rabbit hemorrhagic disease

[MarzipanBun]

Hi all. I’m not sure if anybody already brought this up, but I read about a recent disease that’s killing a lot of domestic rabbits in North America called rabbit hemorrhagic disease. What are the signs of this and can it be transferred through hay to my rabbit?

 

[DanaNM]

Hi MarzipanBun, yes we’ve been discussing a pinned post or announcement about this, but since the forum is still technically under construction we haven’t quite gotten there! We are very concerned here in S CA. The short answer to your question is that it can be transferred from hay, but most hay is over a year old (Oxbow has something about this on their site) so is safe to use. Overall hay is probably one of the least likely sources, but you should known your hay source any whether there is currently an outbreak in that area. I helped the rescue I volunteer at put together this info (focused on California but should be helpful regardless):
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV2) was found in a dead rabbit in the Palm Springs area.  The RHDV2 virus has been spreading through the Southwest (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Northern Mexico) and has finally reached California.  Because it is in the wild rabbit population, we can assume that RHDV2 will become common in California. We recommend that you consider any changes you may need to make in light of RHD.

RHD only infects rabbits and other members of the lagomorph family.  You, your family and other pets will not get this disease, but you can spread it inadvertently, so awareness is key.

RHD is highly contagious and resistant to environmental conditions. It spreads through rabbit contact with a diseased rabbit’s fur, feces, urine, bedding, or direct contact. It also spreads via feces from other animals (scavenging predators, including birds) or insects that have had contact with a diseased rabbit, or contact with a contaminated surface or food. The virus can survive for at least 3 months in the carcass of a dead rabbit or dried on cloth. On other surfaces the virus may survive from 1 to 2 weeks, depending on conditions.  It is resistant to high temperatures (it can survive 1 hour at 122 degrees F) and to freezing.

Rabbits housed outdoors are at the highest risk. Even if no wild rabbits are in your area, insects (especially flies) are able to transmit the virus. A single fly speck can contain enough virus to infect a rabbit. There is no treatment for this virus and mortality rates are very high, so prevention is crucial.

Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, bleeding, loss of appetite, lethargy, fever, jaundice, seizures, and sudden death. Most rabbits die within hours to days after exposure, while asymptomatic carriers can shed virus for over a month. The virus impairs the blood’s ability to clot, and death is most often caused by liver failure, or internal or external bleeding. Any sudden death should be suspected as RHDV at this point.

There are vaccines in England and Europe for RHD. While the vaccines are not available in the US, they can be imported by veterinarians with the approval of the USDA and the State of California. Please contact your vet to discuss importing the vaccine.

The good news is that the precautions that reduce the chance of myxomatosis will also reduce the chance of RHD.  Here are things you can do to reduce the risk to your rabbit and help slow the spread of this disease in our wild and domestic rabbits:

1. If you find a sick or dead rabbit, do not handle or move it. Call you local wildlife authority and state department of agriculture to report and find out what to do.
2. Housing your rabbit indoors is the single most important step you can take to protect your rabbit from this disease. If you cannot do that, then screen outdoor hutches to keep flies and other insects away from your rabbit. Exercise your rabbit indoors. If you cannot do that limit outdoor time and use fly prevention.
3. Remove your shoes when entering your home, and wash your hands before and after handling your rabbit.
4. Ask your vet about external parasite control. Vectra3D protects against flies and mosquitos and can be dosed correctly by your vet. Never use Frontline on rabbits.
5. Avoid contact with other rabbits. If you have friends with rabbits, or visit an area with wild rabbits, change your clothes and shoes after visiting their homes.  Wash your clothes in hot water and dry on high.  Let your shoes sit for several days to 2 weeks in areas away from your rabbit.
6. If you have a dog or a cat, avoid situations where they may come into contact with a wild bunny or dead wild rabbit; leashes outdoors are recommended.  You may want to wash your dogs paws when they enter the house.
7. Tell your vet if you want to vaccinate your rabbit. HRS website provides info to help your vet import the vaccine.
8. Stop foraging for wild greens and know the source of your feed. The rates of infection through food are not known, but contaminated feed has been suspected in cases where rabbits housed indoors in urban environments got sick.

Here are some resources for additional information:
Detailed info from the House Rabbit Society: https://rabbit.org/rhdv/
Handout that can be shared: https://rabbit.org/articles/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/hrs_rhdv_v5.pdf
CA Dept of Food and Agriculture:
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/Animal_Health/pdfs/RabbitHemorrhagicDisease.pdf

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Chelsea]

Hi,

Thanks for all of this info DanaNM! I’ve seen a few places that foraging for wild greens is a bad idea (makes sense) but I’m wondering about homegrown greens. Does anyone have any info on this? I grow a lot of greens for my buns in the summer and we do have wild rabbits in our neighborhood. They don’t seem to damage the garden but they could certainly get in there if they wanted to. I’m not in an active outbreak area so I’m not sure how concerned I need to be about homegrown veggies.

Thanks!

[DanaNM]

It’s a tough call. How near are you to any of the outbreak areas? I would assume that the virus is actually in a wider area than it’s been detected. I’ve seen some people growing hydroponically indoors for their bunnies. I think growing in raised beds or pots on tables would also be safer, but there is always the risk of insects moving it around or bird droppings. There are some guidelines on the HRS page about washing greens for at least 2 minutes if you continue to feed greens.

I get all my veggies from a local farm and I’m really struggling with whether to keep feeding them. Also bummed because I usually collect lots of edible weeds for them this time of year, but I’ve stopped doing that.  Once the disease is confirmed in my area I will probably stop feeding veggies temporarily or source from farther way (which just feels so wrong….). Just not sure when to make that call. It’s currently about 170 miles from me, so it seems like it will be here soon. 🙁

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[MarzipanBun]

Does this mean I have to eliminate Marzi’s outside time altogether? He gets go both indoors and outdoors during his free roam time but he mainly sleeps inside and gets most of his exercise outside.

[Bam]

Outdoors time is probably best avoided now, until you can get the vaccine. We have had big outbreaks of this virus in Europe since 2016, and it is a horrible killer. The mortality rate is between 25-75%. If you bun has access to an outdoors run you could have mosquito netting around it.

It’s sad though because it’s such a great enhancement of quality of life for a rabbit, to get to go outside. If you get the vaccine, I recommend getting it, my buns have been vaccinated with it without any problems since 2016.

[DanaNM]

If you are in an outbreak area or near to one, I would stop all outside access until you can get the vaccine. It really seems like access to the outdoors is the biggest single risk factor (80% of confirmed cases in a survey by Dr. Frances Harcourt-Brown were rabbits that spent time outside).  Marzipan will probably adjust quickly and start being more active inside, as it might just be part of his routine and due to the time of day.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Chelsea]

Thank you! I’m in Vermont and am only buying/feeding greens grown in VT/NH/MA right now and thoroughly washing the homegrown greens as that seems pretty safe so far. If it gets closer to the east coast then I will probably have to figure out something else.

 

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