I would do it. Unfortunately I’ve heard of lots of rabbits dying from VHD2 recently, and personally, I don’t think its worth the risk.

I know he might have a reaction, but it shouldn’t be life threatening. It’s also possible that he just had a reaction to the combined one, and will be perfectly normal this time. Plus, hopefully by next years joint one he’ll have more of an immunity and might not react so badly.

Edited to add – not that its not scary and your fears aren’t unfounded! I just think, to me, the vaccination with possible side effects is still the best option. 

a chunk of his ear fell out?? That does sound horrible.

I haven’t heard of many cases in London, but I know there’s lots in the surrounding areas.

Maybe ask your vet how many cases they’ve heard of, and what their advice is in your specific situation.

The thing that concerns me is that it stays active for quite a while, so you can infect them by bringing it in on your shoes etc.

This is quite a tricky situation and I don’t necessarily think there is a right or wrong answer. Having said that, I would probably chose to vaccinate and deal with the reaction afterwards as you’re now aware of what could happen, you might be better prepared? Is there anything the vets could administer to lessen the side effects?

I understand stasis can be life threatening but usually with quick intervention, recovery is easier and faster and I would rather deal with that than the risk of rhd2. How much of a risk is rhd2 where you are? I live in a suburb town type area and my vet said they’ve had one confirmed case of death by rhd2 and one suspected. I suspect those in the country are more at risk. Then of course you’ve got to take into account that for the best chance of the vaccine being successful, it needs doing every 6 months. I don’t envy you

The thing about these diseases is they aren’t treatable, but a reaction is.
If he had a bad reaction he can be nursed through it, but if he contracts either of these he won’t survive.

Vhd is a cruel disease and is airborne. You can carry it on clothes and shoes. I had a very sick rabbit who couldn’t get the vaccine and my life was torture trying to keep everything decontaminated – I showered before entering the room, no outside clothes etc (I was told by vets it was a high risk area) think bam went through something similar
There is also a chance that he won’t react as badly to the annual booster as he’s already been given an “infection”

Was he on any probiotics leading up to the vaccines? He may have reacted badly due to a weak immune system.
But maybe the antihistamine will help?

I think both forms of RHD and myxo are now treatable? If caught early or something.

Where did you see that? As far as I know and as far as my vet is concerned they aren’t treatable as there’s no specific treatment available(hence the urge to vaccinate against)

Depending on the strain of myxo most vets will euthanize the rabbit upon diagnosis, because the suffering is immeasurable.
There are cases where they survive, but it is rare. Early symptoms are often impossible to see, and with acute the lesions will have started to spread in 24 hours with a 90% mortality rate within ten days,
The chronic form is less aggressive and rabbits with it have a 50:50 chance. This is the form that vets will try and treat if possible but it is still a huge amount of suffering for the rabbit.

VHD can be fatal in a matter of hours, with many owners not even realizing the rabbit is unwell. It is also largely untreatable due to its fast acting nature with most rabbits dying within three days of symptoms, it is also about 90% fatal.

I keep thinking (like in human medicine but to a lesser extent) all our bunnies getting this vaccine for these next few years are serving as the “guinea pigs”. What if there is some really bad long term effect of having VHD1 twice that we’ll only know in 10 years time

Rabbits only live about that long anyway so their life is enhanced by having the vaccine. The life span of a wild rabbit tends to be about 6 months on average.

While there is a foundation for your fears there is also a strong reason to give your bunny a vaccine. Are you sure it was an allergic reaction or was it a reaction to having the live attenuated vaccine, ie, your rabbit had a low dose of the disease and acted accordingly as his body tried to adapt to it?

RHD2 can kill without symptoms. Gina and Jenny both had reactions to their first myxo/vhd jabs, not as bad as you describe, but enough to leave them both visibly under the weather for a couple of days, with scabs where the needle went in, but reacted less to their second ones a year later, and they only had minor reactions to the vhd2. Our other 4 buns were fine with all their jabs.

Im going to go against the grain and say I wouldnt risk it unless your vet advises. If your vet heavily advises that you try the vaccine again, then I would go for it. But if my rabbit had life threatening reactions to it a second time, I would never give the vaccine to that rabbit again.