The European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus has an unusual pattern of nursing behavior. After giving birth in a nursery burrow (or laboratory nest box), the mother immediately leaves the young and only returns to nurse for a few minutes once approximately every 24 h. It has been assumed this...

Nursing clinics are an excellent time to provide information to prospective and current owners about their pets. Rabbits are an often-overlooked pet and encouraging rabbit owners to attend nurse-led rabbit clinics can help to correct any underlying husbandry issues to prevent disease. Subtle signs...

Altered nursing or nutrition before artificial insemination (AI) can be used as a doe biostimulant to improve lactating rabbits reproduction. The timing of a shift from free to a 3-day controlled nursing to AI or the nursing method at fast-refeeding can affect the efficacy of these stimulations. In ...

Objectives: To gain insight into veterinary nurse knowledge of pain recognition and control in rabbits. Materials and Methods: We used a survey to establish current attitudes amongst veterinary nurses towards pain management in pet rabbits and factors that might shape those attitudes. The survey...

This case study reviews the care given to a rabbit with severe trauma to his right hind leg. Following amputation, the wound became infected and required managing every 3-4 days causing additional stress to the patient. Whilst the outcome was positive, it is important to reflect on the care given...

This article will look at thymoma recognition and treatment in rabbits. Medical versus surgical treatment options will be explored along with nursing strategies for dyspnoeic rabbit patients. Thymomas are slow growing neoplasms in the cranial mediastinum that can pose life-threatening complications ...

As rabbits are the third most common pet in the UK, it is imperative that RVNs are able to provide exemplary care to these patients. It is important that rabbits be treated according to their physiological needs, in order to minimise stress and improve survival rates in the peri-anaesthetic period. ...

The purpose of the experiment was to analyse how the production and nursing behaviour of rabbit does are influenced by different lighting programmes and nursing methods. Rabbit does (n=119) were housed in 2 rooms. The lighting schedules were a continuous 16L:8D (16L, n=55) or an interrupted...

Background: Pain recognition in rabbits (Oryctolagous cuniculi) can be a challenging task for the registered veterinary nurse (RVN) and can often result in the delivery of suboptimal nursing care if pain goes undetected. Although the Rabbit Grimace Scale (RbtGS) can assist in pain assessment, it is ...

Nursing in rabbits occurs inside the nest with circadian periodicity. To determine the contribution of suckling stimulation in regulating such periodicity, we varied the size of the litters provided (1, 2, 4, or 6-8 pups). Nursing does, kept under a 14:10 (L:D) photoperiod, were continuously...