Rabbit vaccinations USA

[Bunnylover126]

Hello guys,

At the moment I live in Germany with my 2 rabbits. My mother probably wants to move to the US with me through her boyfriend. So maybe take my rabbits with me, i really hope i can do this.!

in Germany rabbits are vaccinated against myxomatosis and rhd1 & 2 and i think that is really imporant. especially when you see how bad and deadly the diseases are.

Did I read correctly that these vaccinations are not available in the USA? I am a bit scared? Is there a way to have them vaccinated every year anyway?

 

[LBJ10]

You are correct. Until very recently, there were no vaccines for rabbits in the USA. Myxomatosis and RHDV were not found here. From what I understand, they don’t spread as easily because our wild rabbits are not the same as European wild rabbits. European wild rabbits are the same species as domesticated rabbits.

There have been some outbreaks of Myxomatosis in certain states. From what I have read, these outbreaks are linked to areas where a species of wild rabbit (called brush rabbits) naturally live. For the USA, this seems to be the states of Oregon and California. The strain of myxomatosis is different from the European strain and there is no vaccine available. They recommend people house their rabbits indoors and use monthly flea protection if they live in the affected states.

RHDV has a history of popping up in small, isolated outbreaks here and there. These outbreaks were often associated with rabbit farms and breeding operations. It wasn’t believed that wild cottontails could spread the disease. In April 2020, a RHDV2 outbreak made the leap to wild species and is now spreading across the country. Currently, it is just in the western states, but they suspect it will eventually be coast to coast. The good news is that there IS a vaccine that was just recently approved. It may not be available in states where the disease has not been found yet, but they are working on getting the vaccine out in the states that need it most right now.

So for myxomatosis, you may or may not need to worry… depending on where you move to. As for RHDV, there is a vaccine now.

[DanaNM]

As LBJ10 said, thankfully we finally have a domestic vaccine for RHDV2. It’s currently approved for 38 states, and the list of states is growing. You can read about it here:

https://medgenelabs.com/rhdv2/

We don’t have RHDV1 in the US, and myxo is very localized to certain areas (and is a different strain than the one the current vaccines protect against).

. . . 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.  

[martini]

As previously mentioned, it depends on the state AND the vet. Although it was approved in NY where we are, our vet still could not administer the vaccine. For now I am solving it by flying my bunny to Belgium where I travel often and get him vaccinated there, and will keep doing so every year until it becomes available at our vet in NY. It is so ridiculous.

[DanaNM]

@martini you might be referring to the European RHDV2 vaccines, Eravac and Fillivac? They were under emergency use authorization in the US on a state by state basis, and each vet had to undergo a pretty complicated process to get them. Now with the domestic vaccine, it should be much easier moving forward (though it still might take some time for everything to get set up).

. . . 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.  

[martini]

Yes, I asked our vet in NY for any vaccine really and it was not available as NY was not considered to be an outbreak state, so the vet could not import it. As of last month when I asked, it was still not possible for neither EU vaccines or the domestic vaccine. Glad to hear that the domestic vaccine is moving on. On the other side, from the ethical perspective, I will probably keep vaccinating Martini in Europe whenever he travels with me, as I have an option to choose Nobivac here. As you might know, Nobivac is a live vaccine developed in the lab from the actual virus, while the other vaccines are killed vaccines which basically means you have to inject OTHER rabbits with the virus, let them die and take their liver enzymes to produce vaccines to save other rabbits. I am yet to read on the new domestic vaccine developed in the US which method they use, but would like to stick to the live vaccine for the reasons above. Just my personal decision,

[DanaNM]

That’s great you are able to travel so easily with your rabbit. For future reference, the new domestic vaccine does not require any live rabbits to produce, which is super exciting!

And for anyone coming across this thread, Filivac and Eravac do require live rabbits to produce, but my understanding is that thousands of doses are made from 1 rabbit sacrifice. It is still a hard decision that each owner has to make for themselves, but thankfully we will soon have an option that doesn’t require that hard choice!

 

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

Yep, the MedGene vaccine is not a live vaccine… but it does not require animals to produce either.

[Bam]

An inactivated vaccin doesnt mean an animal must die before it can be used for vaccine production. The virus is killed off with heat or other methods in vitro. This is important, because the carcass of a tame rabbit, wild hare or wild rabbit that has died from the RVHD-virus can still contain viable virus particles for several months, longer if it’s frozen. The virus doesn’t die when the rabbit dies. It is extremely important to thoroughly clean the living area of a bun that is suspected to have passed from RVHD.

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