Rabbit Vitamin A Deficiency
📝 Summary
Vitamin A keeps rabbit mucous membranes intact and vision sharp; deficiency, worst in winter and early spring, brings slow growth, weak coat, nerve signs, eye damage (conjunctivitis, keratitis, even ulceration), and in pregnant does premature birth or dead malformed kits. It stems from low-carotene feed, poor gut or liver absorption, or vitamin loss in storage. Diagnose by history, lesions, and plasma vitamin A below 0.2 to 0.3 mg/ml.
1 Causes
Too little vitamin A or carotene in the diet: rabbits get carotene and vitamin A precursors from plant feed and convert them in the liver, so long-term grain, bran, and meal with little carotene easily causes deficiency.
Gut and liver disease blocks absorption: vitamin A is fat-soluble and needs bile acids to absorb, so liver-gallbladder disease or gut inflammation that harms fat digestion also blocks it; liver disease also cuts carotene conversion and storage.
Feed vitamin destroyed: long storage or poor processing lowers content, e.g. yellow corn loses about 60% after 6 months, and pelleting loses over 32%. In summer, vitamin premix left mixed too long heats and oxidizes the vitamin away.
2 Symptoms
Signs are slow or stalled growth, weakness, rough coat, unsteady gait, trouble standing, and less activity. Some show nerve signs: head tilted to one side, body swaying, numb legs, or occasional convulsions. Young rabbits get diarrhea and may die; pregnant does abort, have stillbirths or hard labor, or deliver weak or malformed kits that show brain edema within weeks. Adults and young alike show eye damage: purulent conjunctivitis and keratitis that can worsen to ulcerative necrosis, plus respiratory and digestive inflammation from harmed epithelial cells, and urinary mucous injury causing cloudy urine and stones. A few cases show dry eye or night blindness.
3 Pathology and Diagnosis
The eyes and brain show clear lesions. Diagnose first by feeding history and clinical signs, then confirm through lesion traits and low plasma and liver vitamin A and carotene; deficient rabbits usually show plasma vitamin A below 0.2 to 0.3 mg/ml.
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