Hello everyone, so in today’s blog I want to talk about and raise awareness to a deadly disease that affects mostly wild rabbits although it can affect domestic rabbits if they are not vaccinated against it. It is called Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) or Rabbit Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (RVHD) Don’t worry it’s the same, there are two known strains of this disease RHDV 1 and RHDV 2.
Both strains are spread by direct contact with an infected rabbit or by indirect contact via an infected rabbit’s urine or faeces. Unfortunately, this can mean that any hay that we buy may have come into contact with a wild rabbit with this disease. Essentially, this then means that anything that has potentially come into contact with the outdoors could spread the disease. This could be as simple as walking across your garden in your shoes and then bringing your shoes into the house. It is now very possible for a wild rabbit’s urine or faeces to have been transferred from your garden into your house. 
Birds and insects can also transfer the virus on their feet or in their own droppings. Basically, what we are trying to say is that there is no way to protect your rabbits against this virus apart from vaccinating them.
This is a fatal disease and the majority of rabbits who have not been vaccinated against this that catch it die within a couple of days. It can cause internal bleeding which then can lead to bleeding from the nose and back passage before sadly passing away. It can also strike so quickly that there are no noticeable signs before the rabbits passing, this can then cause misdiagnosis by rabbit owners who end up putting the death down to a heart attack from fright or heatstroke during the summer months.
Luckily as a responsible rabbit owner you can vaccinate your rabbits against both strains of this disease. They can be vaccinated from 30 days of age with a booster needed every 12 months for the RHDV 1 strain and a separate one every 6-12 months for the RHDV 2 strain.
For more information on this please speak to your rabbit savvy vet.
Some useful links are;
https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/disease/rabbit-vhd/
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