Small Animals
Rabbit Production
Many persons are interested in caring and raising rabbits as a backyard activity. The rabbits may be kept as pets, show animals, or commercially grown as a food commodity. The producer may want to keep only a few rabbits or produce several thousand each year. The care and management of rabbits is attractive to youth as a club project.
The pages that follow were written to answer the more commonly asked questions applying to rabbit care. Discussions in the answers and publications that follow will help increase the rabbit caretaker's understanding of the animal's management and health requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much investment is necessary to build a rabbitry?
- How are rabbit skins tanned?
- Why do some rabbit does eat their young?
- Where can I obtain housing plans?
Other Rabbit Information
- Starting a Rabbit Enterprise discusses the advantages and disadvantages of starting a rabbit raising operation.
- Concerns when Building Rabbit Facilities outlines many factors that the beginning rabbit producer should consider when building the first production facility.
- Slaughtering and Dressing Rabbits discusses the procedure used by slaughtering plants to process meat rabbits. Treating the pelts is also discussed.
News
By Karen Templeton
MSU College of Veterinary Medicine
Flowood, Miss. -- Bridget Monk of Pearl has dealt with and overcome a great deal in her 16 years. But all difficulties were forgotten when her new puppy, Princess Paisley, was placed in her arms.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A new technique developed by a Mississippi State University veterinarian may improve the long-term management of obstructive hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, in small animals by reducing the rate of surgical complications.
By Laura Whelan
MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Easter season often inspires people to adopt bunnies into their families, but these cuddly pets require attention and a long-term commitment.
"Rabbits can make great pets. Unfortunately, people often buy them impetuously as Easter gifts, and six months later, they are past the initial cute, cuddly stage, so they are put in a cage in the backyard and neglected," said Dr. Thomas Lenarduzzi, associate clinical professor at Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.