• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

VACCINATE- Myxo, RHD1 & RHD2 -Updated 1st October 2018

Jack's-Jane

Wise Old Thumper
Please folks, make sure that all of your Rabbits are fully vaccinated against Myxomatosis, RHD1 and RHD2

After a brief lull in reported confirmed/suspected deaths due to RHD2, in recent weeks there has been a significant rise in deaths yet again. The situation applies NATIONWIDE. The geographical location of outbreaks are useful to know but it does not mean that if it is no-where near you then your Rabbits are safe. Our highly respected RU member 'Santa' ( who has had first hand experience of an RHD2 Outbreak in Rabbits taken in to her Rescue) has run a Facebook page for a couple of years which gives up-to-date and accurate information. Santa has extensive knowledge and experience of all aspects pertaining to RHD2 and her Facebook page is supported by the RWAF and Rabbit Savvy Vets in that they contribute to the page on a regular basis.

For those of you who use Facebook here is a link to the page, latest posts about losses made within the last 12 hours

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1744958082388756/

From some of the posts on the page it is evident that there are still far too many people unaware of how lethal RHD2 is. Whilst most Vets do provide appropriate information and advice there are a few who appear not to do so.

The ONLY way to protect your Rabbits is to vaccinate them.


Ggsj19j.jpg



Vaccines- Data Information Sheets :


Myxo-RHD (covers for Myxomatosis and RHD1)
http://www.noahcompendium.co.uk/?id=-455496

Filavac (covers for RHD1 AND RHD2)
https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/media/documents/filavac.doc

Eravac (ONLY covers for RHD2)
https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/media/documents/eravac-uk-datasheet-0.pdf


Note- With gratitude to Richard Saunders BSc (Hons) BVSc MSB CBiol DZooMed (Mammalian) MRCVS (RWAF Vet Specialist Adviser) for his dedicated hard work which enabled a RHD2 Vaccine to become available in the UK
https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/congratulations-to-richard-ceva-vet-of-the-year-2018/
 
Last edited:
(I don't know if this has ever been done)

But ...

Would FHB consider a survey as to why people haven't vaccinated their bunnies before? For example, cost, time, un-educated, didn't think it would happen to them, indoor bunnies, don't believe in vaccines etc?

Then there could be different angles to tackle this problem?

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
(I don't know if this has ever been done)

But ...

Would FHB consider a survey as to why people haven't vaccinated their bunnies before? For example, cost, time, un-educated, didn't think it would happen to them, indoor bunnies, don't believe in vaccines etc?

Then there could be different angles to tackle this problem?

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

I am not sure that FHB would have time to do more surveys, but I would think that anyone could set one up. From what I have heard/read the most common reason for not vaccinating is not knowing about the need to do so. Or knowing about a Rabbit needing the Myxo-RHD1 vaccine but not knowing that this does NOT offer any protection against RHD2. Or assuming that House Rabbits dont need vaccinations.

There are some cases of people not vaccinating due to financial constraints or for personal beliefs about the efficacy/safety of vaccines.
 
I am not sure that FHB would have time to do more surveys, but I would think that anyone could set one up. From what I have heard/read the most common reason for not vaccinating is not knowing about the need to do so. Or knowing about a Rabbit needing the Myxo-RHD1 vaccine but not knowing that this does NOT offer any protection against RHD2. Or assuming that House Rabbits dont need vaccinations.

There are some cases of people not vaccinating due to financial constraints or for personal beliefs about the efficacy/safety of vaccines.
I would say the best way to inform people would be pet shops. So when people went to get their supplies they could have the Rwaf poster clipped to the shelf where the pellets are. I haven't been in PAH in a while but I don't recall every seeing any information anywhere. Especially RHD2. The last thing I saw was the rabbit petting session where I took all the dates and times out of display frames and shoved them down the back of the shelves!

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
I would say the best way to inform people would be pet shops. So when people went to get their supplies they could have the Rwaf poster clipped to the shelf where the pellets are. I haven't been in PAH in a while but I don't recall every seeing any information anywhere. Especially RHD2. The last thing I saw was the rabbit petting session where I took all the dates and times out of display frames and shoved them down the back of the shelves!

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

Sorry, it's not funny really, but I found it so :lol:

FHB is *supposed to be* retired :) I'm not sure why people don't vaccinate, but suspect that there will be a variety of reasons. There's so much that's just not known about people obtaining rabbits, e.g. the percentage of people getting from rescues, compared to pet shops and also to breeders.

