Rabbit Medicine Flashcards
Name the symbiotic yeast found to line the stomach of rabbits
Cyniclomyce guttulatas (Saccharomycopsis guttulata)
Gastric pH juvenile (preweaned rabbits)
5.0-6.5
Gastric pH adult rabbit
1.0-2.0 (3.0 following ingestion cecotropes)
Common ear mite in rabbits
Psoroptes cuniculi
What comprises the GALT in rabbits
- Peyer’s patches (jejunum and distal ileum)
- Sacculus rotundus (ileocecal junction)
- Vermiform appendix (distal terminus of cecum)
Role of vermiform appendix
Secrete water and bicarbonate into cecum for fermentation
Four sections of LI
- ~10cm anterior (taeniae with three sacculated haustra)
- ~20cm single longitudinal taenia and haustrum
- separated by fusus coli which is unique to rabbits - ~4cm densely innervated and banded circumferentially with muscle and lacks taeniae and haustra with LOTS of goblet cells.
- Distal colon ~80-100cm from fusus coli to rectum. Short crypts and numerous goblet cells.
What connects the ileum, cecum, and proximal colon?
ampulla caecalis coli
What hormone mediates absorption of water, K+, and Na+ during digestion?
aldosterone
What do cecal goblet cells produce
Mucin
Digestible energy requirements in rabbits
400kJ/day^-1/kg^-1 x LW^0.75
Raising cecal pH in rabbits fed high protein diets causes what?
Overgrowth of Clostridia and Escherichia in cecum
What vitamins do cecotropes provide?
Vitamin K, Vitamin B
Congenital progressive and fatal disorder of sodium transport in cecum is found homozygous in what breeds?
spotted (English Spot) and Checkered GIant breeds.
Bacterial cause of enterotoxemia
Clostridium spiroforme
What age group of rabbits is most commonly affected by clostridium spiroforme?
Newly weaned (3-6 weeks)
Enterohemorrhagic E coli produces a shiga toxin that causes what clinical signs
hemorrhagic colitis with hemorrhagic diarrhea
Rabbits naturally infected with enterohemorrhagic E coli develop what hallmark sign of the shiga toxin
thrombotic microangiopathy
Subsequent litters of does infected with E coli may have passive immunity: T or F
True
What antibiotics are used to treat enteropathogenic E coli infections in rabbits?
Sulfatrim or Baytril
Obligate intracellular pathogen reported as a cause of enterocolitis in rabbits and in association with E. coli
Lawsonia intracellularis
Cause of proliferative ileitis characterized by epithelial hyperplasia nad mucosal inflammation
Lawsonia intracellularis
Disease in pigs and ferrets caused by this bacteria, which has similar signs as Lawsonia intracellularis
Desulfovibrio desulfuricans
Antibiotics used to treat Lawsonia
Macrolides (tylocin, erythromycin, lincomycin) in non-rabbits.
Chloramphenicol BID x 7-14 days in rabbits.
What bacteria causes Tyzzer’s disease
Clostridium piliforme
Clinical signs of Tyzzer’s disease
watery diarrhea, depression, death.
Causes of Tyzzer’s disease
Stress (overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, high temperatures, breeding)
Pathology findings of Tyzzer’s disease
Characteristic foci of necrosis in the liver and degenerative lesions of the myocardium. Edematous intestinal wall.
What common cleaner kills Clostridial spores
0.3% sodium hypochlorite solution (bleach), or heating to 173 degrees F for 30 minutes.
What antibiotics are Campylobactor bacteria susceptible to?
Chloramphenicol.
Resistant to fluoroquinolones and macrolides.
What virus (genus) causes rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV)?
Lagovirus (genus)
Caliciviridae (family)
How is RHDV spread?
urine, feces, respiratory via direct contact, with carcasses, or fur from affected rabbits, or contact with fomites (water, feed, utensils, clothing, cages), and flies, and insects are vectors.
What pathologic signs are seen with RHDV?
Severe hepatic necrosis and death from DIC. Splenomegaly (dark and thickened). Congestion and hemorrhage of the lungs. Pale, reticulated pattern in liver.
