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Filavac VHD2 vaccine & EC bunny....to vaccinate or not? :/

treacletrim

treacletrim

Young Bun
Hi everyone,

I'm completely undecided as to whether I should vaccinate my little boy bunny with Filavac or not, out of fears it may make his EC worse....does anyone have any experience relating to this?

Conker is a rescued bun, approximately 3 years old and he has EC. He had a slight head tilt when we adopted him, which we knew about. He had no other symptoms aside from this and leads a happy healthy life. He is bonded to my girl Patsy, and they are free range house buns with supervised garden time.

Conker has recently finished a course of panacur & metacam, after he developed some hind leg weakness (he's had x rays to rule out other things) so we are sure it is linked to his EC. He still occasionally drags a back foot, and clips his feet jumping into his litter tray but otherwise is happy and healthy, and can easily binky and bomb up and down the stairs :p !

They are coming up to needing their Nobivac VHD/Myxi jab which they will both be having, but I am really unsure what to do with Conker and the VHD2 jab :/ I might add that he has already had it once with no ill effects (August last year) and the hind leg weakness has been a fairly recent development. I have heard horror stories about the effects of the vaccine with EC bunnies so I'm really unsure as to what to do for the best. Has anyone else's EC buns had the jab? I have put him on the Oxbow Immune Support supplement, which he's been on for a few weeks, to help him out when he has his Nobivac. There have been quite a few confirmed cases of VHD2 in our area, so I'm really worried its a real risk. I'm also scared of the vaccine making things worse for his condition...

...does anyone have any thoughts? I will of course chat to my vet, as Patsy is due her Filavac before Conker, but I'd be interested to hear of any similar experiences.

Thank you!x
 
treacletrim said:
Hi everyone,

I'm completely undecided as to whether I should vaccinate my little boy bunny with Filavac or not, out of fears it may make his EC worse....does anyone have any experience relating to this?

Conker is a rescued bun, approximately 3 years old and he has EC. He had a slight head tilt when we adopted him, which we knew about. He had no other symptoms aside from this and leads a happy healthy life. He is bonded to my girl Patsy, and they are free range house buns with supervised garden time.

Conker has recently finished a course of panacur & metacam, after he developed some hind leg weakness (he's had x rays to rule out other things) so we are sure it is linked to his EC. He still occasionally drags a back foot, and clips his feet jumping into his litter tray but otherwise is happy and healthy, and can easily binky and bomb up and down the stairs :p !

They are coming up to needing their Nobivac VHD/Myxi jab which they will both be having, but I am really unsure what to do with Conker and the VHD2 jab :/ I might add that he has already had it once with no ill effects (August last year) and the hind leg weakness has been a fairly recent development. I have heard horror stories about the effects of the vaccine with EC bunnies so I'm really unsure as to what to do for the best. Has anyone else's EC buns had the jab? I have put him on the Oxbow Immune Support supplement, which he's been on for a few weeks, to help him out when he has his Nobivac. There have been quite a few confirmed cases of VHD2 in our area, so I'm really worried its a real risk. I'm also scared of the vaccine making things worse for his condition...

...does anyone have any thoughts? I will of course chat to my vet, as Patsy is due her Filavac before Conker, but I'd be interested to hear of any similar experiences.

Thank you!x
Click to expand...

Hello

I completely understand your dilemma and as you have said, seeking the advice of a trusted Vet is the best thing to do. However, whilst I do not have any Rabbits with 'active' EC I do have one Rabbit with a chronic life limiting condition that effects his GI tract, his heart and his brain. I think I drove my poor Vet up the wall with all my indecision as to whether to risk vaccinating him. Especially as he did have a relapse of his GI tract symptoms after his last Nobivac vaccine. He had never had any adverse reactions from it before. But then a local Rescue had a confirmed case of RHD2 and two other very local cases also occurred. That was the deciding factor for me and my Rabbit was vaccinated. He had no side effects at all and he also went on to have another Nobivac. This time he was absolutely fine. So it is possible that the last apparent adverse reaction to the Nobivac was actually a coincidence and not related to the vaccine at all.

So I would say that unless your Vet strongly advises against giving Conker the RHD2 Vaccine I would do so. RHD2 takes no prisoners, it is an evil disease.

Best wishes for whatever you decide to do x
 
treacletrim said:
Hi everyone,

I'm completely undecided as to whether I should vaccinate my little boy bunny with Filavac or not, out of fears it may make his EC worse....does anyone have any experience relating to this?

Conker is a rescued bun, approximately 3 years old and he has EC. He had a slight head tilt when we adopted him, which we knew about. He had no other symptoms aside from this and leads a happy healthy life. He is bonded to my girl Patsy, and they are free range house buns with supervised garden time.

Conker has recently finished a course of panacur & metacam, after he developed some hind leg weakness (he's had x rays to rule out other things) so we are sure it is linked to his EC. He still occasionally drags a back foot, and clips his feet jumping into his litter tray but otherwise is happy and healthy, and can easily binky and bomb up and down the stairs :p !

They are coming up to needing their Nobivac VHD/Myxi jab which they will both be having, but I am really unsure what to do with Conker and the VHD2 jab :/ I might add that he has already had it once with no ill effects (August last year) and the hind leg weakness has been a fairly recent development. I have heard horror stories about the effects of the vaccine with EC bunnies so I'm really unsure as to what to do for the best. Has anyone else's EC buns had the jab? I have put him on the Oxbow Immune Support supplement, which he's been on for a few weeks, to help him out when he has his Nobivac. There have been quite a few confirmed cases of VHD2 in our area, so I'm really worried its a real risk. I'm also scared of the vaccine making things worse for his condition...

...does anyone have any thoughts? I will of course chat to my vet, as Patsy is due her Filavac before Conker, but I'd be interested to hear of any similar experiences.

Thank you!x
Click to expand...


Hiya treacletrim :wave:

I do understand your dilemma here .. What are the horror stories you refer to, and where are you reading them?

I began a thread all about RHD2 - everything concerning it, including any bunnies reactions:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?456446-RHD2-Updated-10th-June-2017


Of course the best place to begin is talking with your vet, but I appreciate not all vets are as savvy when it comes to RHD2 and possible side effects. I am glad to hear he's now finished his course of Panacur and Metacam and is feeling well within himself. You also have him on an immune booster, and for me all those things combined mean that if he were my bunny (and he's not old at 3 years of age) I would definitely have him vaccinated.

I did have an EC bunny vaccinated a few months ago. The bunny had been suffering effects of EC and had also had a course of Panacur. I made the decision to vaccinate and bunny was fine.

I can't promise there will be no adverse reactions. From what I've heard they are fairly rare, and so long as your bunny has a good immune system to mount a good immune response to the vaccine, all should be well.
 
I also understand where you are coming from. I have a head tilt bun also but his tilt is down to an inner ear infection. It was a hard decision to make but after consulting with my vet I decided to go ahead and he was absolutely fine :) I'd consult with a rabbit savvy vet before going ahead. Good luck! x
 
My tilty buns have always been vaccinated under the advice of either my rabbit specialist or bunny savvy regular vet - with no ill effects. If they are in a place that is good for them (& it sounds like Conker is) I'd go for it.
 
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