RHD has been identified in PA

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KelleyBee

KelleyBee

Well-known member
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Location
Southwestern Pennsylvania
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I think that’s a wonderful idea. I’m new to all this but I saw earlier today that the county a few over from us in TN had two cases earlier this year. It made me think about measures and impacts and since education and prevention is key, it would be wise to have some sort of reference IMO.
 
The thought of that horror being here already terrifies me. I know people who have fabulous outdoor rabbits, happily grazing the afternoon away, that would be severely affected by this getting into the wild rabbit population and contaminating the soil. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease virus 2 (RHD2) confirmed in Ohio | Hamilton has more information on transmission and disinfecting. There is a vaccine in the UK, but getting it here is extraordinarily difficult and expensive. There are a few large herds having the vaccine imported by their veterinarians, but it is not currently practical for small rabbit owners, unless something changes.

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease – RHD, RHD2 and Vaccines - Official Golden Retriever has more details.
 
judymac said:
The thought of that horror being here already terrifies me. I know people who have fabulous outdoor rabbits, happily grazing the afternoon away, that would be severely affected by this getting into the wild rabbit population and contaminating the soil. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease virus 2 (RHD2) confirmed in Ohio | Hamilton has more information on transmission and disinfecting. There is a vaccine in the UK, but getting it here is extraordinarily difficult and expensive. There are a few large herds having the vaccine imported by their veterinarians, but it is not currently practical for small rabbit owners, unless something changes.

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease – RHD, RHD2 and Vaccines - Official Golden Retriever has more details.
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Where in PA are you? I’m located on the eastern side of Westmoreland County.
 
judymac said:
The thought of that horror being here already terrifies me. I know people who have fabulous outdoor rabbits, happily grazing the afternoon away, that would be severely affected by this getting into the wild rabbit population and contaminating the soil. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease virus 2 (RHD2) confirmed in Ohio | Hamilton has more information on transmission and disinfecting. There is a vaccine in the UK, but getting it here is extraordinarily difficult and expensive. There are a few large herds having the vaccine imported by their veterinarians, but it is not currently practical for small rabbit owners, unless something changes.

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease – RHD, RHD2 and Vaccines - Official Golden Retriever has more details.
Click to expand...
judymac said:
It looks like there are some changes to the rules for transporting rabbits into Pennsylvania that I had never heard of before, see PaSRBA RHD | pasrba
The Pennsylvania Game Commission's plan for dealing with this disease can be found at https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Wildlife/WildlifeHealth/Documents/PGC_RHDResponsePlan_Feb2022.pdf
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Thank you for the links.
 
judymac said:
There is a vaccine in the UK, but getting it here is extraordinarily difficult and expensive. There are a few large herds having the vaccine imported by their veterinarians, but it is not currently practical for small rabbit owners, unless something changes.
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There are several vaccines in the UK - two of those are imported from Europe, namely Filavac (from France) and Eravac (from Spain). Both of these have been available in the USA in affected states.

There is now a US-made vaccine called Medgene which looks likely to replace the imported ones. States are not permitted to offer vaccination until and unless they have an outbreak, so I expect Medgene (or an alternative) will be available in PA shortly.

This Facebook group is a good source of reliable information for RHD in the USA
https://www.facebook.com/groups/414749742307886
 
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Big Mac said:
How do,you clean up after it arrives so you can start over?
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You would need to use a disinfectant known to combat the virus (there are only a few which do) and wait out a quarantine period, recommended 4 months. The virus can survive on objects for quite a long time and can resist high temperatures and freezing.
 
My approach is this: assume my neighbor's rabbits or the local wild rabbits have this virus. I don't think it is a good idea to wait until the virus is reported in your county. It is a much better idea to get your rabbits off the ground and into a building. You don't want to be doing to minimum when it comes to safety against a virus.

The difficulty with safety measures is that the only way to know if they work is for them NOT to work. It is better to go overboard with precautions rather than finding dead rabbits in your herd every morning.
 
I am beginning to believe I lost Tricksy (A) to this disease (2, I think she was vaccinated against 1?). Jack and Krolik who come from the same rabbitry are doing fine. Tricksy and Krolik shared the same apartment in the elevated hutch. Dosiedoe who shares the same diet, water, etc is doing fine. Dosiedoe has had playtimes on the ground. Harvey, who had been doing well for nearly a year passed in a similar fashion, doing well one day and gone the next.

How would I find out if a rabbit had succumbed to RHD?

We do have a number of Sylvanus in the yard.
 
Where do you live and what vaccine do you think she had? Outside Europe where Myxomatosis has been around since the 1950s, and RHD since the 80s-90s, rabbits don't get vaccinated.
 
Pretty awful virus!
However, there is hope.

