User:Fernquestjon/Rabbit Digestive System

[Note: Information extracted from sources and rephrased as question and answers to be reorganized and rewritten as prose.]

Intro

Anatomy

-Foregut -Hindgut --Cecum --Colon ---Proximal colon ---Distal colon

Physiology

-Neonate -Weaning -Adult rabbit

A rabbit is a monogastric herbivore that uses a digestive process of

hindgut-fermention.

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Feeding Strategy

Strategy of high feed intake and rapid passage through the digestive system.

Rabbits are a small prey species with a high metabolic rate that eat small amounts of

food frequently and often.

Rather than store large volumes of food in the gut at one time, foodin the process of

digestion passes through the gut twice.

[compare speed of passage through GI tract with rabbit passage with ruminant passage]

[Ferrets, rabbits and rodents, 3rd edition,Rabbit gastrointestinal physiology and

nutrition, page 183.]

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A rabbit has a simple stomach with one chamber (monogastric) in contrast to

ruminants which have complex stomachs with four chambers.

Adaptations to high fibre diets: Rabbits and hares http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/farm/content/animalstructure.html#high_fibre_diets

Large quantities of fibrous food (dietary fiber) through a combination of [[hindgut

fermentation]] and cecotrophy.

microbial fermentation of food in the cecum hindgut fermentation followed by passage through the colon, excretion through the anus and then eaten by the rabbit passing through the GI tract for the second time.

Plant material is digested in the cecum by symbiotic microorganisms (gut flora).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_flora http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_fatty_acids

In the proximal colon large indigestable particles (material) are separated from smaller

digestible particles that can be fermented by bacteria in the cecum (exact size).

two phases

[separation process?]

Indigestible fiber passes down the colon and is excreted from the anus as "hard, dry

fecal pellets."

This produces volatile fatty acids, which are absorbed through the lining of the caecum

and provide approximately 30% of the animal's energy needs.

cecotroph phase

The cecum contents then pass through the large intestine and are excreted caecal pellets

as (cecotrophs) which are then eaten by the rabbit as they leave the anus.

soft cecal pellets are expelled from the anus and reeaten.

[cecotrophs are excreted underground in the rabbit burrow at a certain time of day]

(This process is called caecotrophy. Wild rabbits excrete these cecotrophs in the

undisturbed privacy of their underground burrows. )

The pellets pass through the digestive system a second time, allowing more nutrients to

be extracted, and the remaining undigested material leaves the body as normal faecal

pellets.

"Cecotrophs are soft pellets of a pasty material containing amino acids, VFAs and

vitamins. They are "encapsulated in a gelatinous mucous coating that protects them from

the acidity of the stomach."



Abbreviations for references

TRM Textbook of Rabbit Medicine

NR1 "The Digestive System of the Rabbit" in Nutrition of the Rabbit, 2nd Edition



A rabbit is a folivore which is an herbivore that eats mainly leaves.

What class of animals in zoology does a rabbit belong to?

A rabbit is a folivore which is an herbivore that eats mainly leaves.

What kind of digestive system does a rabbit have?

A rabbit is "a strict herbivore whose digestive system is adapted for the ingestion of a fibrous diet."

Hindgut

What are the two parts of the hindgut?

The cecum and colon.

What are the two parts of the colon?

The proximal and distal colon.

What important process happens in the proximal colon?

Large fiber particles are separated from small fiber particles. The two types of particles are then sent in opposite directions down the GI tract.

Where do large fiber particles go?

Large fiber particles are undigestible so they pass distally and are excreted as hard

faecal pellets.

Where do small fiber particles go?

Small fibre particles are sent backwards (retrograde direction) into the cecum where they

undergo bacterial fermentation.

What does baterial fermentation of smaller digestive particles in the cecum produce?

Bacterial fermentation of the smaller particles in the cecum creates a fine paste of

amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, microorganisms and volatile fatty acids (VFAs)("absorbed as an energy source").

Along with the horse, ...    the rabbit is a hindgut fermenter.

The rabbit's hindgut consists of the cecum and colon.

Rabbits are crepuscular animals active primarily at dawn and dusk.

What foods do rabbits prefer?

Sweet foods such as sucrose and molasses.

How does the amount of food that a rabbit vary with temperature?

Rabbits eat less when it is hot and more when it is cooler.

The rabbit is a non-ruminant herbivore with a large hindgut.

How does rabbit digestion differ from ruminants?

"rabbit use browsing behavior and cecotrophy to achieve high food conversion ruminants, which break down their food by chewing the cud"

"Unlike ruminants, which break down their food by chewing the cud, rabbit use browsing behavior and cecotrophy to achieve high food conversion (Cheeke 1994); this makes them the most efficient users of plant protein, converting 70 to 80% of plant protein into food (Harkness 1990; Harkness & Wagner 1995)."

References

Gidenne T. and F. Lebas, "Feeding behaviour in rabbits" in Feeding in domestic

vertebrates: from structure to behaviour by Vincent L. Bels, pp. 179-194

O'Malley, Bairbre (2005) Clinical Anatomy and Physiology of Exotic Species: Structure and

function of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, 1e Elsevier

Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, Frances Harcourt-BrownOxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann 2001

ISBN 0-7506-4002-2

Notes on Rabbit Internal Medicine, R. Saunders, R. R. Davies, Blackwell Publishers 2005

ISBN 1405115149

Self-Assessment Colour Review of Rabbit Medicine and Surgery, Emma Keeble and Anna

MeredithManson Publishing Ltd, 2006, ISBN-10 1840760729

Ferrets, Rabbits and Rodents: Clinical Medicine and Surgery Includes Sugar Gliders and

Hedgehogs Katherine E. Quesenberry, James W. Carpenter, Peter Quesenberry, Elsevier

Health 2004 ISBN 0721693776

The Nutrition of the Rabbit 2nd Edition (2010), Carlos De Blas, J. Wiseman, CABI

Publishing

Myxomatosis: A History of Pest Control and the Rabbit, I.B. Tauris 2008 ISBN-10

1845115724