A Retrospective Study of Neurological Disease in 118 Rabbits

SummaryA retrospective pathological study of 118 rabbits presenting with neurological disease was conducted. Diagnoses were categorized on the basis of aetiopathogenesis as inflammatory, vascular, traumatic, metabolic-toxic, neoplastic, degenerative or idiopathic. Central nervous system (CNS) lesions were present in 85 (72.0%) of the rabbits and in most of these cases (70.3%) a causative agent was identified. The majority of animals (n = 78, 66.1%) had disease of an inflammatory nature and 71 of these 78 rabbits had one of two zoonotic infectious diseases: encephalitozoonosis (n = 69, 58.5%) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis (n = 2). Infections with zoonotic potential are therefore a major cause of CNS disease in the rabbit.