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Renee Delight
Hello, we live on an island and have about 30 rabbits. Our island and county is officially hit with RHDV2 which is defined as follows:
“Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is a highly infectious form of viral hepatitis (Genus: Lagovirus) that causes death in 50 to 100 percent of cases. It infects rabbits and hares but does not infect people or other animals.”
This is a horrible disease and last time it came through we lost 60% of our rabbits. This variant affects both domestic, feral, and wild rabbits. What the definition doesn’t cover is that this affects the entire food chain including the predator raptors such as Bald Eagles, hawks, and owls.
As soon as we got notice we started giving the rabbits sprigs of lemon balm to eat while we dig deeper into the antiviral herbs that we have on hand and that rabbits can tolerate.
Any suggestions will be appreciated and I will do my best to post updates so others can learn.
Thank you!
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This topic was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by
Renee Delight.
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This topic was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by
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I need to add that they did develop a vaccine after the last round of the disease. For some reason in our area vaccinating rabbits ourselves is not legal.
With 30 rabbits at $100 a rabbit, we cannot afford to vaccinate.
Thank you in advance!
-Renee
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Dr. Patrick Jones
Really strict hygiene may help but even then, flies and mosquitoes may serve in transmission.
You have to be really careful with herbs and rabbits (as you seem to know). Here are some that are generally regarded as safe in rabbits that have either antiviral or immune stimulating properties; Astragalus, Echinacea, Nettles, Rosemary, Oregano, lemon balm, elder flower
Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.
2 users thanked author for this post.
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Thank you so very much for the reply. We lost over half our rabbits during the run of the disease. It was a very sad time. As soon as the ground thaws, I will get to cultivating the herbs mentioned, many of which we already have.
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