.
 
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