Abstract
Skin disease is one of the most frequent disorders in household rabbits. This retrospective survey of rabbit skin disease is based on the records of 277 cases in 221 rabbits treated at a clinic in Tokyo in 2001. Rabbit skin diseases were etiologically divided into 4 categories. Bacterial dermatitis cases were seen most frequently (36.1%), followed by skin disorders caused by physical matters (26.0%), fungal dermatitis (25.6%), and parasitic dermatitis (12.3%). The average of treating period was longest in dermatophytosis (40.8 days) among main skin diseases, followed by treponematosis (30.6 days), moist dermatitis (28.9 days), and cheyletiellosis (21.0 days) in descending orders. The average of relapse rate was also highest in dermatophytosis (18.3%), and treoponemosis (14.3%) and moist dermatitis (13.0%) showed relatively high rate. The incidence of skin disorders in rabbit did not show any characteristic seasonal unevenness usually seen in dogs and cats. Since many skin diseases in rabbits need rather long term until perfect recovery, before beginning of treatment, thorough informed consent based on accurate forecast might be indispensable.
