Affiliation:
1. Institute for Animal Hygiene Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behaviour University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Hannover Germany
2. Statistical Consulting and Analysis Center for Higher Education TU Dortmund University Dortmund Germany
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundAs a prey species, rabbits tend to hide their illnesses and injuries. Consequently, pet rabbit owners often do not notice that their pet may be suffering.MethodsData on the housing and health of 34 dwarf rabbits were collected from a total of 22 rabbit owners. A score from 0 (not stressed) to 3 (highly stressed) was assigned to each rabbit based on the owners’ reports. Afterwards, the hair corticosterone concentration (HCC) of the rabbits was analysed as an indicator of long‐term stress.ResultsThe mean HCC of all rabbits was 1.54 ± 0.64 pg/mg. Animals with a stress score of 3 had a higher HCC (2.17 pg/mg) than those with a score of 0 (1.09 pg/mg) or 1 (1.44 pg/mg) (p < 0.05). HCC was not significantly affected by sex or age (p > 0.05).LimitationOnly a small number of rabbits were included in the study. Therefore, the findings need to be confirmed in a larger cohort of animals.ConclusionHCC seems to be a promising stress marker in pet rabbits.
Subject
General Veterinary,General Medicine