Advice on Myxomatosis PLEASE

[Pat]

That I don't know, this was about six years ago, they were two dogs that I used to walk regularly. Unfortunately both the dogs died about 3 years ago and their owner has now moved to Spain so I'm afraid I can't give you any more info sorry. Pat

[lynnholgate]

Pat, Henrya

I feel slightly better as the vet has confirmed that it seems very unlikely that my cats could become ill. Henrya, just a small question please when you say that there are several strains does that mean that all the rabbits around us have the one strain or could there be several strains? Actually I have another question: are my friends pet rabbits which go out in their run on her lawn at risk?

Thanks


LYNN

[henrya]

Lynn,

Quote
Henrya, just a small question please when you say that there are several strains does that mean that all the rabbits around us have the one strain or could there be several strains?
Endquote

Just now I guess it's more likely that all the local rabbits have the same strain - but next time myxomatosis arrives it could easily be a different strain. It depends on how many rabbits there are in the area and how much they mix.

Quote
Actually I have another question: are my friends pet rabbits which go out in their run on her lawn at risk?
Endquote

I am afraid the answer to that is 'yes'. As well as possibly having contact with wild rabbits through the mesh of the run, myxomatosis is also sometimes spread by mosquitoes and your friend should ask the vet about vaccination for the rabbits. I have no idea how big the risk is, but it's present.

henrya

[lynnholgate]

Henrya

Thanks again for info. I will pass this on to my friend re her pet rabbits.

LYNN

[SamboC]

I know this is an old thread but I felt compelled to post a response as it came up as the 2nd to top result on google when searching for the word 'Myxomatosis' and it contains significant misinformation. Just to clear a few things up:

Myxomatosis is a disease of rabbits, both domestic and wild, which is caused by the myxoma virus, a member of the pox family. It does not affect any other mammals. The virus is transmitted to susceptible rabbits by biting insects. It may also be transmitted directly between rabbits if they are in very close proximity, although this is much less common.

A vaccine is available for domestic rabbits. It is recommended that all domestic rabbits are vaccinated.

No dog has ever contracted Myxomatosis. Hares are resistant to Myxomatosis (there were a few cases reported in France in the 1950s which were subsequently re-investigated and found to be the result of mis-labelling by the French laboratory carrying out the viral analysis. The original reports are still quoted sometimes, even in poorly-researched text books, which shows how damaging misinformation can be). And while we're on the subject, it is caused by a virus and therefore cannot be cured by antibiotics (which are only useful in diseases caused by bacteria) so the two dogs you know of caught a disease they couldn't catch and were cured by a cure that wouldn't work. Apologies for the cynicism, but scaremongering anecdotes are a real bugbear of mine as they are often repeated and then persist as 'fact'.

[valleyforge]

SamboC,

Hi and welcome to the WAB forum. I'm a fairly recent member too and hadn't seen this old thread, otherwise like you I'd have been inclined to try to dispel such misinformation too.

Good job. Hope you'll stick around and enjoy what correct information there is to be had on this forum.

[SamboC]

Thank you for the welcome. There's loads of good stuff here - just been reading some of the posts about signal crayfish.

[Malx]

Ta, SamboC, about the antibiotics thing. Most revealing for a layman like me.

Even regarding humans, it's amazing how often I've vaguely heard someone sum up their vague illness (vaguely) by saying they have a virus and "are on antibiotics".....

[mrs pjball]

As a newbe to this site hi to all , My poor bunny was put to sleep today as it had myxomatosis ,she was around 8 years old and a family pet kept in a hutch .I too was worried about my cat but having read some of the other posts have no real concerns. This dsease is very nasty and if anyone out there believes their rabbit to have it they should seek vets advice and put the poor animal out of it's misery .
seeing my rabbit get so very sick swollen eyes and difficulty drinking and breathing is hard very, the alternative let them die quietly no ,they suffer plain and simple . Two days is all my rabbit took to go blind and not have any quality of life . There are plenty of pictures of rabbits with this disease on the internet and they are not pretty please take a look before deciding to let any animal suffer as they will not get better on their own .
The upside is My poor bunny is now in a better place with no more suffering and vaccinations are out there to prevent this .

[BloomingMarvellous]

I came across this last year and put a post up asking where to report it. Silly me for thinking that the number of Rabbits dying from this awful disease mattered, and that someone somewhere was keeping track of it's development.

I now wonder what would be the consequence on the land if our wild rabbits became instinct, what would be affected ?