Hematology or RHDV
lymphopenia and gradual thrombocyotpenia. prolonged PT and APTT times.
Clinical signs of RHDV
May also cause febrile, lethargic, anorexic, constipated, or diarrhea signs. Tachypnea, cyanosis, foamy nasal discharge.
RHDV2 major capsid protein
VP60
Clinical signs of rabbit coronavirus and diagnosis
lethargy, diarrhea, abdominal swelling, death.
Pleural effusion and cardiomyopathy. High mortality within 24 hours.
The virus causes hemagglutination in feces- needed for dx.
Common age of coronavirus outbreaks
3-10 weeks old, but also found in clinically normal adults.
Rotavirus attacks which portions of intestine
Differentiated enterocytes lining tips of villi in jejunum and ileum
Affects infant rabbits.
Human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test kits will detect rotavirus group A in rabbits: T of F
True
Pathology findings of rotavirus
severe billus blunting, villus fusion, and submucosal edema of small intestines, and fluid cecal contents
Eimeria stiedae infects what organ of the rabbit
Liver. The rest are in the intestines
Cause of hepatic coccidiosis
Eimeria stiedae
Most common intestinal coccidia
Eimeria perforans #1.
E. magna, E media, E irresidua.
Cecotrophs eaten from anus can spread coccidia: T or F
False
Treatment for coccidiosis
sulfadimethoxine for 7 days, amprolium in drinking water. Treatment is to limit multiplication until immunity develops.
Cause of discrete and transitory diarrhea in young rabits peaking at 30-40 day ages
Cryptosporidium parvum- no effective treatment
Nonpathogenic flaggelates and locations in rabbits
Giardia duodenalis (anterior region of small intestine)
Monocercomonas cuniculi and Retortamonas cunicula (cecum)
Entamoeba cuniculi (cecum and colon)
Large ciliated protozoa such as those of the genus Isotricha in ruminants
Common pinworm of rabbits
Passalurus ambiguus (cecum and colon). Nonpathogenic.
Via ingestion cecotrophs.
Treatment: Thiabendazole q 10-14 days
Gastrointestinal neoplasia of rabbits and location
Stomach (leiomyoscarcoma and adenocarcinoma)
Intestine (leiomyomaand leiomyosarcoma)
Sacculus rotundus and rectal squamous columnar junction (papilloma)
Bile duct (adenoma and carcinoma)
Metastatic uterine adenocarcinoma
Most common liver lobe to torse.
Caudate lobe #1
Right lobe, quadrate an dposterile lobule of left lobe also possible.
Two common aflatoxins
Aspergillus flavus and A parasiticus.
Rabbits have lowest LD50.
Pathology findings of aflatoxin ingestion
Death 3-4 days.
COngested and icteric livers, and distended gall bladder with inspissated bile.
Pneumonia is generalized in rabbit due to the lack of septa to divide the lungs into lobules: T or F
True
Rabbits are a common research model for rhinitis and sinusitis: T or F
True
What bacteria causes crusting of the mucocutaneous borders of the nose, lips, and eyelids. Crusting of nares.
T. cuniculi (rabbit syphilis) is not a primary respiratory pathogen.
Treat once weekly with procaine/benzathine penicillin for 3 weeks.
Cause of nasal granulomas in rabbits
Mycobacterium spp
Bacteria commonly isolated for rabbits with pyometra or metritis
P multocida and S aureus
Cylindrical blood clots molded with uterine horns indicate which condition
Endometrial Venous Aneurysms
Bacterial cause of late term (>21d) abortions
Listeria spp.
Abortion with fetal resorption can be induced by administering this drug once daily on days 15 and 16 after mating
aglepristone
Bacterial cause of epididymitis or orchitis
P multocida.
Cause of vesicle formation, ulcerations and scabs on vents.
T. paraluiscuniculi (rabbit syphilis or vent disease)
Treatment of T paraluiscuniculi
Parenteral (never oral) Pen G IM SID x 5-7d
Intestinal calcium absorption is independent of Vit D3 levels in rabbits: T or F
True
Sedative drug that relaxes urethral sphincter
Midazolam
What is Masugi nephritis?
