Ebony and Mr Snoop have, today, been vaccinated against the new strain of Rabbit Viral Haemorrhagic Disease.
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| Mr Snoop trying to hide the dog photo on his vaccination record card. |
It’s taken a while to get hold of the new vaccine – many practices have been unable to source any from suppliers, but our vet kindly managed to order a pack of 10 vials – she now needs more rabbits to be brought to the surgery for this vaccine, to use the remaining vials.
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| A look of disdain as they are shut in the carrier – Ebony saw it coming and evaded for nearly long enough to make us miss the appointment. |
The bunnies are already vaccinated against myxomatosis, the classic strain RHD (RHDV-1), and the variant strain RHD (RHDV-2) (they receive an annual injection of Nobivac® Myxo-RHD PLUS), but today’s vaccine (YURVAC® RHD) is to protect them against all strains of RHD, including the new “highly virulent strain” of RVHD-2. From now on, they’ll have two vaccinations a year: Nobivac and YURVAC.
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| Two cross buns on the journey home. |
The new strain has been found in mainland Europe. There’s no surveillance data available yet, to confirm its presence in the UK (even with post-mortems, there’s no test to identify which strain caused death), but it’s likely that it exists here; in December, the RWAF announced reports of rabbits who were vaccinated but died of RVHD2, which rang alarm bells for us.
RHD is a horrendous disease (read more about it here), and rabbits who are affected often show few signs of illness, and die suddenly. It spreads quickly and easily, and can enter rabbits’ homes on hay, insects, or from guardians’ contaminated clothes or shoes. Hopefully, this new strain won't take a hold in the UK but it's good to know the bunnies are vaccinated.
Below: Ebony and Mr Snoop realising they were finally free and angrily washing away the smell of hoomins.
