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Potentially sensitive: should terminally ill rabbits be vaccinated

joey&boo

Wise Old Thumper
Say if a bunny had a terminal illness & wasn't expected to live more than a couple of months - would you get him vaccinated ? I can't work out whether its worth the stress on his body when the chances are we'll have to say goodbye shortly after -if not before:(

I know I could wait to decide til he's due in a few weeks but my head won't rest. So i thought maybe I'd get some insight from you lot if you're willing to share thoughts & experiences. Sorry its a bit depressing
 
If someone could come up with a valid reason why I should have him vaccinated I would listen with an open mind. But at the moment I really cannot think of anything which would persuade me to have him vaccinated if he were my rabbit.

My reasons would be stress of the vaccination and stress of the vet experience without any definite benefit.

If it were me terminally ill, there's no way I would want someone to take me out of my home, where I felt safe and secure and take me to have a flu jab. It's a similar situation.

Quite apart from all that, he will be at a lesser risk of RHD 1 & 2 and also Myx by being a house rabbit. Myx also I think is more a risk in late Summer when the mozzies are around.

Sending hugs.

ETA Just thought of something else, which is that his current vaccine is not suddenly going to stop on the due date. It will decrease I think over a period of time.
 
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Hymm years back when I had Rosie my Netherland dwarf. When she got. Brain tumour my vet advised I not vaccinating her as would probably compromise her condition. That was way back 13-14 years ago I think and things have changed alot

Have you discussed your concerns with your vet? In what your rabbits terminal illness is and if vaccination of current form would have any effects on that
 
If someone could come up with a valid reason why I should have him vaccinated I would listen with an open mind. But at the moment I really cannot think of anything which would persuade me to have him vaccinated if he were my rabbit.

My reasons would be stress of the vaccination and stress of the vet experience without any definite benefit.

If it were me terminally ill, there's no way I would want someone to take me out of my home, where I felt safe and secure and take me to have a flu jab. It's a similar situation.

Quite apart from all that, he will be at a lesser risk of RHD 1 & 2 and also Myx by being a house rabbit. Myx also I think is more a risk in late Summer when the mozzies are around.

Sending hugs.

ETA Just thought of something else, which is that his current vaccine is not suddenly going to stop on the due date. It will decrease I think over a period of time.

Thanks Omi. My thoughts were similar tbh. The only time my buns were ever late with vaccs was initial covid wave when my vets (& I think many others) said they'd be fine for 3 months extra. i'm even wondering whether to bother Mousey - she isn't due a review & theres nothing much my vets can offer her apart from honey drugs . I'd maybe let her go 6 weeks over til her next review (if indeed she is still here)
 
Hymm years back when I had Rosie my Netherland dwarf. When she got. Brain tumour my vet advised I not vaccinating her as would probably compromise her condition. That was way back 13-14 years ago I think and things have changed alot

Have you discussed your concerns with your vet? In what your rabbits terminal illness is and if vaccination of current form would have any effects on that

Thats useful to know. Thanks for sharing your experience with Rosie. I haven't asked my vets yet, I will of course at some point but some of the vets opinions I'd trust more than others
 
I would probably 'put off' the vaccination for as long as possible - ultimately maybe not needing to do it. The exception would be if there was a high risk of myxomatosis or RHD, in which case I would definitely do it when it was due - I would hate to lose a rabbit to preventable diseases for the sake of a vaccination, even if it was only 'useful' for a couple of months. But you also get rabbits who exceed their life expectancy, and you wish they had been vaccinated on time.

I've got a similar decision for a couple of very elderly cats who are overdue because there are no vaccines available at my vet still. I'm debating whether they will get vaccinated again if it goes beyond another month, as they will need to start again. As they are house cats and have always been vaccinated, they 'may' be ok with some residual immunity, which is a bit different to the situation with rabbits.
 
I would probably 'put off' the vaccination for as long as possible - ultimately maybe not needing to do it. The exception would be if there was a high risk of myxomatosis or RHD, in which case I would definitely do it when it was due - I would hate to lose a rabbit to preventable diseases for the sake of a vaccination, even if it was only 'useful' for a couple of months. But you also get rabbits who exceed their life expectancy, and you wish they had been vaccinated on time.

