Part I Rabbit Breed and Anatomy Essentials
Introductory Chapter: The Domestic Rabbit and Farm Management . . .
João Simões and José Manuel Monteiro
Anatomical Features of Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Carlos Venâncio, Maria da Conceição Fontes, and João Simões
Physiological Features of Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
José Júlio Martins, João Simões, Carlos Venâncio, Maria José Saavedra,
and Maria da Conceição Fontes
Part II Rabbit Production
Worldwide Rabbit Meat Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Laping Wu
Rabbit Farming: Industrial, Small-Scale, and Organic Housing
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Luiz Carlos Machado and João Simões
Rabbit Farming: Indoor Microclimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Luiz Carlos Machado and João Simões
Rabbit Farming: Cages and Related Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Luiz Carlos Machado and João Simões
Welfare, Behavior, and Housing of Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Carmen Cano, Patricia Carulla, and Arantxa Villagrá
Welfare Protocols for Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Mariana Almeida and Severiano R. Silva
Rabbit Nutrition and Feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Victor Pinheiro and Thierry Gidenne
Reproduction in the Female Rabbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Rosa M. Garcia-Garcia, Daniela Jordán-Rodriguez, Pedro L. Lorenzo,
Pilar G. Rebollar, and María Arias-Alvarez
xiiixiii
xiv Contents
The Rabbit Male Reproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Cesare Castellini, Simona Mattioli, Alessandro Dal Bosco,
and Giulia Collodel
Assisted Reproductive Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Rosa M. Garcia-Garcia, Daniela Jordán-Rodríguez, Silvia Gimeno-Martos,
Pilar G. Rebollar, Pedro L. Lorenzo, and María Arias-Alvarez
Rabbit Meat Processing and Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Pramila Umaraw, Akhilesh K. Verma, V. P. Singh, Pavan Kumar,
N. Mehta, and Devendra Kumar
Assessing Rabbit Body and Carcass Traits with Non-invasive and
Non-destructive Image Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Severiano R. Silva and Tamás Donkó
Rabbit Skins and Furs: Production, Properties, and Potentiality as
Raw Materials for Tanning and Other Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
A. I. Nasr and E. A. Taha
Part III Rabbit Herd and Health Management and Diseases
Preventive Medicine and Rabbit Health Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Filipe Fontes Pinto, Tomás Rodrigues Magalhães, Ricardo Marcos,
Joana Abrantes, Mariana Marrana, José Manuel Monteiro, João Simões,
and Nuno Alegria
Administration of Antimicrobials and Resistance in Food-Producing
Rabbits: Dietary Supplements as Potential Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Carla Miranda, Gilberto Igrejas, and Patrícia Poeta
Respiratory Complex in Rabbits (Pasteurellosis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
João Simões, Sónia Saraiva, Maria da Conceição Medeiros Castro Fontes,
José Manuel Monteiro, and Teresa Tavares
Rabbit Enteric Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
João Simões, José Manuel Monteiro, Teresa Tavares,
and Maria da Conceição Fontes
Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy (ERE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Teresa Tavares, José Manuel Monteiro, Maria da Conceição Fontes,
and João Simões
Escherichia coli in the Rabbit: Commensal or Pathogenic . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Fábio Abade dos Santos, Teresa Tavares, Laurentina Pedroso,
Ângela Dâmaso, and José Manuel Monteiro
Contents xv
Clostridium spp. in Rabbits: The Underappreciated Killer . . . . . . . . . . . 489
Teresa Tavares, Ângela Dâmaso, Laurentina Pedroso,
Maria da Conceição Fontes, Fábio Abade dos Santos, João Simões,
and José Manuel Monteiro
Staphylococcosis in Rabbits and Rabbitries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Teresa Tavares, João Simões, José Manuel Monteiro,
and Juan Manuel Corpa
Rabbit Viral Diseases: Myxomatosis and Rabbit Hemorrhagic
Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Margarida D. Duarte, Teresa Fagulha, Margarida Henriques, Silvia Barros,
Fernanda Ramos, Ana Duarte, Tiago Luís, and Fábio A. Abade dos Santos
Rabbit Viral Diseases (II): Other Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
Margarida Duarte, Teresa Fagulha, Margarida Henriques, Silvia Barros,
Fernanda Ramos, Ana Duarte, Tiago Luís, and Fábio A. Abade dos Santos
Dermatophytosis in Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Ana Cláudia Coelho, Daniel Morais, José Manuel Monteiro,
and João Simões
Encephalitozoon cuniculi: An Emergent Pathogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
Ana Cláudia Coelho, Ana Patrícia Lopes, Daniel Morais,
Filipa Teixeira Rodrigues, José Manuel Monteiro, and Luís Cardoso
Rabbit Coccidiosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Ana Patrícia Lopes and João Simões
Major Endoparasitoses in Rabbits: oxyuriosis and Metacestodosis . . . . . 637
João Simões and Ana Patrícia Lopes
Ectoparasitoses in Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Filipa Teixeira Rodrigues, João Simões, and Ana Patricia Antunes Lopes
Mycotoxin Effects and Risk Management in Rabbit Production . . . . . . . 691
Fernando Lima
Insights into Clinical Pathology of Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
Madalena Ferreira, Felisbina Queiroga, and Ana C. Silvestre-Ferreira
Necropsy and Sample Collection in Rabbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
Justina Prada and Isabel Pires
Appendix Meat Rabbits’ Inspection: Abnormal Findings
at Slaughterhouse – Courtesy of Dr. Anabela Cristo Trindade
Ferreira (Sanitary Inspector) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
Index . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777