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Myxi Vaccs - yes or no??

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Autumn

Warren Scout
I have been thinking about Myxi vaccs all morning after reading that yet another vaccinated bun from here now has full blown Myxi. I have lost one vaccinated bun to myxi, and also sadly lost my lovely Dexter (a rescue bun who had had a TERRIBLE start in life) within 48 hours of his first Myxi vaccination for no apparent reason. I now believe that he was unable to cope with the vaccs as he was too weak and his death was a direct result of the injection. As a result of both of these instances I no longer vaccinate my rabbits. I realize i will probably get shot down in flames for admitting that on this forum, but i am very interested to hear whether anyone else on here has had any similar experiences, or has chosen not to vaccinate?
 
Our buns are vaccinated against Myxo every 6 months.

If I had a bunny who had a compromised immune system and my vet recommended we shouldn't vaccinate, then I would choose not to.

I can understand your reluctance but, on the whole, a vaccinated bunny has a much stronger chance of recovering from Myxo than a non-vaccinated bun.
 
I have two unvaccinated rabbits (Currently I had 16 bunnies in total, so therefore 14 fully vaccinated, two unvaccinated) and deemed them too 'at risk' to vaccinate. Everyone else is though. I had to do a lot of soul seacrhing to work out what I thought was best for them both.

I personally think the VHD vaccine is far more important than myxi, but that's my personal opinion only. Its based on it being catching rabbit to rabbit. sticks around for months and months and the vaccination prevents it completely. I do vaccinate against myxi to 'hedge their bets' against the disease and hope it will be enough to prevent it getting to them.

I have to look at every bunny separately, but if one of my healthy buns got an illness preventable by vaccination or that could be limited and cured if they were vaccinated, I would never forgive myself.
 
Any unvaccinated domestic rabbit has literally zero chance of surviving Myxi.

A vaccintated rabbit has a very good chance of surviving Myxi. Sadly there are what I would consider in the overall scheme of things 'rare' incidents when a bun does not tolerate the vaccine well, or may even have an adverse reaction to it, or a bun may be too poorly to vaccinate. However, weighing up the risks and benefits, provided bun was in a reasonable state of health I would ALWAYS give bun that fighting chance against this disease by vaccinating.

I'm sorry you've lost two buns to Myxi :cry: But do you know for sure that your rescue bun died from the vaccination, did you have a PM done? I suspect he had an underlying condition or perhaps wasn't in good enough health to receive the vaccination at that point in time?
As a child we lost an entire colony of 9 rabbits to Myxi - in the days before vaccinating. I never want to witness that again. :cry:
 
i decided not to vaccinate Pearl because she was so poorly she would of been PTS even with the nodular Myxi so i didnt see the point putting a virus into her to fight a virus she had no chance of winning against.

i would never leave a healthy rabbit un-vaccinated tho.

eta - i would rather lose a rabbit doing the right thing, than living with the guilt of letting them die from something preventable.
 
I would always vaccinate against myxi unless a rabbit had an illness that caused poor immune system (in which case, as I understand it, the vac does not work as well anyway).

With my own buns -

Damson had myxi years ago when the vacs were only every year - he was at his limit of 12 months (booked in the following week:evil:) and survived nodular myxi:

Viola Rose was at 6mths 2 weeks from last vac (again booked in the following week) and it was not my own vet who had given the jab pvsly so I do not know how well it was done that pvs time. She had a real fight but eventually pulled through. She would certainly have died without the vac.

Hawthorn - well we have no idea what has happened. He was vacced only 7 weeks ago (and was on a regular 6 mths cycle). The vet wonders if it is a different strain that is appearing.

I have had one bun (Damson) have dreadful reactions to VHD Lapinject but he had had a kidney removed just 6 weeks before the jab.

At present I do not VHD buns with underlying problems (2 of my 19) and I delay myxi jabs if bun ill - but would always give myxi once well again and even myxi some with underlying problems. (We myxi jab Blackberry who has chronic EC and always have done - but have stopped VHDing him as the vac is so strong).
 
