- Apr 15, 2011
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In laboratory settings at least, (talking about the more restricted pure research), the conditions pictured would not be allowed. I can't imagine ours approaching anything like that, and that includes mice which are allowed more contact with feces than rabbits. The reasons include not just humane care, but also disease and infection risks, as lab conditions do not want what are called "outside variables". While paying attention to your animal's feces is one way to gauge health, living in close quarters with a lot of feces build up can cause a host of health issues in many species. Rock doves are one animal I can see being a little more lax on feces build-up, considering how many choose to nest, but rabbits like to keep their latrine not under their noses despite practicing coprophagy.
Most rodents and lagomorphs are prone to respiratory issues, which are often worsened by things such as ammonia build up from urine, poor ventilation, etc. If you want to allow the waste to build up that high for whatever reason, I imagine by most standards, the rabbit still needs room to comfortably lie down and stretch out without being in their own waste, and ventilation must be no kidding good without having drafts. Having such close proximity to that amount of waste opens rabbits up to things like abscesses, sore hocks, skin rashes and urine scalding and other infections and irritations, not to mention the possible internal and eye related irritation and infection. Rabbits have thin skin with blood vessels very close to the surface in parts, which can make them more prone to these types of issues. To say that a rabbit would need this sort of build up for one to safely assess its health is not something that seems logically sound. It would not indicate a healthy rabbit, or even an accurate estimate of a fecal ratio for the day, unless one could date the feces. I would not personally buy from a breeder with cages that had the amount of feces build up and matting shown in the photos, especially if kept in cages that size (and I am personally fine with that size of caging for livestock rabbits...but not when only part of it provides a non damp/soiled area). Even if the breeder cleaned up their cages completely a half hour before I visited, I'd still have some samples to view going by my own rabbits.
Most rodents and lagomorphs are prone to respiratory issues, which are often worsened by things such as ammonia build up from urine, poor ventilation, etc. If you want to allow the waste to build up that high for whatever reason, I imagine by most standards, the rabbit still needs room to comfortably lie down and stretch out without being in their own waste, and ventilation must be no kidding good without having drafts. Having such close proximity to that amount of waste opens rabbits up to things like abscesses, sore hocks, skin rashes and urine scalding and other infections and irritations, not to mention the possible internal and eye related irritation and infection. Rabbits have thin skin with blood vessels very close to the surface in parts, which can make them more prone to these types of issues. To say that a rabbit would need this sort of build up for one to safely assess its health is not something that seems logically sound. It would not indicate a healthy rabbit, or even an accurate estimate of a fecal ratio for the day, unless one could date the feces. I would not personally buy from a breeder with cages that had the amount of feces build up and matting shown in the photos, especially if kept in cages that size (and I am personally fine with that size of caging for livestock rabbits...but not when only part of it provides a non damp/soiled area). Even if the breeder cleaned up their cages completely a half hour before I visited, I'd still have some samples to view going by my own rabbits.