Pet rabbits are the latest victims of the country’s wet summer, which is being blamed for a flare up of the killer virus myxomatosis.

The PDSA, the veterinary charity, has reported a 300 per cent increase in cases among domestically kept rabbits in a year. Disease hotspots include Humberside, the West Midlands and the South East.

Myxomatosis, which affects both wild and domestic rabbits, was first identified in the UK in the early 1950s when it almost wiped out the wild rabbit population.

Sean Wensley, the charity’s senior veterinary surgeon, is now raising the alert because the virus appears to be striking in areas with little history of the disease.

In Birmingham, for example, eight rabbits have been seen with the disease in the past 12 months when during the previous year there was not one case.

In Romford cases have leapt from 12 to 43 and in Hull cases have jumped from 8 to 30.

Previously myxomatosis hotspots were in East Anglia and the West Country.

Mr Wensley said: “The symptoms are really horrendous and cause the rabbits the most terrible suffering. It is inevitably fatal and in most cases the rabbits have to be put down. The reason we are publicising the incidence is because death is entirely preventable if owners ensure their pets are vaccinated.”

He said that without humane euthanasia diseased rabbits would suffer protracted death over 10 to 14 days. “They get puffy eyes, swollen heads and genitalia, breathing difficulties and they can die from haemorrhage and seizure. It is very distressing for owners and vets. By the time clinical signs have developed it is often too late for treatment,” Mr Wensley said.

The health warning is important because rabbits are the country’s third most popular pet after cats and dogs, with an estimated 1.6 million owners.

In low-risk areas Mr Wensely advises that an annual vaccine for a rabbit in the spring is probably sufficient protection, but in new areas with high incidence of disease and in rural areas where pets may come into contact with wild rabbits he is urging owners to organise a second vaccine this autumn.

The vaccine, which costs between £15 and £30, is not 100 per cent effective, but it allows some of the symptoms to be treated.

The impact on the wild rabbit population is not clear. Some animals have built up immunity to the disease and the strain varies in virulence from year to year.

Myxomatosis is spread by biting insects such as fleas, mosquitoes and horseflies. Infection may be spread from wild to pet rabbits, but domestic animals can easily pick up the disease in an outdoor pen or, if kept indoors, could be infected by a family dog that has picked up the virus.

It was first identified in Britain at Edenbridge, Kent, in 1953. It spread nationwide and killed an estimated 100 million rabbits that were living in the wild.

It is a naturally occurring virus that was first identified in South America in 1896. It spread around the world, being deliberately introduced to protect crops from rabbit populations. For example, when it was introduced into Australia in 1950, rabbit numbers fell from 600 million to 100 million.

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