I know most vets would mention vaccinations each time they see a new rabbit. I remember when my vet had a "Rabbit Awareness Evening" a few months back, there were just 3 normal rabbit keepers (including me) and 1 breeder, who turned up :( From the vets there were 3 vets and 1 vet nurse presenting slides! When it came to advice on vaccinations, the breeder immediately asked the cost for RHD2. When she was told, she said that for 50 rabbits, it didn't make sense economically and she would take her chance (as she does apparently for Myx).

Facebook would, I imagine, be a good source of information.
 
Sorry, it's not funny really, but I found it so [emoji38]

FHB is *supposed to be* retired :) I'm not sure why people don't vaccinate, but suspect that there will be a variety of reasons. There's so much that's just not known about people obtaining rabbits, e.g. the percentage of people getting from rescues, compared to pet shops and also to breeders.

I know most vets would mention vaccinations each time they see a new rabbit. I remember when my vet had a "Rabbit Awareness Evening" a few months back, there were just 3 normal rabbit keepers (including me) and 1 breeder, who turned up :( From the vets there were 3 vets and 1 vet nurse presenting slides! When it came to advice on vaccinations, the breeder immediately asked the cost for RHD2. When she was told, she said that for 50 rabbits, it didn't make sense economically and she would take her chance (as she does apparently for Myx).

Facebook would, I imagine, be a good source of information.
We won't talk about the time we freed all the live crickets! Run free little ones

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
I would say the best way to inform people would be pet shops. So when people went to get their supplies they could have the Rwaf poster clipped to the shelf where the pellets are. I haven't been in PAH in a while but I don't recall every seeing any information anywhere. Especially RHD2. The last thing I saw was the rabbit petting session where I took all the dates and times out of display frames and shoved them down the back of the shelves!

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

Absolutely agree with you on this. Pets at Home are certainly not the worst when it comes to advice given at point of sale. I think people who Adopt from their Adoption Section get Neutering/Vaccination vouchers ?? I have no idea what sort of advice is given to people buying from the 'normal stock'. From what I have heard the accuracy of advice given at POS in PAH varies from store to store, depending on how clued up the Sales Person happens to be.

There is an Independent Pet Shop not far from me who give the most awful 'advice' re Rabbits and they still have the baby Bunnies in with baby Guinea Pigs !

I cant set foot in the place any more as it is too upsetting and no amount of Reporting the issue to various agencies has any effect at all.

Sorry, gone a bit OT there x
 
Absolutely agree with you on this. Pets at Home are certainly not the worst when it comes to advice given at point of sale. I think people who Adopt from their Adoption Section get Neutering/Vaccination vouchers ?? I have no idea what sort of advice is given to people buying from the 'normal stock'. From what I have heard the accuracy of advice given at POS in PAH varies from store to store, depending on how clued up the Sales Person happens to be.

There is an Independent Pet Shop not far from me who give the most awful 'advice' re Rabbits and they still have the baby Bunnies in with baby Guinea Pigs !

I cant set foot in the place any more as it is too upsetting and no amount of Reporting the issue to various agencies has any effect at all.

Sorry, gone a bit OT there x
Baby bun purchase for pets at home gets you a free vaccination voucher for the combined vaccine - never heard staff mention RHD2 but as you say it varies I guess, if I was working there (not that I could) I'd be giving so much advice [emoji38][emoji38]

Adoption centre ones - you get the same voucher for free combined vaccine and a free neutering voucher at their vets4pets.

When I adopted Penelope and Apricot from the adoption section they never mentioned RHD2 to me at all,and never gave any advice tbh [emoji38] for me this was obviously fine.

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Baby bun purchase for pets at home gets you a free vaccination voucher for the combined vaccine - never heard staff mention RHD2 but as you say it varies I guess, if I was working there (not that I could) I'd be giving so much advice [emoji38][emoji38]

Adoption centre ones - you get the same voucher for free combined vaccine and a free neutering voucher at their vets4pets.

When I adopted Penelope and Apricot from the adoption section they never mentioned RHD2 to me at all,and never gave any advice tbh [emoji38] for me this was obviously fine.

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Just as well it was you who adopted P + A !

I have been told (but no idea if it's true) that my local PAH carry out a half hour pre-adoption 'Interview' .
 
Baby guinea pigs and rabbits together?...what!? That hasn't even been an acceptable thing anymore for the last ten years has it? You think (considering they are a business) it would be of their benefit to advertise the vaccine for sale at the vets that are in their shops?

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Just as well it was you who adopted P + A !

I have been told (but no idea if it's true) that my local PAH carry out a half hour pre-adoption 'Interview' .
Haha - yes its called please sign this paper where we are no longer responsible for vet bills and would you like to pay card or cash?

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Just as well it was you who adopted P + A !

