A Dorchester vet is reporting that they have recently treated four fatal cases of a “new to the area” rabbit disease.
Dave Cumber Vets is now advising rabbit owners in Dorset to have their pet rabbits vaccinated against a newer strain of Viral Haemorrhagic Diarrhoea – VHD2.
This November we have had four very sick rabbits brought into our Weymouth surgery and sadly all have all died. The cause of death has been established at post mortem to be the VHD2 disease. The standard combined vaccine will not protect your pet against VHD2 and we strongly recommend that all rabbit owners in the area consider having their pets further vaccinated with a specific vaccine against VHD2. The first confirmed case of VHD2 in Dorset was in Blandford in August this year and these four cases are the first we know of in Weymouth to be confirmed as VHD2.”
If your pet rabbit starts to display any of the following signs then they should contact their vet immediately as the disease is highly contagious and can be fatal:
• generally off colour,
• not eating
• listless
