Rabbit Disease and Rabbit Virus

If a rabbit has the virus, there is a very high chance that the animal will die. Since this can sometimes happen very quickly, it’s possible that you may not have noticed any symptoms at all. If you do notice anything unusual in your rabbit, these symptoms include acute shortness of breath, refusal to eat, diarrhea or constipation, and sometimes a fever. Nosebleeds and seizures also occur frequently, sometimes accompanied by screaming.

Since the time between infection and the onset of symptoms is extremely short, you, as the owner, may not have been able to detect much. A rabbit infected with the classic form of RHD, also known as RHD1, will die within 24 to 48 hours. The timeframe for the new variant of the virus is approximately 3 to 5 days. The mortality rate for RHD1 is as high as 70 to 90 percent; for RHD2, it is lower, ranging from 5 to 70 percent. If rabbits survive this initial acute phase, there is a high likelihood that a chronic form of the disease will develop. In this case, the rabbit will experience weight loss, lethargy (chronic fatigue), and jaundice. Rabbits that reach this stage often die within 2 weeks, usually as a result of liver failure. Incidentally, young rabbits, aged 6 to 8 weeks, are usually not susceptible to the classic variant; however, with RHD2, symptoms can appear as early as 4 weeks of age.

VHD is highly contagious and fatal to rabbits. It affects both wild rabbits and your domestic pet rabbits. It’s important to note that it poses no danger to you as the owner or to other pets such as dogs and cats, nor does it pose a risk to other rodents or, for example, guinea pigs. The virus can spread through direct contact between rabbits, but also indirectly via urine and feces, food, drinking water, and the hutch itself. It’s also quite possible that you could transmit the virus indirectly via your hands, shoes, and clothing. Furthermore, the virus is highly resistant to cold and frost, which means you may have been carrying it for some time. Biting insects, such as mosquitoes and fleas, are also often responsible for transmission.

It is important to have your rabbit vaccinated, as the virus can be easily transmitted. At this time, there is no treatment available for rabbits that are sick due to an infection with the RHD virus. However, preventive vaccination is possible with the Nobivac® Myxo-RHD vaccine, which has been available since 2012. This vaccine protects rabbits against both the RHD1 virus and myxomatosis, another deadly rabbit disease. It is recommended that you have your rabbit vaccinated against this strain every spring, as the vaccine is effective for only one year and the risk of infection is highest in the spring and summer.

However, the vaccines registered in the Netherlands do not yet provide protection against the new virus variant (RHD2).