I have been told (but no idea if it's true) that my local PAH carry out a half hour pre-adoption 'Interview' .
Blimey! Yea they asked me if I had any rabbits, but that was about it [emoji38]

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Baby guinea pigs and rabbits together?...what!? That hasn't even been an acceptable thing anymore for the last ten years has it? You think (considering they are a business) it would be of their benefit to advertise the vaccine for sale at the vets that are in their shops?

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

They also offer a 'Holiday Boarding' service. This involves people leaving their Rabbits in the shop in a tiny cage. No idea how much they charge for that service.

So not only are there Baby Rabbits on sale but there are also other Rabbits 'visiting' and I dont think any would be vaccinated.

As for the kittens................... :cry:

Oh and the resident Parrot :cry:
 
They also offer a 'Holiday Boarding' service. This involves people leaving their Rabbits in the shop in a tiny cage. No idea how much they charge for that service.

So not only are there Baby Rabbits on sale but there are also other Rabbits 'visiting' and I dont think any would be vaccinated.

As for the kittens................... :cry:

Oh and the resident Parrot :cry:

This reminds me a lot of a pet shop near me when I was growing up, complete with parrot. Got my first bunnies from there and was told no veg for the first six months and then only as a treat... This was in the days before the Internet so until I read a book later on I had no idea they were wrong! Also no mention of vaccinations. One of my bunnies also almost died from an illness two days after buying...
 
FHB is *supposed to be* retired :) I'm not sure why people don't vaccinate, but suspect that there will be a variety of reasons. There's so much that's just not known about people obtaining rabbits, e.g. the percentage of people getting from rescues, compared to pet shops and also to breeders.

I know most vets would mention vaccinations each time they see a new rabbit. I remember when my vet had a "Rabbit Awareness Evening" a few months back, there were just 3 normal rabbit keepers (including me) and 1 breeder, who turned up :(

Yep, it would be really hard to do a survey on as your target audience are the ones who wouldn't fill in a survey about it!

I think the main reason sadly is that people don't think their rabbits are worth vaccinating :( Even those who do it against myxo are in the minority of rabbit owners in the uk, and even fewer vaccinate against RHD2. I've heard loads of vets say that they mention it to every client who comes in with a rabbit (especially when having myxo jab) or do mass mail shots to all their clients, and the majority of owners decline it, or just don't book it. We here are in the minority; for most people a rabbit is still viewed as an inexpensive child's pet for whom it's not worth the time/effort/money to get vaccinations.

Sadly there are also owners whose rabbits died of RHD2 who say they had never heard of it and their vets never mentioned it when they went and had the myxo jab, and I think in a portion of cases (not all!) this is going to be true. We advise people to listen to their vet's advice rather than ask Dr google and yet sometimes their vet may not give them all the info to enable them to make an informed decision.

Of all the reports I get of RHD2, it's astonishing how many owners say they were literally about to get them vaccinated the following week. They may have had the rabbit for 3 years, but honest guv they were already booked in, or were about to be booked in for literally just a few days later. I think there's also an element of taking a risk, it will never happen to me etc...until it does. People underestimate or don't realise the prevalence of these diseases.

Loads of confirmed and suspected (all plausible/likely RHD) cases coming in at the moment, it's definitely very active in this warm weather :(
 
Oh Santa, this made my heart sink a little because I know it's true. "A rabbit is still viewed as an inexpensive child's pet for whom it's not worth the time/effort/money to get vaccinations." It's just so sad

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Jasmine has been her for myxo/VHD1 booster and Jake his VHD2 booster this afternoon. Vet also picked up an ear problem on Jake, I hadn't noticed him being bothered by his ears but could've got worse and harder to treat if left unnoted. I also saw my vets post on Facebook they've had 5 confirmed cases of myxo in Leeds, with all VHD2 talk let's not forgot about the importance of myxo vaccines too :)
 
Jasmine has been her for myxo/VHD1 booster and Jake his VHD2 booster this afternoon. Vet also picked up an ear problem on Jake, I hadn't noticed him being bothered by his ears but could've got worse and harder to treat if left unnoted. I also saw my vets post on Facebook they've had 5 confirmed cases of myxo in Leeds, with all VHD2 talk let's not forgot about the importance of myxo vaccines too :)

Yes, Myxo certainly hasn't gone away x
 
My rabbits have just had one vaccination, does this mean that I need to get another one as I assume they’re not vaccinated against RHD2? What should I ask for when I ring the vets? I don’t really understand it
 
There is a lot of myxomatosis in Surrey at the moment! I think the heatwave this year has something to do with it because I rarely see as many cases as I have in the last two months.I haven't heard or seen anything to do with RHD but I assume there's cases of that in Surrey too.

I really wish people were better educated about rabbits needs before getting them. Several people with rabbits have told me that indoor rabbits don't need to be vaccinated.
 
Back
Top