Are vaccines necessary?

[Joeythenethie]

Hi there!
I thought I’d ask you bunny folk for some advice:
I’m planning on taking my bunny Joey outdoors in the summer. I will set up a pen for him to run around in, which would be connected to his animal carrier if he needs shelter. He’d be 100% supervised by me at all times. Does he needs vaccines or something to prevent fleas/ticks? This would be in my yard, but we do get wild rabbits sometimes.

[Bucephalus]

It shouldn’t be completely necessary. In the UK, I do know that they have at least one vaccine for pet rabbits, but this vaccine is for snuffles (Otherwise known as Pasturella).

Revolution and Ivermectin are often used for fleas and mites in rabbits. I’d have to track down a chart for dosages. However, personally, my biggest concern would be the rabbit contracting worms, in which case there’s other treatments you’d need to follow, such as a corrid regimen.

I also notice you are in Canada. I do not know how close you are to the affected areas, but becareful with the RHDV2 spreading. Until this is passed, I would HIGHLY recommend keeping your rabbit as isolated from other animals as possible. Biosecurity is the best measure to prevent the spread of the disease. Last I heard it was around British Columbia/Nanaimo. Far from a Geography buff here, but, just be careful.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26247721

[Bam]

As Bucephalus said, there’s been an outbreak of the dreaded rabbit disease rabbit viral hemorragig disease in Canada recently. If that’s anywhere near you, I too would discourage you from taking your bun outside until you get the vaccine. Here’s a bit of info about this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-zoo-rabbit-quarantine-1.4602080

The snuffles vaccine is primarily for larger rabbitries and not sth our house bunnies are getting – as of yet, anyway.

Ticks and mosquitos carry the HVHD2 virus, and birds can carry ticks for long distances. The antiparasitics that are rabbit safe don’t offer protection against the most common tick species, the ixodes tick. There are some antiparasitics that can be given for protection against fly strike, but you should consult a rabbit-savvy vet about this. The most important thing for fly strike prevention is that the bunny has a clean butt (as opposed to poopy butt/sticky poop) and, obviously, no open wounds that can attract flies.

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