If you keep a rabbit in Billings, there is something in Montana’s wild rabbit population you should know about. Rabbit hemorrhagic disease kills pet rabbits quickly, and it usually does so before an owner realizes anything is wrong. Montana’s first confirmed case was here in Yellowstone County.
The reason we want owners to know about it is that it is one of the more preventable diseases we deal with. A small number of specific decisions make a substantial difference, and there is a vaccine.
What follows is what this disease actually is, how it reaches a rabbit that never leaves the house, and the three things that protect one.
What Is Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease?
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, or RHD, is caused by a calicivirus. The strain circulating in North America is RHDV2. It infects rabbits and their close relatives, and nothing else. It moves quickly, and it is very often fatal.
Once a rabbit is infected, the virus damages the liver and interferes with the body’s ability to clot blood. That is where the word hemorrhagic comes from. A rabbit can go from appearing healthy to dead within a day or two.
That speed is what makes this disease different from most of what we treat. With a typical illness there is a window — the rabbit goes off feed, the owner notices, they call us, and we have room to work. RHDV2 frequently does not give you that window.
Why This Matters in Montana
This is not a theoretical risk in this part of the state. Montana’s first confirmed RHDV2 case was in 2021, in Yellowstone County. Since then the state has confirmed it in about a dozen more counties — Carbon, Stillwater, Big Horn and Musselshell among them.
Those are the counties around Billings. This virus is established in the landscape your rabbit lives in.
A rabbit also does not have to meet a wild rabbit to be exposed, which is worth explaining properly.
How Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Spreads
How this virus travels is the part most owners have not been told, and it is the part that should change what you do at home.
A rabbit picks up RHDV2 through the eyes, nose or mouth, from contact with an infected rabbit’s respiratory secretions, urine or droppings. If two rabbits meet, the virus has a direct path.
Rabbits do not have to meet, though. RHDV2 is durable — it persists in the environment, survives drying and freezing, and is not reliably killed by the disinfectants most households keep under the sink. It waits on surfaces.
Shoes. Wheelbarrow wheels. Hay or greens cut from ground where wild rabbits graze. Gardening gloves. Hands, after moving something in the yard.
Insects matter as well. Flies can pick the virus up from an infected or dead rabbit and carry it to yours, which is why enclosure hygiene is disease control rather than housekeeping.
An indoor rabbit is substantially safer than an outdoor one. That is real. But a house is not a sealed environment, and the most likely thing carrying this virus through your door is you.
Can It Make Me, My Dog, or My Cat Sick?
No. RHDV2 is a virus of rabbits and their close relatives — hares and pikas. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks states that people are not susceptible, and it does not make dogs or cats sick. In a mixed-species household, the rabbit is the only animal at risk.
A dog can still move the virus, though. One that investigates a dead wild rabbit on a walk, or digs where one has been, can carry RHDV2 home on fur and feet without being affected by it. The same principle as your shoes.
What Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Looks Like in a Rabbit
Very often there are no warning signs at all. Many rabbits with RHDV2 are simply found dead, sometimes with blood at the nose, by an owner who saw nothing wrong the night before. That presentation is the disease’s signature.
There is no cure once a rabbit is infected. Treatment is supportive, and frequently there is not time even for that. It is why prevention carries the weight here.
When signs do appear, they typically develop within a few days of exposure:
- Going off food and water, or stopping eating entirely
- Unusual dullness, weakness, or hiding
- Fever
- Labored or difficult breathing
- Wobbliness, tremors, or seizures
- Bleeding from the nose or mouth
None of those signs is specific to rabbit hemorrhagic disease. A number of other rabbit problems present the same way at the top of that list, and many of those we can treat successfully.
That leads to the rule I want every rabbit owner in Billings to carry:
A rabbit who has stopped eating is an emergency. Not one who refused a treat — a rabbit that has stopped eating hay and stopped passing droppings. That is a same-day call. Rabbits deteriorate quickly without food, and by the time one looks obviously unwell, it has usually been unwell for some time.
You do not need to diagnose anything, or work out whether this is RHD. If your rabbit stops eating or is behaving abnormally, call us. Working that out is our job, and we would far rather hear from you early.
Three Things That Protect Your Rabbit
These are the three measures that matter, roughly in order of how much difference they make.
1. Keep your rabbit inside, away from wild rabbits
Indoors, with no contact with wild or feral rabbits, closes off the most direct route this virus has to your pet. It is the single largest reduction in risk available to you.
If your rabbit spends time outdoors, that is where to focus. A hutch on the lawn, a run set out on the grass, a shared fence line — all are places a wild rabbit may have been without your knowledge. The same applies to greens or hay sourced from ground where wild rabbits graze.