Inflammatory nephritis induced by continuous immunization with large doses of antigen.
Treatment for Masugi neprhitis
Tea polyphenols
When rabbits ar eplaced on a low-calium, high-phosphorous diet, uremic rabbits (renal failure) will develop what condition?
Secondary hyperparathyroidism
What low level of Vit D may cause toxicity?
5x normal
Hypervitaminosis D causes what clinical signs
In weeks to months- mineral deposition in tissues, aorta, kidneys.
Kidneys multifocal, tan-gray throughout cortices.
What vitamin protects kidneys during aminoglycocide therapy
Vit B6
Tiletamine in Telazol causes what condition?
Nephrotoxicity- nephrosis at low doses and severe irreversible nephrosis at high doses.
Long term NSAIDs (diclofenac) causes what condition?
Significant ultrastructural renal alterations, increased renal artery vasoconstrictor activity
What breed of rabbits has a high incidence of autosomal rescessive mutations leading to renal agenesis (only 1 kidney)?
Havana breed
In males, the ipsilateral testicle is often missing
What condition causes nonsuppurative, granulomatous nephritis?
Encephalitozoonosis (nosematosis) by E. cuniculi
E cuniculi spores have a predilection for which tissues?
kidneys (31 days), brain, spinal tissue
How long are E cuniculi spores excreted in the urine
up to 3 months
How often is diethylstilbestrol given to spayed females in hormone-responsive urinary incontinence
1-2x weekly PO
What does the IRE (isolated rabbit eye) test?
irritation or corrosion to teh corneal surface by scoring swelling and corneal opaicity, and area of corneal involvement + fluoroscein penetration.
What are the cons of IRE tests
Lack of tear film causes higher false positives
Iridal damge from inflammatory or neuromusclar components cannot be assessed
What are cons of ICE (isolated chicken eye) test?
surfactants and alcohols results in false negative and false positives
When is BCOP (bovine corenal opacity and permeability) not acceptable?
When assessing mild irritancy. BCOP suitable for moderate, severe, and very severe eye irritants
Cons of ex vivo non-ocular organotypic models
Do not address conjunctival and iridial responses, inflammation and corneal recovery, or reversibility of lesions
What is the Anton test?
Used to identify Listeria monocytongenes; culture specimen is injected into rabbit conjunctiva to determine pathogenicity.
Anton discovered Listeria causes hemolysis in blood agar
Which rabbit is NOT a specific genetic model for atherosclerosis?
Saint Thomas Hospital Rabbit
Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit
Flemish giant rabbit
Kurosawa-Kusanagi hypercholesterolemic rabbit
Flemish Giant
Why are Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits (WHHR) used for atherosclerosis testing?
Analogous to human familial hypercholesterolemia due to genetic deficiency of LDL receptors
Vitamin A deficiency causes?
Hydrocephalus, cerebellar herniation in neonates
Keratitis progresses to iridocyclitis in adults
What is palatochisis
Cleft Palate
Palatochisis commonly occurs with what conditions?
Spina bifida
Hydrocephalus
Dwarfism
(NOT Chordoma)
What compound topically induces sensitization and when applied to rectum causes ulcerative colitis
DNCB (Dinitrochlorobenzene)
WHHL model of atherosclerosis
Decreased LDL concentration in WHHL
Hypercholesterolemia
KHC (Kusanagi Hypercholesterolemic) model of athersclerosis
Decreased HDL concentration in KHC High serum cholesterol High Triglycerides High phospholipid 12 base pair deletion of LDL on mRNA Hypercholesterolemia High coronary xanthoma
What is the homozygous (partial dominant trait) Pelger-Huet anomaly?
IFailure of nuclei of neutrophils (an eos) to mature to normal segmented form. PHA occurs secondary to mutation in the lamin B receptor and a left shift always appears to be precent.
RITARD technique is used to produce a rabbit model of what human dz?
Campylobacter enteritis, E coli, and aeromonas origin
What does RITARD stand for?
Rabbit intestinatl tie-adult rabbit diarrhea