DISEASE SUMMARY PAGE

Ovarian Abscesses in Rabbits

Summary Information
Diseases / List of Bacterial Diseases / Disease summary
Alternative Names  
Disease Agents
  • Reported with Pasteurella multocida infection. (J4.203.w3)
  • "Predisposing factors, such as build up of ammonia fumes in the rabbit house, ambient temperature changes and drafts, reproduction, older age, existence of carriers, and poor sanitation contribute to the likelihood of development of clinical pasteurellosis." (J4.203.w3)
Infectious Agent(s)
Non-infectious Agent(s) --
Physical Agent(s)
General Description
  • "Ovarian abscesses commonly caused by P. multocida are often found during groos and microscopic examinations at the end of reproductive and teratology studies." (B534.6.w6b)
Clinical signs
  • An affected rabbit was bright and alert, with a distended abdomen.
    • Weight gain and abdominal distention had developed over a period of six months.
  • Palpation of the abdomen revealed that the caudal half of the abdomen was filled by a mass.
  • Radiography revealed distinct multilobulated soft tissue opacities in the abdominal cavity caudal to the kidneys and displacing the abdominal viscera and right kidney cranially.
  • Ultrasonography revealed multilobuled masses; the walls were well defined and there were cyctic spaces of variable echogenicity.

(J4.203.w3)

Clinical pathology
Further Information
Diagnosis
  • In a reported clinical case: on laparotomy (Laparotomy in Rabbits), the ovaries were enlarged (10 x 8 and 8 x 5 cm), containing pasty inspissated exudate, tan in colour. (J4.203.w3)
Pathology

Gross Pathology

  • Ovarian abscesses, usually containing a thick, creamy white to tan exudate, and sometimes surrounded by a fibrous capsule. (B534.6.w6b)
  • Ovaries: mottled white-brown, consisting of cystic cavities containing chalky white inspissated exudate.
  • Uterus: walls thickened, horns containing tan-coloured pasty material with a thin encapsulating layer of red-tan fibrous tissue, and body containing inspissated tan exudate. 

Histopathology

  • Ovarian abscesses, may be an incidental finding in rabbits at the end of toxicological or reproductive studies. (B534.6.w6b)
  • In a doe with Pasteurella multocida pyoendometritis, pyosalpingitis and ovarian abscesses: (J4.203.w3)
    • Ovaries: normal tissue replaced by fibrous connective tissue surrounding abscesses. 
    • Uterus: subacute suppurative endometritis and subacute suppurative salpingitis
    • Renal: multifocal subacute pyelonephritis (mild)
    • Cardiac: Pericardial effusion (mild)
    • Liver: Extramedullary haematopoiesis.
    • Gram-negative rods in the ovarian abscess exudate.
    • Culture: Pasteurella multocida isolated from ovarian exudate. (J4.203.w3)
Associated Techniques
Host taxa groups /species
Disease Author Debra Bourne MA VetMB PhD MRCVS (V.w5)
Referees Aidan Raftery MVB CertZooMed CBiol MIBiol MRCVS (V.w122)

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