Viral hemorrhagic disease

Rex79

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Our NZ doe was ill about two weeks ago - I just put it down to the cold. She has now recovered.

And now our 2 and a half week old kits are dying with the same symptoms. Our Californian has stopped eating too.

There must be some virus spreading through the herd...
 

Grizzlyhackle

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"The Rabbit Handbook" Book I'm reading by a vet named Karen Parker DVM in the section about this disease says rabbits younger than 2 mos are resistant. Kits less than 3 weeks will be unaffected. Says there's no effective treatment. Did say clean everything with diluted bleach. Whatever disease you have, I know its expensive, you need to get a veterinarian involved.
 

Rex79

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An update...

Both my mother does died and so did all their kits, which were all under two weeks old.

I've spoken with a animal charity in the UK called the RSPCA - they have confirmed by my description that its RHDV2.

Do you have both strains (RHDV1&2) in the US?

RHDV2 while there is a vaccine its not very effective and doesn't always work. RHDV2 is a relativity new disease in the UK, first recorded in 2013. Its highly infectious and deadly.

About two years ago there was a massive outbreak in my area that decimated the pet rabbit population. It must still be lingering in the wild population as we have many wild rabbits near by. As we did not have rabbits at that time we didn't know this had happened.

The advice given to us by the RSPCA is to burn all our hutches and not have rabbits in our garden for at least a year. We still have 6 rabbits left which the RSPCA will take to a foster home where they can quarantine them for a some months, they will vaccinate them and monitor their progress before rehoming them as pets.
 
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