07/14/2026
Rabbit people!
Pasteurella, with the cutesy name 'snuffles', is probably one of the most dreaded rabbit diseases. For non rabbit people, a snotty nose is a little gross, but nothing to sneeze at. Breeders, on the other hand, recognize the urgency required, many choosing to cull outright at the first sneeze. It's incredibly contagious and often deadly; even with aggressive antibiotic treatment prognosis is poor. Culling individuals heavily affected and only breeding those that show no symptoms (or recover quickly and without intervention) is a way to breed towards higher immunity, but it doesn't keep your newborn or very young kits with underdeveloped immune systems from taking a hit. You may also have animals that are just for pets, or fiber, or just sentimentality, which may be individually susceptible. Generally, good quarantine practices and few new introductions are the best way to keep it out of your herd. For show people, though, every exhibition carries a risk that the disease comes home with you.
I was reading into the info available on the newly released BunnyVac meant to immunize rabbits. The vaccine itself isn't terribly expensive, $1/dose for either a 20 or 50 dose vial (https://pavlab.com/bunnyvac/bunnyvac-information/), plus $15-50 in shipping costs. The vaccine contains the 1062 strain of bovine of Pasteurella multocida, which was familiar to me. Reading into the actual clinical data, the BunnyVac is a pared down version of one of the two pneumonia vaccines I currently use for my goats!
That same one was originally used, with some extra stuff (that didn't confer any benefits to rabbits) taken out to develop the BunnyVac. Since it has already been tested in rabbits, even if they didn't go through the process of getting the CSC version approved for rabbits, I'm going to start ordering an extra vial for my rabbits when I give my goats their doses in the spring... If you only have rabbits, the BunnyVac is probably the better option though 😁
