As a responsible pet owner, you should be aware of whether pet rabbits can get rabies. Diseases left unchecked may cause your pet rabbit to become gravely ill, often leading to fatality. Rabies is a deadly disease that pet owners are often very concerned about, because the prognosis is usually grim. Here we will discuss whether or not pet rabbits can get rabies and what to expect.
What is rabies?
Rabies is a disease caused by a group of viruses called the lyssaviruses. It affects mammals, including humans. That is why it is dangerous to have a pet with rabies around your family and other pets. The disease causes inflammation to accumulate in the brain. It is usually spread by scratches or bites from the sick animal. The saliva or slobber of an infected animal is quite contagious. The sick animal is considered to be rabid.
The symptoms of rabies are as follows:
- Fever
- Headache
- Agitation
- Insomnia
- Partial paralysis
- Abnormal behavior
- Paranoia
- Anxiety
- Blindness
- Excessive salivating
- Lethargy
- Dropping or slackness of the jaw
Usually, death occurs between 2 to 10 days after the onset of symptoms. The infected animal often slips into a coma before it dies. Some of the symptoms stated above may not be easily identifiable in animals. One thing we are sure of is that inflammation in the brain of mammals causes irregular behavior and irreparable damage.
Do rabbits get rabies?
The answer is yes, your pet rabbit can contract rabies. However, the good news is that rabbits are very rarely infected. If on the rare occasion that a pet rabbit contracts rabies. It may very well be from a pet, most likely a dog or cat. If your rabbit is infected, he may appear agitated and exhibit a fever, His head may be tilted at an odd angle and he may lose his vision.
The animals that are more likely to get rabies are as follows. It is important to know them since if they come into contact with your pet rabbit, he or she may be exposed. Not all the animals on the list may apply, depending on the part of the world you live in.
- Monkeys
- Bats
- Raccoons
- Foxes
- Wolves
- Cattle
- Coyotes
- Cats
- Dogs
- Mongooses
- Groundhogs
- Weasels
This is not an exclusive list, but it gives you a fairly good idea of how many mammals can be affected.
Is there anything I can do to prevent my pet rabbit from contracting rabies?
As mentioned above, rabies is usually spread for wild animals and strays. So there are some steps you can take to protect your bunnies from rabies.
- Do not touch or feed stray cats and dogs – If you are an animal lover and gravitate to strays on the roadways, you should stop this habit. No matter how cute they may be, they could be carriers and put your pet rabbit at risk.
- Do not adopt stray cat and dogs – Bringing these animals into your home could contaminate your environment and expose your pet rabbit.
- Always feed your pets inside – If your pet rabbit is kept indoors, this should be easy. However, if you keep your rabbits in hutches outdoors, you should always feed them inside their hutch. This will limit exposure.
- Always keep your garbage bins secured – Your bins should be latched at night so that they do not encourage the raccoons and other wild animals around your premises.
- If you spot bats on your property call animals control – Additionally, do not touch bats, if you see one on the ground.
- Use bleach to clean bat droppings – If bats have been hanging around in an abandoned barn or some other dark area, there will be droppings You should wash the area thoroughly with bleach and soap.
- Never allow your pets to roam outside your property – You may live near a wooded area and may allow your pets to roam. This is a bad idea, while you may not allow your pet bunny to go roaming. If you allow your dogs or cats this freedom, they may come into contact with infected animals.
Do I need to get my rabbit vaccinated against rabies?
So, the answer to this one is no. If you talk to your veterinarian he will not suggest that your pet rabbit be vaccinated against rabies. There are two reasons for this:
- There is no approved rabies vaccination for rabbits.
- Rabbies happens rarely in bunnies, so I guess nobody felt the need to develop one.
Is there any treatment for rabies?
There is no effective treatment for rabies. Any care that would be given to your pet rabbit would be palliative in nature. You can only try to make your bunny comfortable at this time.
Palliative care for a rabies-infected rabbit may look a bit different from the care you would give to a bunny that is suffering from a non-communicable disease.
Palliative care under normal circumstances is usually guided by the three A’s, Appetite, Affection, and Attitude. Appetite refers to your rabbit’s willingness to still eat. Affection refers to whether or not your bunny wants to interact with you. Her attitude is her willingness to interact with an environment. However, with rabies, this approach must be modified if you dealing with a sick bunny.
So it is recommended that you feed your pet rabbit his favorite treats during this time once he is still willing to eat. Unfortunately, contact is strictly forbidden, so you may have to simply talk to your bunny but touching is not allowed.
Your infected rabbit must be isolated and placed under quarantine for the duration of the disease, in order to minimize spread. If you have pet rabbits who were in contact with a confirmed case but are not exhibiting any symptoms, they too must be quarantined. You may need to do this for as long as 6 months, just to be sure that the exposed bunny is not infected. You may think that this is a long time, however, the rabies virus can lay dormant in the body to close to three months. This is called the incubation period.
The bad news for pet owners is that once your rabbit is diagnosed with rabies, your veterinarian will suggest that he or she is euthanized. It is often the most humane option.
What should I do if I am scratched by my infected pet rabbit?
So, this is important since you can also be adversely affected if you come into contact with your pet rabbit who has contracted rabies. If you have had bunnies for some time, you know that rabbits sometimes bite. They usually bite if they are anxious or stressed. You may even get bitten if you are feeding them by hand. You need to know what to do to keep yourself safe if you are bitten or scratched.
- Your first line of defense is to wash the wound with soap and water. This irrigates the wound and likely kills and washes some of the virus-infected salivae out of your system.
- Go to your doctor immediately. On arriving at the hospital, your wound will be treated.
- Your doctor will then run tests to see if you have developed rabies antibodies. This will determine that you have been exposed to the disease.
- If your doctor is reasonably sure that you have been exposed to rabies, he will start treating you with the rabies vaccine. It is called postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). The good news is that the faster you are treated the more successful the vaccine will be. So if you get to the hospital immediately after the suspected exposure, chances are you will be fine.
- Your doctor will then give you a dose of fast-acting rabies immune globulin. This will prevent infection. Thereafter, you will need to get 4 rabies vaccine shots over a two week period.
- No need to worry if you are pregnant, as the rabies vaccine is safe for both mother and baby.
How should I sanitize my home?
Sanitization or cleaning after your pet rabbit has contracted rabies is extremely important to prevent infection among your other pets and yourself.
- Bleach is your friend – Bleach is one of the most effective virus killing cleaners on the planet. Mix a strong solution of bleach and soap water and clean the areas that your infected rabbit had contact with. That would mean floors, hutches, cages, and playpens that they may have used.
- The rabies virus is easily killed – This is really good news. The rabies virus can be killed by soaps, alcohol, and ultraviolet light. So a really good idea would be to let the sunlight into any area that your pet rabbit was in. The popular brand of disinfecting cleaner, Lysol also kills the rabies virus on surfaces.
So, you can breathe a sigh of relief, that pet rabbits are not particularly susceptible to rabies. In fact, it only happens on a rare occasion. However, there are steps you can take to keep your rabbit safe. You can also contract rabies, so you should also take all the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe from this deadly disease. Rabies is a serious illness. While there are vaccinations for humans and some animals, there is no vaccination for your pet rabbit. However, you can keep your rabbit safe by not practicing risky behavior and proper sanitation. All things considered, rabies is not a great threat to pet rabbits.
