AnimaPulseRabbit vaccination
Many owners do not know a rabbit can be vaccinated at all. Two diseases, almost always fatal, and a yearly booster that keeps both away.
United Kingdom protocolIndicativeReviewed on 28 August 2026
These schedules are indicative, and this is a field that has moved recently with new RHD variants: your vet always has the final say.
United Kingdom
| Vaccine | Primary course | First booster | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myxomatosis-RHDone yearly jab covering myxomatosis, RHD1 and RHD2 | 5 weeks | 1 year after the primary course | every year |
Ireland
| Vaccine | Primary course | First booster | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myxomatosis-RHDmyxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHDV1 and RHDV2) — both circulate in Ireland, yearly booster | 5 weeks | 1 year after the primary course | every year |
United States
| Vaccine | Primary course | First booster | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHDV2deadly rabbit hemorrhagic disease — two doses three weeks apart, then a yearly booster | 7 weeks, 10 weeks | 1 year after the primary course | every year |
Australia
| Vaccine | Primary course | First booster | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calicivirusrabbit haemorrhagic disease (calicivirus), fatal — yearly booster. No myxomatosis vaccine exists in Australia | 10 weeks | 1 year after the primary course | every year |
South Africa
| Vaccine | Primary course | First booster | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHDV2rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHDV2), present since 2022 — one yearly shot; no myxomatosis in South Africa | 1 months | 1 year after the primary course | every year |
Two diseases, and why they frighten
Myxomatosis is spread by biting insects — mosquitoes, fleas — and by direct contact. It causes the characteristic swelling of the head and eyelids, and is very often fatal in pet rabbits.
RHD (rabbit haemorrhagic disease) is more brutal still: it frequently kills within 48 hours, sometimes with no warning signs at all. The virus is extremely hardy in the environment and spreads indirectly — on hay, on greens picked outdoors, on shoes, on hands.
That last point is what surprises people most: a rabbit that never goes outside can still catch RHD. The virus does not need the rabbit to go out; something only has to come in.
Where the countries differ
In Britain, combined vaccines covering myxomatosis and RHD (including the RHDV2 variant) are established, usually with a yearly booster. In the United States, the RHDV2 vaccine arrived more recently and under a conditional licence — availability and practice vary by state, and myxomatosis is not a routine concern in the same way.
Australia is the exception that surprises everyone: there is no myxomatosis vaccine there at all. It is not a supply problem. The myxoma virus is used in Australia to control wild rabbit populations, and a vaccine that protected pet rabbits would undermine that programme — so none is registered. Australian rabbits are vaccinated against calicivirus (RHD) only, and owners are advised to protect against myxomatosis by other means: insect screens, mosquito control, keeping rabbits in at dawn and dusk.
In Ireland, both diseases circulate: the Department of Agriculture lists myxomatosis and RHD as present, RHDV2 having been diagnosed there since 2016. The combined vaccine is given yearly, as in Britain — and note that Filavac, the French reference product, holds no Irish licence.
South Africa had no rabbit vaccine on its calendar at all until 2022. Myxomatosis has never established itself there, so there is nothing to vaccinate against — and unlike Australia, that is absence, not policy. Then RHDV2 swept the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape from late 2022, and the Eravac vaccine has since been imported and is given through private vets: a single dose from thirty days old, boosted yearly. A South African rabbit's schedule is therefore one line long, and recent.
Canada is absent from this page on purpose. The RHDV2 vaccine only enters the country under emergency import authorisation, so there is no routine schedule to publish — and AnimaPulse would rather say nothing than invent one.
If you move a rabbit between countries, this is a conversation to have with a vet in advance.
A rabbit is not a small cat
That is the difficulty with pet rabbits: they need a specific kind of medicine that not every practice offers. A vet used to exotic pets will spot signs a generalist may miss — and rabbits, as prey animals, hide pain until the last moment. A rabbit that stops eating is an emergency, not a mood.
Other exotic pets
Ferrets have an established protocol — see the dedicated page. For most other small pets (guinea pigs, rodents, birds, reptiles) there is no routine vaccination. That does not make veterinary follow-up pointless: the annual check-up remains the best preventive tool there is, and AnimaPulse lets you schedule it like anything else.
Sources — United Kingdom
- WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines 2024
- PDSA — Dog/Cat vaccines (public-facing schedules)
- BSAVA/NOAH practice: triennial DHP after the first booster, annual leptospirosis
Sources — United States
- AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines 2022, updated 2024 (leptospirosis moved to core)
- AAHA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines 2020
- USDA-CVB: conditional licence for the RHDV2 vaccine (Medgene)
Sources — Australia
- WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines 2024 (core/non-core backbone)
- Australian Veterinary Association — Vaccination of dogs and cats (policy)
- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry — Australia’s rabies-free status
- RSPCA Australia Knowledgebase — rabbit vaccination (calicivirus; no myxomatosis vaccine available)
Sources — South Africa
- Animal Diseases Act 35 of 1984 (DALRRD): compulsory rabies for dogs and cats — 3 months, booster within 12 months, then at most every 3 years; yearly in endemic areas (country declared endemic in 1999)
- WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines 2024 — canine/feline core
- Western Cape Dept of Agriculture RHD FAQ (Elsenburg, 2023): 2022-23 RHDV2 outbreak, Eravac imported (single dose from 30 days)
- Nobivac Rabies label (MSD South Africa): dogs, cats, ferrets — ferret from 3 months, yearly booster
RHD and myxomatosis, never overdue
AnimaPulse keeps the rabbit's six-month or yearly rhythm and warns before every due date.
Read next
Ferret vaccination
Canine distemper is almost universally fatal in ferrets, and they are exceptionally susceptible to it. The usual schedules in Britain and America, and the vaccine reaction to plan for.
Missed booster: what actually happens
A few weeks late does not work like expired warranty. What actually happens when a booster is overdue, depending on how long and which vaccine, and when the primary course must be restarted.
Reminders that never forget
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Page updated on 28 August 2026.