Always vaccinate..it gives the rabbit a chance. If one of yours died as he was too weak then that is the vets mistake as they should check animal is healthy before vacs given.
Some vacs rabbits hardly show signs if they come into contact with the disease..others will still not cope..but an un vacs bun stands no chance

and I do wonder why you applied to adopt from me..agreeing to vacs..if you were not going to ??
I'm afraid people who mislead or who hide info worry me:(
 
Always vaccinate..it gives the rabbit a chance. If one of yours died as he was too weak then that is the vets mistake as they should check animal is healthy before vacs given.
Some vacs rabbits hardly show signs if they come into contact with the disease..others will still not cope..but an un vacs bun stands no chance

and I do wonder why you applied to adopt from me..agreeing to vacs..if you were not going to ??
I'm afraid people who mislead or who hide info worry me:(

Now hang on?! My current rabbits are not vaccinated for the reasons i have given. Had i been able to adopt from you under the agreement of vaccinating then I absolutely would have vaccinated - and as she had already had her first injection i would not have had any adverse reaction to worry about.
I started this thread out of a genuine desire to hear others views and experiences and now i am branded a liar?!
 
and I do wonder why you applied to adopt from me..agreeing to vacs..if you were not going to ??
I'm afraid people who mislead or who hide info worry me:(

Eeeek. :shock:

I'm sorry for your losses Autumn. :( I would always vaccinate any bunny, providing he/she was healthy enough.

Dexter should have received a full health check before being vaccinated - either that wasn't done or there was some underlying problem which the vet couldn't have known about. Did you have a PM done as perhaps it was completely unrelated and just a sad result of all he had already been through before you got him?

Sadly, vaccinated bunnies can still get myxi - they have a greater chance of survival than unvaccinate rabbits but it's not guaranteed. I would say that vaccinating at least gives them a fighting chance.

In summary, vaccinate unless helath problems dictate otherwise. :)
 
Now hang on?! My current rabbits are not vaccinated for the reasons i have given. Had i been able to adopt from you under the agreement of vaccinating then I absolutely would have vaccinated - and as she had already had her first injection i would not have had any adverse reaction to worry about.
I started this thread out of a genuine desire to hear others views and experiences and now i am branded a liar?!

I did not brand you a liar..but you said in 1st post you no longer vacs your rabbits...that is how it reads...as a rescue I would worry about anyone who doesn't vacs unless the individual bun was compromised .
 
I'll always vaccinate every 6 months unless the rabbit had health problems which meant it couldn't be vaccinated
 
I will always vaccinate unless they are poorly/weak.

I guess there is always a risk for the first vaccination if the rabbit's general health isn't entirely known and may have genetic problems. The vet should always give a full checkup before the vaccination though, so they should spot any obvious problems like a weak/irregular heart.
 
I have been thinking about Myxi vaccs all morning after reading that yet another vaccinated bun from here now has full blown Myxi.

I'm so sorry to hear about your bun Dexter.
when you say full-blown myxi do you mean nodular myxi? I thought they couldn't get full-blown myxi after innoculation? My bun Chelsea got nodular myxi at 9yrs of age (she was innoculated) and did survive though it was a long haul. I think it does depend on how the individual rabbit's immune system fights it off.
sue:wave:
 
Hawthorn - well we have no idea what has happened. He was vacced only 7 weeks ago (and was on a regular 6 mths cycle). The vet wonders if it is a different strain that is appearing.

I think there are now at least six or seven different strains in the UK, with only the one vaccine available to protect.

I also think it's no coincidence, that there's been a massive increase in the number of rabbits developing both nodular, and full blown myxomatosis since Pet Passports were introduced in 2001 (?)
Dogs and cats travelling back to the UK from Europe have to be treated for fleas 24/48 hours before reentering the UK, but as far as I'm aware,the vehicles they've travelled in, don't need to be, so any eggs or fleas the animal has left in the car, will make it possible for further new strains to be imported.
 
I did not brand you a liar..but you said in 1st post you no longer vacs your rabbits...that is how it reads...as a rescue I would worry about anyone who doesn't vacs unless the individual bun was compromised .

I no longer vaccinate against MYXI, because of the reaction that Dexter had. I was absolutely heartbroken when he died. I do believe my vet was a fault. I had had to change vet on account of my local rabbit vet closing down so went to the vets i have always used for my dog. They were given his full history, but did not check him over thoroughly enough, as he looked to be in good health - I was not vigilant enough as i trusted my vet and had no idea that there was such a risk involved. My ex-husband would not let me get an autopsy done, as Dexter had knocked up almost £400 in vets bills in the 3 months I had had him in order to get him well. As i said, if I had adopted a rabbit who had previously vaccinated, then of course I would contine to vaccinate religiously, but I had made the choice not to vaccinate the rabbits I already have.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your bun Dexter.
when you say full-blown myxi do you mean nodular myxi? I thought they couldn't get full-blown myxi after innoculation? My bun Chelsea got nodular myxi at 9yrs of age (she was innoculated) and did survive though it was a long haul. I think it does depend on how the individual rabbit's immune system fights it off.
sue:wave:

