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Do Rabbits Really Need Vaccinations?

By The Hayfold Team · written & researched by small-pet keepers🔍 Keeper-reviewed & fact-checked

🔍 Fact check

“Pet rabbits, especially indoor ones, don’t need vaccinations.”— A common assumption among new rabbit owners

Verdict: False

Rabbits do need vaccinating. The RSPCA recommends vaccinating against both myxomatosis and Rabbit (Viral) Haemorrhagic Disease — serious, usually fatal viruses — and even indoor rabbits are at risk because both spread via blood-sucking insects and contaminated objects such as clothing and shoes.

The evidence:

  • The RSPCA advises vaccinating rabbits against both myxomatosis and Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (VHD), as advised by your vet.
  • Both diseases spread via blood-sucking insects (fleas, mites, mosquitoes), direct contact, and contaminated objects or environments — the RSPCA lists clothing and shoes among the routes — so indoor rabbits are still at risk.
  • Veterinary guidance (Merck Veterinary Manual) lists RHDV-2 vaccination as part of the routine health care of pet rabbits; R(V)HD is almost always fatal, so vaccination is essential.

🐇 The short version: the belief that pet rabbits — especially indoor ones — don’t need vaccinations is false, and it can be fatal. The RSPCA recommends vaccinating against both myxomatosis and Rabbit (Viral) Haemorrhagic Disease — serious, usually fatal viruses. Even house rabbits are at risk, because both spread via blood-sucking insects and contaminated objects (clothing, shoes). If you keep a rabbit, vaccination isn’t optional extra care — it’s core care.

🔧 New to rabbits? Start with the rabbit care guide and the cage-size checker.

Where the myth comes from

Rabbits are still mentally filed as “low-maintenance starter pets,” so many owners never realise they need vaccinating at all — unlike dogs and cats, whose jabs are common knowledge. And “my rabbit lives indoors, so it can’t catch anything” sounds reasonable. Both assumptions are wrong, and both cost rabbits their lives every year.

What rabbits are vaccinated against

The RSPCA recommends vaccinating against two serious, usually fatal viral diseases:

  • Myxomatosis — widespread in wild rabbits, spread by blood-sucking insects (fleas, mites, mosquitoes), rabbit-to-rabbit contact, and environmental contamination.
  • Rabbit (Viral) Haemorrhagic Disease (R(V)HD) — causes high fever, internal bleeding and liver disease, and is almost always fatal. It spreads the same way, and later strains can infect rabbits of all ages, so vaccination is essential.

Vaccination is a routine, potentially life-saving measure — the RHDV course is typically two initial doses, then yearly boosters. Your rabbit-savvy vet will advise the exact schedule and which strains are covered where you live, so book that conversation early.

Why indoor rabbits still need it

This is the part people miss. The viruses don’t need your rabbit to meet another rabbit — the RSPCA notes they spread via blood-sucking insects, direct contact, and contaminated objects or environments, and lists among the routes:

  • biting insects (fleas, mites, mosquitoes) that get indoors,
  • your clothing and shoes after you’ve been outside,
  • other contaminated objects and environments brought into the home.

So “indoors only” reduces some risks but does not remove the need to vaccinate. (Controlling fleas and insects — including treating cats and dogs, whose fleas can infect rabbits — helps reduce the risk.)

Vaccination is part of a bigger picture

Vaccination sits alongside the other core rabbit health measures the care guide covers: neutering (reduces fighting and cancer risk), a hay-first diet, a bonded companion, and daily monitoring for gut stasis. Together these are what a rabbit actually needs — a long way from the “hutch and pellets” myth.

The honest takeaway

Rabbits need vaccinating — RHDV is routine, often life-saving, and matters even for house rabbits. Find a rabbit-savvy exotic vet, get the initial course and yearly boosters, and treat it as non-negotiable core care. See the full rabbit care guide for everything else a rabbit needs.

Sources & further reading

📚 More rabbit guides