Local vet hosts vaccine clinic for deadly rabbit disease

(ABC 6 News) – A fatal disease found in rabbits has been detected in both Minnesota and Iowa. Humans and other animal species are not at risk, but the Minnesota board of animal health is encouraging all rabbit owners to get their pets vaccinated.

Quarry Hill Park Animal Hospital will hold a vaccine clinic next week in order to vaccinate rabbits against the Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV), a virus that is very deadly to both wild rabbits and domesticated ones.

The vaccine is being recommended after four pet rabbits died from RHDV in Hennepin county at the end of August.

One vet technician says since the vaccine only came out last year, Quarry Hill is one of the only places in the local and surrounding area where it’s available.

“So we here at Quarry Hill held one small vaccine clinic here last fall when the vaccine first became available and we have since seen an increase in numbers of infected rabbits here in Minnesota,” says Amy Stern, Veterinarian Technician. “So, we felt that it was really important to encourage people to get their rabbits vaccinated.”

Stern also says that since the virus is still fairly new to the midwest, many pet owners may not even know about the virus and that informing people is the first step.

“As a rabbit owner myself I feel that we need to keep our pets safe, our rabbits safe,” says Stern. “I got my three rabbits vaccinated and all three of them did really well.”

September 19th is the last day to register for the vaccination clinic and you can find that information here.