Vaccinations for indoor rabbits?

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
2
Location
Australia
I have 2 female mini lops, and I was wondering if I need to get them vaccinated against anything, if so what for and how much will it cost? they live inside but do go out in the yard sometimes to play. I am located in Australia. :thanks:
 
We don't have a Myxo vaccine in Australia but there is one for Calici that has to be given annually. All of my rabbits are inside rabbits but I get them vaccinated because you never know what bugs might get into the house. Ring around the local vets because the price can differ between vets, local vet here charges $76 while another only charges $50
 
My wifes a nurse can I get the stuff at like Fram and Fleet or thru the mail. Is it good to give them Panacure yearly as i sadly know what e cuniculi is from my last rabbit.
 
It would be good if you could vaccinate against myxo as well, but unfortunately the Australian government doesn't let rabbit owners do that...
 
My wifes a nurse can I get the stuff at like Fram and Fleet or thru the mail. Is it good to give them Panacure yearly as i sadly know what e cuniculi is from my last rabbit.

We don't have vaccinations for these in the US, at least not that I'm aware of. The only vaccine here that I've heard of for rabbits is the new pasteurella vaccine.

With e. cuniculi, you could give fenbendazole(Panacur) preventatively, but it isn't a vaccination and won't necessarily stop your rabbit from contracting EC in the future. Best thing you can do is keep your rabbit healthy, and know the warning signs of EC so that there won't be any delay in your rabbit getting treatment if it does happen to get it. The sooner a rabbit with EC is treated, the greater chance of survival it has with little to no permanent damage to its health.
 
You may be able to get it at your farm store. They usually have the paste, but what you want is the liquid. Paste is harder to get the correct dosage with. I don't think there is a liquid version of panacur that you would be able to find at feed or tractor supply, but Safeguard goat wormer is the same thing(liquid fenbendazole), and you can usually find it at these stores, or online. It has a shelf life, probably of a couple years, it will be printed on the bottle.

It's hard to say if giving it preventatively will do any good. E. cuniculi is a parasite, and it can be picked up from rabbits just eating their hay. Plus from what I've read, most rabbits seem to already have been exposed to it. I suppose that if your rabbit was carrying the active parasite but wasn't sick, and you treated preventatively, then yes giving the fenbendazole would help. But if your rabbit doesn't have the parasite at the time you treat, then the treatment wouldn't really make any difference, because once the treatment is stopped your rabbit is still susceptible to getting it. If you are concerned that your rabbit might be exposed to the active parasite, then you could have a blood test done for it, but you would need to have two different blood tests done if the first test shows antibodies.
 
Where in Aus are you? I know in sydney councils are trying to control the feral rabbit population by baiting and pet rabbits need to be vaccinated for Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV). This is spread by rabbit to rabbit contact and insect bites.
Try talking to the vet they are usually up on anything out of the ordinary that should be vaccinated for... As for the costs i cant really remember what mine were as they were all done at the same time as her spray sorry.
 
There are no recommended vaccines for rabbits in North America. There are vaccines for Myxomatosis virus and the rabbit Calicivirus (rabbit hemorrhagic disease or viral hemorrhagic disease). The Calicivirus is a reportable disease in the US and Myxomatosis cases occur occasionally in California or Oregon near the range of the California brush rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani) which is a reservoir of the disease. Neither vaccine is available in the US (we don't have a need for the Calicivirus vaccine and the Myxomatosis vaccines available elsewhere would not likely be effective against the strains that are present here.
There's a nice map here that shows where the Calicivirus is present following an outbreak of unknown origin in a small rabbitry in Iowa in 2000. Be warned the document discusses meat rabbits and other commercial uses of rabbits for those of you that don't like to read about such things.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_he...rksheets/iw_2000_files/domestic/rabbitcal.htm
 
What can you recommend for outdoor bunnies?

You really don't need anything for outdoor rabbits either. Right now, there is a lot of discussion about the new pasteurella vaccine. For those who've had to deal with pasteurella in the past, they're happy to get it. We haven't and I'm waiting until the clinical studies are published. The FDA approved it based on the research notes/findings of the lab.

This isn't a vaccine, but the only other thing I would recommend to anyone who lets their rabbits outside, on the ground, is to worm them regularly.
 
You really don't need anything for outdoor rabbits either. Right now, there is a lot of discussion about the new pasteurella vaccine. For those who've had to deal with pasteurella in the past, they're happy to get it. We haven't and I'm waiting until the clinical studies are published. The FDA approved it based on the research notes/findings of the lab.

This isn't a vaccine, but the only other thing I would recommend to anyone who lets their rabbits outside, on the ground, is to worm them regularly.

USDA APHIS approves veterinary vaccines, not the FDA. Who is manufacturing this vaccine? I'm not aware of a commercially available pasteurella vaccine for rabbits in the US.
 
USDA APHIS approves veterinary vaccines, not the FDA. Who is manufacturing this vaccine? I'm not aware of a commercially available pasteurella vaccine for rabbits in the US.

Christina, this is the company. Don't know too much about it other than it is fairly new, and the vaccine is called Bunnyvac(I think?).

http://www.pavlab.com/
 
Christina, this is the company. Don't know too much about it other than it is fairly new, and the vaccine is called Bunnyvac(I think?).

http://www.pavlab.com/

There's no mention about it on that website and all I'm able to find online are studies from a few years ago (which don't mention this compnay) or other forums debating whether or not they'd use the vaccine who also don't seem to have any real information on it.
If anyone knows of the actual studies or information from the manufacturer, I'd love to hear more about it!
 
There's no mention about it on that website and all I'm able to find online are studies from a few years ago (which don't mention this compnay) or other forums debating whether or not they'd use the vaccine who also don't seem to have any real information on it.
If anyone knows of the actual studies or information from the manufacturer, I'd love to hear more about it!

I think you have to call them.
 
Last edited:
My bad, you're right. It's USDA. The vaccine is manufactured by Colorado Serum, which I'm familiar with. Pan American Labs distributes it. They came to one of our rabbit shows with it, and to answer questions. The card I got from them said the Clinical Trial Summary showed it was " 100% effective in preventing death due to Pasteurella, greater than 98% effective in preventing clinical disease, and no adverse reactions were seen in study animals."

There has been a big discussion about it on ARBA's Facebook page and Bill Glass has been answering breeders' questions. They recommend .5cc sub-q, then .5cc sub-q booster at 30 days, then the same dose annually. A lot of breeders are very interested in it and I know some bought it at the show I was at.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top