Hi, the bun who was vaccinated developed full blown Myxi, not nodular. Dexter didn't develop Myxi, but seemed fighting fit, had the vaccs on thrusday morning, and on Friday lunchtime literally just dropped dead :cry:
 
I have been thinking about Myxi vaccs all morning after reading that yet another vaccinated bun from here now has full blown Myxi. I have lost one vaccinated bun to myxi, and also sadly lost my lovely Dexter (a rescue bun who had had a TERRIBLE start in life) within 48 hours of his first Myxi vaccination for no apparent reason. I now believe that he was unable to cope with the vaccs as he was too weak and his death was a direct result of the injection. As a result of both of these instances I no longer vaccinate my rabbits. I realize i will probably get shot down in flames for admitting that on this forum, but i am very interested to hear whether anyone else on here has had any similar experiences, or has chosen not to vaccinate?

The current vaccine is the only one available in this country. It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and it's tragic when vaccinated rabbits develop any form of the virus, but for each vaccinated rabbit that didn't develop any immunity following vaccination, many many more with have gained full, or at least partial protection.
Your rabbit that died following vaccination was probably already incubating the virus, and I certainly wouldn't use that as a reason not to vaccinate any you have now.
 
YEEEESSSSS!!

I'm not sure if you've seen my thread about Cloud?! She is seven and a half, I got her from the RSPCA in April and she is vaccinated (well actually, she was due her vacc on the 12th of this month but as she's currently suffering from nodular myxi, it's not been done yet).

As Cloud has been vaccinated (and presumably vaccinated correctly for her entire life by her previous owners as she's shown a heck of a lot of immunity for an old bunny) she only developed one nodule on her nose. She's had it so mildly, she's not even had any medication for it.

If she hadn't been vaccinated, she would of died by now.

This is as bad as Cloud got -



If you found pictures of, or saw a myxi bunny that hadn't been vaccinated and put the two pictures together, you'd realise what a good thing it is to get them vaccinated. :)

Of course, if a rabbit had health problems that mean it's not sensible to risk getting it done, then I understand that too.
 
I can understand how if you've had bad experiences with vaccinations that you'd be wary about it, but in my opinion, you should always vaccinate. I think it's up to the vet to judge whether the rabbit is healthy enough to have the vaccination -- my vets always give each of the buns a thorough check over before their myxi or VHD -- maybe your vet didn't do that?

I know it goes into a shade of grey as buns get older and more immuno-compromised, but I think if you discuss it with a (good) vet, they'll be able to assess what to do.
 
Any unvaccinated domestic rabbit has literally zero chance of surviving Myxi.

A vaccintated rabbit has a very good chance of surviving Myxi. Sadly there are what I would consider in the overall scheme of things 'rare' incidents when a bun does not tolerate the vaccine well, or may even have an adverse reaction to it, or a bun may be too poorly to vaccinate. However, weighing up the risks and benefits, provided bun was in a reasonable state of health I would ALWAYS give bun that fighting chance against this disease by vaccinating.

I'm sorry you've lost two buns to Myxi :cry: But do you know for sure that your rescue bun died from the vaccination, did you have a PM done? I suspect he had an underlying condition or perhaps wasn't in good enough health to receive the vaccination at that point in time?
As a child we lost an entire colony of 9 rabbits to Myxi - in the days before vaccinating. I never want to witness that again. :cry:


*hugs* I lost one bunny to mixi called lucky and that was heart-rendering. 9 must have been beyond words.

I am moving the the country now- i'm not sure if that puts my buns at higher risk of mixi being nearer potential wild rabbits, as a pose to the built up area i'm in now. (p.s I was thinking that sounds daft whilst writing this, but i genuinely think that because i'm near no countryside or wildlies there is a lower risk- am i wrong here? cheers :))

I need to make sure my vacs are up to date! Thankyou for reminding me- i have some still too poorly to have done. I've just had a bun come through a neutering op though and dentistry- so i guess some buns are stronger than others and it's worth doing. It's definately a hard choice to make when you have a poorly bun already. My vets have done adonia- she is a snuffle bun and she was absolutely fine xx
 
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