Technical Note: Health status of commercial rabbitries in the Iberian peninsula. A practitioner's study

Abstract

A total of 414 visits were made to 130 rabbitries, with an average of 903 adult females per farm. Prevalence of routinely monitored diseases was determined on 11 O rabbit farms. Mean annual prevalence of coryza in 8,209 females randomly examined in 154 revisions was 22.1 %, as well as mastitis 4.6 %, sore hocks 10.4 %, and mange 2.7 %. After checking 853 males in 60 examinations, prevalence of coryza was 33.4 %, sore hocks 5.7 % and mange 1.9 %. These disorders frequency decreased in the course of the period 1983 - 2002. After 197 visits with troubles (plus 217 revisions), and 431 post-mortem examinations, digestive disorders (60.8 % of the visits and 72.1 % of the necropsies), especially mucoid enteropathy, were the most relevant.