Epidemiology of behavioural problems in pet rabbits: An owners' survey

The present paper was designated to assess the perceived frequency of problematic rabbit behavior in a sample of pet rabbit owners and to characterize this behavior. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 423 rabbit owners from Spain and Latin America. The collected data was processed descriptively and using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Results indicated that, among the studied population, the most common behavior problems according to owners' perception were inappropriate elimination followed by non-social fear, destructive behavior and compulsive disorders. Rabbits generally showed more than just one behavioral problem; there seemed to be an association between non-social fear and destructive behavior as well as between owner-directed aggression and owner-directed fear. MCA indicated that the studied behavior problems were more frequent in entire females. Rabbits acquired before weaning and, to a lesser extent, between weaning and puberty were more likely to show compulsive disorders and inappropriate urine elimination. These two behavior problems seemed to be also more common in rabbits from breeders and pet stores. Such data support previous findings and provide new information in the field of epidemiology of behavioral problems in pet rabbits. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.