For veterinary professionals
October 2026
Keeping up with the rabbit, ferret and guinea pig literature is hard when you're also running a full appointment book. This quarter brought seven papers that touch on things we encounter in practice all the time, from how we restrain rabbits for CT to which antibiotic we reach for in a guinea pig with hematuria. Each summary is based on the published abstract, so treat these as starting points to look into rather than settled protocols. Where a paper lines up with what I see in my own practice, I've said so and kept that separate from what the study showed.
The "bunny burrito" for conscious CT. Liu and colleagues compared towel-wrap restraint with a plexiglass chamber and with sedation in 93 client-owned rabbits. The burrito produced fewer motion artifacts and better positioning for dental studies than the chamber, with image quality that looked similar to sedation and no complications. For head and dental CT, a well-done burrito may let some rabbits skip sedation altogether.
Jaw fractures are bigger than they look. In a CT series of 21 rabbits with head trauma (Charrasse et al.), most had mandibular ramus fractures, concurrent fractures were common, and many of the injuries were accidental, trauma at home. Malocclusion of the incisors or cheek teeth developed often during follow-up. The takeaway for me is to image head trauma properly, plan long-term dental rechecks, and treat this as a potential chronic pain problem rather than only an acute injury.
Bulla ultrasound without sedation. Tur and colleagues used CT as the reference standard in 15 rabbits and found that ultrasound could evaluate nearly every tympanic bulla in under ten minutes per rabbit, with moderate agreement. It looks like a reasonable sedation-free first screen for otitis media, with CT kept for equivocal cases and surgical planning.
Gonioimplants for refractory glaucoma. A small series of six rabbits (Boo) found that Ahmed valve implants lowered intraocular pressure and preserved vision over the follow-up period, with Holland lops overrepresented. The number of glaucoma medications needed fell only modestly. It's a useful conversation to have with an ophthalmologist for lops whose glaucoma isn't controlled medically.
Urethral obstruction outcomes are better than euthanasia rates suggest. In 68 ferrets (O'Malley et al.), urolithiasis was the leading cause, followed by adrenal-associated prostatic disease. A large share were euthanized at presentation, yet the great majority of those treated survived to discharge, although complications and recurrence were not rare. Numbers like these can help families before they decide. Diet history is worth taking too, since plant-protein-heavy diets have been associated with stone formation in ferrets.
Glucometers and hypoglycemia. In our study of 24 ferrets, no meter classified hypoglycemia perfectly against a chemistry analyzer, and the human meter performed worst. I'm a coauthor, and there's a full summary here. In short, confirm low or borderline meter readings before acting on them.
What's actually growing. Martinson and Mans reviewed 112 isolates from 63 ill guinea pigs. Corynebacterium dominated urinary isolates, and only about half of urinary isolates were susceptible to TMS. There's a full summary here. The practical message is to culture, ideally by cystocentesis, before relying on empiric choices, and not to make fluoroquinolones the empiric default in guinea pigs without sepsis.
None of these papers is a reason to overhaul a protocol overnight. Three themes stand out, though: lower-stress imaging is increasingly realistic for rabbits, point-of-care numbers deserve a second look near decision thresholds, and culture beats habit for urinary infections. They're worth keeping in mind the next time one of these cases comes through the door.
If one of these papers raises a question about a rabbit, ferret or guinea pig you're managing, reach out to Nashville's exotic companion mammal specialist. Dr. Logan Kopp, DABVP (Exotic Companion Mammal Practice), sees referrals and colleague consults at Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital, (615) 361-4646. Referral details are on the referring veterinarians page.
This content is for educational purposes for veterinary professionals. It doesn't establish a VCPR or replace clinical judgment for an individual patient. Drug use and doses should be checked against current references and adjusted for each case.