Rabbits (LS) Flashcards
What drug should NEVER be given ORALLY to Rabbits?
Why?
- Penacillin/lincomycin
- Dysbiosis
How do rabbits breath?
Obligate nasal breathers
How many Incisors do rabbits have?
TQ!
6!
- 2 Maxillary incisors & 2 peg teeth→ top
- 2 Mandibular incisors → bottom
What predisposes Rabbits to Lumbar FX?
TQ
Lightweight skeletons & LARGE mm. mass
What is unique about the
Female Rabbit reproductive tract?
NO UTERINE BODY! → Duplex Uterus
2 horns
2 cervices
What type of castration do you perfom on male rabbits?
Closed castration
Most GIT problems in rabbits are related to lack of ______.
Fiber!
(Avoid simple sugars & fruits→ slow down GI motility)
Where is a common site for Lumbar FX in Rabbits?
L7
What is the most common neoplasm in female rabbits?
Uterine Adenocarcinoma
(> 50% of females > 5 yrs)
2nd most common neoplasm in rabbits?
Lymphosarcoma
Which breed of rabbit gets congenital glaucoma?
New Zealand Whites
What is a disorder of hip, pelvis, spine & long bones of young rabbits?
Splay leg or “Swimmer”
(hereditary musculoskeletal disorder)
How can you promote appropriate
dental wearing in rabbits?
Feed hay!
Pathogenesis of Gastric Trichobezoars?
- Low fiber diets
- Dehydration
- prolific shedders (Angora)
C/S of Trichobezar
- loss of appetite
- absent or decreased feces
- doughy mass on palpation of cranial/mid-abodmen
What is unique about the dietary Calcium uptake in the rabbit?
Not dependent on Vitamin D
Excess dietary Calcium can lead to the formation of __________
Uroliths
(avoid feeding alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay)
What is special about Rabbit urine that predisposes them to Uroliths?
- High in Ca2+ carbonate & Triple phosphate crystals
- Very Alkaline
What 2 things can be normal to find in urine?
- Small amount of sand
- Small amount of crystals
Prevention of Urolithiasis?
- Decrease Calcium in diet (grass hay, green veges, timmothy pellets; avoid excess alfalfa)
- Weight control
- Increase exercise
What are the main causes of the abscesses in rabbits?
- Pasteurella
- Dental Dz
What is a common and significant dz in rabbits?
What is the causative agent?
Pasturellosis/Snuffles
Pastuerlla multocida
When does infection of pasteurellosis occur in rabbits?
Develops when stressed (most rabbits are carriers)
How do rabbits spread Pasteurella?
Sneezing
C/S of Pasteurellosis
- Sneezing, nasal discharge
- Conjunctivitis
- Otitis
- Dyspnea
- **Neurological **
- Subcutaneous swelling
- Vaginal discharge
What finding makes the prognosis for Pasteurellosis poor?
Pulmonary abscesses
Tx- Pasteurellosis
- Enrofloxacin (most isolates, but increasing resistance)
- Injectable penicillin
- Surgical excision of abscesses or infected organs
Pasteurellosis - Control and prevention in Rabbitries
- Culling
- Culture or serology to detect carriers
- NO vax currently
Common inhabitant of the respiratory tract (asymptomatic)
Bordetella bronchiseptica
Why would you recommend to a client to house their rabbit and guinea pig separately?
- Rabbits are asymptomatic carriers of B. bronchiseptica
- May transmit to species (dog, guinea pigs) where it is more pathogenic
Causative agent of Enterotoxemia
Clostridium spiroforme toxin
C/S - Enterotoxemia
- Abdominal pain
- Hunched posture
- Teeth grinding
- Anorexia
Dx- Enterotoxemia
- Anaerobic fecal Culture
- Gram stain of fecal smear → helically coiled, semicircular rods
Tx- Enterotoxemia
- Supportive care
- Motility modifiers →Metaclopramide
- Probiotics
- Cholestyramine (binds toxin)
Prevention of Enterotoxemia
- Minimize stress
- Change feed gradually
- Wean at 3 weeks & not earlier
- Use appropriate antibiotics
- FIBER!!
What causes Rabbit Syphilis?
Treponema cuniculi
(Treponematosis)
Dx - rabbit syphilis
- **Skin scraping **
- Dark field microscopy
- Silver stain
- Serological testing (screening of rabbitries)
Tx- rabbit syphilis
- Usually self limiting
- Injectable penicillin
What should you do with the bunnies from a doe with Septic Mastitis?
- Remove bunnies → DO NOT FOSTER
- Bottle feed
Cystic/Non-Septic Mastitis - Tx/Px
Ovariohysterectomy
Why is it important to spay non-breeding does?
In order to avoid adenocarcinoma and cystic/non-septic mastitis
What causes Tularemia/Rabbit Fever?
Francisella tularensis
Which animals are asymptomatic for Tularemia (Rabbit Fever)?
Who shows clinically signs & gets it?
- Wild animals
- Rare in domestic rabbits & rodents –> will usualy show signs if infected
Rabbit Fever - Transmission
Breaks in skin, ingestion, inhalation, blood sucking vectors
ex) fleas, ticks
What dz of rabbits is Zoonotic and Reportable?
(this is why you should be careful while doing necropsy)
Francisella tularemia/Rabbit Fever
What causes Dermatophytosis (Ringworm)?
Why are we concerned?
- *Trichophyton mentagrophytes *
- Microsporum spp
- Zoonotic! → wear gloves
What is the agent of Cheyletiella (Walking Dandruff)?
Why do we care?
Cheyletiella parasitovorax (fur mite)
ZOONOTIC (humans, dogs, cats)
Which drug is contraindicated for treatment of fleas in rabbits?
DO NOT USE FRONTLINE IN RABBITS (FIPRONIL)
What dz forms granulomas in the brain of rabbits?
Encephalitozoonosis
(Encephalitozoan cuniculi)
Important points about Rabbit Hemorrhagic Dz?
- REBORTABLE
- Highly contagious
- Calicivirus
- C/S:
- anorexia
- lethargy
- pyrexia
- spasms
- SUDDEN DEATH
