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Why insist on vaccinated bunnies?

C

catherine09

Mama Doe
With boarding bunnies I 100% insist on fully vaccinated rabbits - however I have just had to turn away a lady who wanted to board her two rabbits, both of which unvaccinated (she has also now found a boarding establishment who will board her two unvaccinated bunnies :shock:). I really want to be able to explain fully to her my reasons for doing so in the hope she will take these on board and hopefully get her bunnies vaccinated/only go to boarders which insist on full vaccinations, but i've realised I don't 100% understand the advantages :oops:

Is a vacc'd bun (ie my bunnies/other boarders) more likely to get VHD/Myxo from unvacc'd buns? Or would any unvacc'd buns be more likely to pick up something from other vacc'd buns?

I can explain the reasons for vaccinating her own rabbits fine, it's justifying my rule that I only accept vacc'd buns I'm struggling with :oops:
 
Well personally, my reasoning would be risk to the other bunnies - i.e. an unvaccinated bunny bringing in vhd/myxo which could potentially infect those that developed an incomplete immune response to the vaccine or have a compromised immune system. The myxo vaccine is also never 100% effective. I wouldn't really want my rabbits staying near unvaccinated rabbits.

My worry would also be the huge vet bills incurred if a rabbit in your care got myxi, which may well be very hard to get back from the owners.

And if they died in your care from VHD, I would imagine the owners would blame you and it could hurt your reputation.

Having said all this, I would probably make an exception for those rabbits that can't be vaccinated for medical reasons, providing that there was an understanding that the owner pay any vet bills resulting from this, both for their own rabbits and any rabbits infected by theirs.
 
I pretty much agree with nessar - if you took in unvaccinated bunnies, the risk to your own vaccinated bunnies would be minimal although there would be a slight risk of them getting a very mild form of myxi. I think it's more about promoting responsible ownership and preventing you getting a bad name from having buns die in your care. Also, if you had several unvaccinated bunnies in at any given time, it only takes one to get myxi or vhd and the unvaccinated ones will probably all get it and die - again, giving you a bad name, you having to thoroughly disinfect your accommodation (and you would need a good disinfectant as you are trying to kill viruses) and you would be unable to use that accommodation to board whilst it is thoroughly cleaned. All in all, you do right not taking in unvaccinated bunnies and any reputable boarding place would say the same, unless, as previously stated, there was a medical reason why not vaccinated and owners are aware of your terms re treatment and payment x
 
Yes, all makes sense. I just wasn't sure about the technicalities of it all :oops:

I would make an exception for buns who are unvacc'd for heath reasons, but obviously this would need to be discussed with the owner in advance :) I guess when I get the indoor boarding sorted this might become more of an issue, as I think a lot of owners think indoor bunnies don't need vaccinations.
 
If an unvaccinated rabbit in your care got VHD you would have to quarantine yourself which basically means shutting down the business for a couple of weeks minimum. You'd also have to clean everything and chuck out anything that couldn't be cleaned. No rabbits on the grass for 3 months (presuming you have grass). As you don't own the rabbits boarding with you, if you had multiple unvaccinated rabbits, you'd then have the dilemma of what to do with the at risk rabbits - technically you'd need to owners permission to get them vaccinated immediately in the hope that would stop them catching it (it's preventative treatment not emergency care so couldn't be done without express permission).

For myxi, the vaccination doesn't offer 100% protection, vaccinated rabbits can still contract the nodular form, that means an unvaccinated rabbit that could be carrying myxi or act as a host put others at a higher risk - much more likely to catch it if a biting insect has only got to travel from one pen to another. Again, the responsible thing to do would be to quarantine yourself, that would be until the infected rabbit was returned home and for several weeks afterwards to ensure no others were infected.

You have to consider whether getting the extra booking is worth the risk of having to cancel bookings for weeks if you need to quarantine, the stress of dealing with the illness/sick rabbits if it happens and whether it would reduce your other bookings (I certainly wouldn't board anywhere that didn't insist on vaccinations) so not actually gain you any more profit in the long term anyway.
 
