With Spring finally arriving (and, at time of writing, Easter and National Rabbit Awareness Week in May on the horizon!), it’s time to think of your rabbit’s vaccinations! Although it has been a quiet winter for myxomatosis, the threat never goes away.
Generally myxomatosis is seen in warmer weather as it is mainly spread by biting flies and fleas. In cold weather these insects are inactive, so disease outbreaks are much less common.
Without a cold spell again this winter the rabbit fleas will come in large numbers this year (as will the flies) and with large numbers of wild rabbits, the myxi threat has to be regarded as very high this year.
Myxomatosis is a killer – it causes swelling of the membranes in the body – mouth, ears, nose, genitals as well as internal membranes. Death is almost inevitable with generalised disease due to suffocation and/or organ failure.
Some rabbits that either have a degree of immunity or that encounter a mild strain of virus may develop the skin form – large solid lumps on (usually) the nose and face. These normally do well with
the lumps falling off after 4-8 months.
There is no treatment, therefore prevention is the aim.
Fortunately a new vaccine launched a few years ago affords much better protection than the previous one. As well as being more protective against a wider range of strains, it also lasts a full year
rather than six months as before. Better still, it can be given under the skin as per vaccines in dogs and cats rather than the fiddly and painful injections that used to be given into the base of the ear.
It also covers another infectious disease, viral haemorrhagic disease, which is another good advantage!
Rabbits can be vaccinated from 5 weeks old and are fully protected approximately 8-10 days after this.
The only issue is that in not coming in twice a year for vaccinations it is harder to keep monitoring other issues such as dental disease. At Anton Vets we are happy to provide a free health check
with one of our nurses six months after vaccination. This means your rabbit can benefit from this improved vaccine (which is also a lot cheaper now it’s only one dose a year) and keep up with his or her well-rabbit checks all year round!
by John Chitty BVetMed MRCVS – Consulting at Anton Vets, Andover