I've got a similar decision for a couple of very elderly cats who are overdue because there are no vaccines available at my vet still. I'm debating whether they will get vaccinated again if it goes beyond another month, as they will need to start again. As they are house cats and have always been vaccinated, they 'may' be ok with some residual immunity, which is a bit different to the situation with rabbits.

Thanks for your thoughts Shimmer. When you say put off as long as possible do you mean til his due date or let it go over the 12 months?
 
I agree with what's been said so far. I'd probably not worry too much but maybe revisit it in the summer if I was to get to that point. Sending hugs x

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When I had this dilemma with Rudy, Sam was in the vaccinate camp, Ruth was in the don't vaccinate camp also pointing out that he had some protection (ie herd immunity with the others being vaccinated).

I think it would also depend on the length of the journey etc.

I had Artie vaccinated 6 weeks before he was due (at F's recommendation) when he was terminally ill with kidney failure as I felt I had to take him to see F as I was worried about his teeth. He went downhill rapidly and died three weeks later. Sam has reassured me massively in that regard that she would also have vaccinated that day and blames the outing rather than the vaccination for his decline.
 
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We do not have vaccinations here, though I would ask if ill bunnies would have a strong enough immune system to get full benefit of vaccine to make it worth the stress on their system.
Though closer to due date you will have better info on progression of illness to make best decision.

I know you will do what is best.
 
Thanks for your thoughts Shimmer. When you say put off as long as possible do you mean til his due date or let it go over the 12 months?

Mine usually go a little over the due date anyway (eg a couple of weeks). I hope to get at least 3 or 4 months after a vaccination, or I probably wouldn't bother with it - unless there was a higher risk of the rabbit contracting one of the diseases they could be vaccinated for. It's never an easy decision. If you can easily afford the vaccination, the rabbit is well enough to have it, and they are likely to gain some benefit from it, I would do it. If they were very unlikely to make it 2 months post-vaccination, its possibly not worth it (especially if you allow for a couple of weeks for full immunity to develop after the vaccination) and I would rely on the remaining immunity they had (it doesn't drop to zero the instant it gets to 12 months) and look at the overall quality of life. The problem is that rabbits are rarely that predictable.
 
It would totally depend on the bunny's personality too. A massive stresshead or taking it in their stride makes a big difference. Most of my rabbits I'd probably not even think about not vaccinating, because they're outside and we have a massive local wild rabbit population and live next to a mozzie infested canal etc., but indoors, in winter, with a stressy rabbit and a vet miles away? Maybe I wouldn't. In your position, I'd very much be considering not doing it as soon as due, and definitely waiting a bit, more into the runover period.
 
It's not something I can imagine doing either, for all the reasons others have mentioned.
 
So I think it totally depends. This time last year I had two terminally ill buns vacc’d and regret it massively. I lost them both not very long after, and whilst I think that was going to happen anyway, I don’t think the vaccine can have helped. However, I did a few weeks ago have another of my terminal buns vaccinated, as whilst she definitely shouldn’t be here and we aren’t sure how she is, she seems to just keep plodding on & I imagine there’s a chance she could be here a bit longer than we anticipate.

All that said, my situation is quite different I imagine as I have a large number of rabbits here and a fast turnaround. Often they come in unvaccinated and whilst they are quarantined, it’s still a risk.
 
I don't have any experience with this, but I think I agree with those who wouldn't do it. It just doesn't seem worth the stress; both the emotional stress of going to the vets and the physical stress the vaccination has on the body. I think my priority with a terminally ill bunny would be to keep them as comfortable as possible and not do anything that causes them much stress.
 
Me personally I don't think I would do it, I feel like the stress of the journey to the vet and then dealing with the vaccine wouldn't be enough to persuade me to do it. That said, mine are house rabbits so probably at lower risk, and I always have to wait about 30 minutes to see a vet as they're always running late so this adds to the stress for my two. I appreciate everyone would have their own reasoning.
 
I'm really grateful for all these replies. J&B I think are prob low risk - they live upstairs which is a strictly no shoe zone & as Omi says at least its not the season for biting insects. I'm not going to put him through it as things stand
 
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