If you are bringing a new rabbit home, from a rescue, a breeder, or a friend rehoming one, talk to us before that rabbit meets the one you already have.
2. Keep the enclosure clean, and keep the flies down
Cleaning the enclosure frequently is disease control, not housekeeping. It removes the reason flies are there in the first place.
Two habits are worth adding. Take your shoes off at the door, and wash your hands before handling your rabbit or their food if you have been out in the yard. On disinfectants, ask us what to use — many common household cleaners do not reliably inactivate this virus, and several of the products that do are not safe to use around rabbits.
3. Vaccinate
For most pet rabbits in this area, vaccination is the strongest protection available.
Yes, There’s an RHDV2 Vaccine — Ask Us About It
There is an RHDV2 vaccine, and we carry it here in Billings. This is a preventable disease, and prevention is the part we can hand you.
Rabbits are part of what we do here, and this vaccine is one of the reasons that matters. It works the way the rest of our vaccines do — in the background, on the days nothing happens.
Vaccination schedule for the RHDV2 in your rabbit may look like an initial two-dose series of the vaccine about 4 weeks apart, followed by a single booster shot every 9 to 12 months, but we will tailor the schedule to your rabbit’s specific needs.
If your rabbit spends any time outdoors, lives with other rabbits, or shares a house with a dog that is in and out of the yard, vaccination is worth asking about now rather than later.
It does not replace the other two measures. Indoors, clean and vaccinated work together — a vaccinated rabbit still should not be nose to nose with a wild one.
If you are not sure whether your rabbit needs it, call and ask. We will work it out with you.
What to Do If You Find a Dead Rabbit
Dead wild rabbits turn up in yards and along walking routes here, and most have nothing to do with this disease. The response is short either way.
Don’t touch it. Don’t let your dog investigate it. Call Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks at (406) 247-2940 — particularly if you are seeing more than one.
That last part matters more than it sounds. FWP tracks this disease, and what gets reported determines what all of us know about where the virus actually is. The call takes two minutes.
If you have been near one — mowing around it, moving it off a road — change your shoes and wash your hands thoroughly before going near your own rabbit. Do not wear those shoes back into the room where your rabbit lives.
What If It’s Your Own Rabbit?
If a pet rabbit dies suddenly and you do not know why, call us.
Not a rabbit that was elderly, or one we had been treating for something you already understood. I mean the ones that do not make sense — healthy on Tuesday, gone on Wednesday.
In the meantime, do not handle them bare-handed, and keep any other rabbits well away from the body and from that area. Then call and tell us what happened. We can talk through what you saw, whether testing makes sense, and how to disinfect properly if there are other rabbits in the house.
It is not a call anyone wants to make. Make it anyway — particularly if you have other rabbits at home, where what you do next matters.
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease at a Glance
Dr. Erika Cantamessa put together a one-page version of this for the clinic. Save it, print it, or send it to someone who has just brought a rabbit home.
If you take three things from this article, make them these: keep your rabbit indoors and away from wild rabbits, keep their space clean so you are not attracting flies, and ask us about the vaccine.
If you are not sure whether any of this applies to your rabbit, that is a question worth asking. We are glad to talk it through.
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease FAQs
Is rabbit hemorrhagic disease in Montana?
Yes. RHDV2 was first confirmed in Montana in Yellowstone County in 2021, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has since confirmed it in about a dozen more counties, including Carbon, Stillwater, Big Horn and Musselshell. Those are the counties around Billings.
How do rabbits catch rabbit hemorrhagic disease?
Through the eyes, nose or mouth, from an infected rabbit’s respiratory secretions, urine or droppings. Rabbits do not have to meet for it to spread — the virus is durable and travels on shoes, hay, gloves and flies, which is how an indoor rabbit can be exposed without ever encountering a wild one.
Can rabbit hemorrhagic disease spread to people, dogs, or cats?
No. RHDV2 affects rabbits and their close relatives, such as hares and pikas. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks states that people are not susceptible, and it does not make dogs or cats sick. A dog that investigates a dead wild rabbit can still carry the virus home on fur and feet.
Is there a vaccine for rabbit hemorrhagic disease?
Yes. There is an RHDV2 vaccine and we carry it in Billings. Whether your rabbit is a good candidate depends on age, health and lifestyle, so call us and we will work it out with you.
Can rabbit hemorrhagic disease be cured?
No. There is no cure once a rabbit is infected. Treatment is supportive, and often there is not time even for that. Prevention carries the weight — indoors, clean and vaccinated.