Tamsin said:
If an unvaccinated rabbit in your care got VHD you would have to quarantine yourself which basically means shutting down the business for a couple of weeks minimum. You'd also have to clean everything and chuck out anything that couldn't be cleaned. No rabbits on the grass for 3 months (presuming you have grass). As you don't own the rabbits boarding with you, if you had multiple unvaccinated rabbits, you'd then have the dilemma of what to do with the at risk rabbits - technically you'd need to owners permission to get them vaccinated immediately in the hope that would stop them catching it (it's preventative treatment not emergency care so couldn't be done without express permission).

For myxi, the vaccination doesn't offer 100% protection, vaccinated rabbits can still contract the nodular form, that means an unvaccinated rabbit that could be carrying myxi or act as a host put others at a higher risk - much more likely to catch it if a biting insect has only got to travel from one pen to another. Again, the responsible thing to do would be to quarantine yourself, that would be until the infected rabbit was returned home and for several weeks afterwards to ensure no others were infected.

You have to consider whether getting the extra booking is worth the risk of having to cancel bookings for weeks if you need to quarantine, the stress of dealing with the illness/sick rabbits if it happens and whether it would reduce your other bookings (I certainly wouldn't board anywhere that didn't insist on vaccinations) so not actually gain you any more profit in the long term anyway.
Click to expand...

I don't offer runs on grass due to other cross infection concerns. I wasn't considering taking the booking - I just wanted to try and educate the owner as to why I insist on it (and thus why she shouldn't be taking her rabbits somewhere without them being vaccinated) :)
 
I'm not sure how correct this is but I thought if you were carrying a disease you were carrying a disease? If you're vaccinated then you often don't get many symptoms (if any at all) because your body fights the infection off much faster but you still carry the disease and can pass it on to others?

If that's true does that not mean that vaccinated or unvaccinated rabbits are just as likely to pass on the disease to another bun? Some might argue that the vaccinated rabbit is more likely to pass it on because they wouldn't be showing the symptoms as much as an unvaccinated rabbit. But of course the unvaccinated rabbits wont really stand a chance, that's down to their owners. I can see why boarding places insist on vaccinated rabbits, looks better on them and also means they're less likely to have to put someones rabbit down if it does contract myxi.
 
Last edited:
catherine09 said:
With boarding bunnies I 100% insist on fully vaccinated rabbits - however I have just had to turn away a lady who wanted to board her two rabbits, both of which unvaccinated (she has also now found a boarding establishment who will board her two unvaccinated bunnies :shock:). I really want to be able to explain fully to her my reasons for doing so in the hope she will take these on board and hopefully get her bunnies vaccinated/only go to boarders which insist on full vaccinations, but i've realised I don't 100% understand the advantages :oops:

Is a vacc'd bun (ie my bunnies/other boarders) more likely to get VHD/Myxo from unvacc'd buns? Or would any unvacc'd buns be more likely to pick up something from other vacc'd buns?

I can explain the reasons for vaccinating her own rabbits fine, it's justifying my rule that I only accept vacc'd buns I'm struggling with :oops:
Click to expand...

As an owner and potential customer I would not wish to take my buns to a place where they do not insist on buns being vacc'd.

You're in the right 100%:thumb: Stick to your guns, you do not have to justify yourself.
 
I wouldn't want to place my bunnies in an establishment where they didn't insist on up-to-date vaccinations.
 
The couple who board my bunnies insist that all bunnies are vaccinated up to date, but they did make an exception for me when Bluebell was deamed unsafe to vaccinate by my vet because of his respitory issues. I am thankful that they did as although family would of probably taken care of that one pair for me, I was much happier knowing he was with Bunny Savvy people who could cater to his special needs and medicine routine.
 
Speak to Helen @ TRC.

She's had B&G on several occasions, Ginger was never vacc'd, because her health wouldn't allow her to be.

If I remember rightly, Helen says the issue is for the unvacc'd rabbit, not the rabbits who are vacc'd.

NB I ADD: Helen did this as a special favour to me I think, due to us knowing each other through RU and Ginger being who she was.

I won't board my rabbits anywhere else, Helen is a very special lady.
 
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