Try not to let fear disturb your peace.... Losing our peace makes every problem worse. Keeping our peace makes clear thinking more possible....and finding solutions easier.

We should take reasonable precautions to prevent this virus in our herds.

Then, we should focus in on strengthening our rabbits' immune systems with natural things (natural things seem to work better for the long haul--powerful medicines seem to work better for acute situations).

Doing this will insure that our rabbits will have their best fighting chance if they do come in contact with with this virus...or the numerous other illnesses that rabbits are prone to.

If we accept the fact that after all of our precautions, some of our rabbits may die (which is a very sad thought!) we can proceed with more peace.

But, remember that the rabbits that are exposed and survive will help to put this virus in it's proper place...extinct.

Immune systems are a pretty amazing gift from God! Part of the beautiful balance in nature.
 
Therese said:
Pretty awful virus!
However, there is hope.

Try not to let fear disturb your peace.... Losing our peace makes every problem worse. Keeping our peace makes clear thinking more possible....and finding solutions easier.

We should take reasonable precautions to prevent this virus in our herds.

Then, we should focus in on strengthening our rabbits' immune systems with natural things (natural things seem to work better for the long haul--powerful medicines seem to work better for acute situations).

Doing this will insure that our rabbits will have their best fighting chance if they do come in contact with with this virus...or the numerous other illnesses that rabbits are prone to.

If we accept the fact that after all of our precautions, some of our rabbits may die (which is a very sad thought!) we can proceed with more peace.

But, remember that the rabbits that are exposed and survive will help to put this virus in it's proper place...extinct.

Immune systems are a pretty amazing gift from God! Part of the beautiful balance in nature.
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Your post brings up 2 questions: as to boosting immune systems are you speaking of vitamin and mineral supplements for rabbits? And, what about the viruses ability to survive on foods, such as pellets. I'm wondering if we should be buying pellets made in states with no virus currently detected in wild rabbit populations.
 
judymac said:
The thought of that horror being here already terrifies me. I know people who have fabulous outdoor rabbits, happily grazing the afternoon away, that would be severely affected by this getting into the wild rabbit population and contaminating the soil. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease virus 2 (RHD2) confirmed in Ohio | Hamilton has more information on transmission and disinfecting. There is a vaccine in the UK, but getting it here is extraordinarily difficult and expensive. There are a few large herds having the vaccine imported by their veterinarians, but it is not currently practical for small rabbit owners, unless something changes.

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease – RHD, RHD2 and Vaccines - Official Golden Retriever has more details.
Click to expand...
Although it is bad it can be managed, pray you don’t have to worry about it. Everything will be alright.
 
MsTemeraire said:
You would need to use a disinfectant known to combat the virus (there are only a few which do) and wait out a quarantine period, recommended 4 months. The virus can survive on objects for quite a long time and can resist high temperatures and freezing.
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When you say resist high temperatures, what is the threshold?
 
I am a bit confused. According to Basic Information Sheet: Cottontail Rabbit - LafeberVet our native cottontails are not as susceptible to the base Myxoma virus. I see that some of the European vaccines cover Myxoma virus, RHD1, and RHD2. Is RHD2 different, and attacking our wild Eastern rabbits as well? If so, how do we deal with hay? I feed 1-2 large feed sacks of hay daily.

As to not being afraid, I agree, I shouldn't have used the word 'terrified' in an earlier post. I trust that we will get through this, one way or another, but the rabbit world may be radically different after. I can't imagine not being able to let your rabbits out to graze, or worrying about whether your hay is safe or not. . .
 
It is my understanding that a solution of 10% bleach is a disinfectant for this virus, and that temperature above 122f is also a way to eradicate it. So the protocol involves wash down with detergent and water, followed by disinfectant with bleach solution, and heat gun or prickly pear burner to all equipment and cages. Second remove wild population at your location, in my case it is my cat who does this for me, no wild rabbit within five acres of my rabbits, however she may be a carrier, so she is not allowed in the rabbity.
 
judymac said:
I am a bit confused. According to Basic Information Sheet: Cottontail Rabbit - LafeberVet our native cottontails are not as susceptible to the base Myxoma virus. I see that some of the European vaccines cover Myxoma virus, RHD1, and RHD2. Is RHD2 different, and attacking our wild Eastern rabbits as well? If so, how do we deal with hay? I feed 1-2 large feed sacks of hay daily.

As to not being afraid, I agree, I shouldn't have used the word 'terrified' in an earlier post. I trust that we will get through this, one way or another, but the rabbit world may be radically different after. I can't imagine not being able to let your rabbits out to graze, or worrying about whether your hay is safe or not. . .
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Yes, RHD2 is different and has crossed over to infect hares in Europe. As native American species are more closely related to hares than domestic rabbits, it has infected them too. It's not related to the Myxoma virus, it's from the calicivirus family.
 

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