Occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in slaughter rabbits

Abstract The aim of the study was to determine the occur-rence of gastrointestinal parasites in slaughter rabbits man-aged in small scale farms and under industrial farming system. The research material included intestines and livers of rabbits slaughtered between years 2007 and 2011. The rabbit car-casses submitted to parasitological examination had passed the sanitary veterinary inspection as fit for human consump-tion. The samples were collected in spring and autumn sea-sons. The studies showed no effect of a rabbit farming system, season of the year, or differences in an invasion type in each year. The parasitological test recognized exclusively mixed infestation diagnosed in 79.56 % of the studied animals. Parasitological evaluation of the rabbit internal organs identi-fied the invasions of coccidia (78.83 %), nematoda (16.42 %), cestoda (0.72 %), and cysticerci Cysticercus pisiformis (4.74 %). Coccidian invasions found in intestines were dom-inant, and their prevalence reached 56.48 %, while the hepatic coccidian extensity was markedly lower, i.e., 3.34 % of the examined rabbits. Invasions were characterized by low inten-sity. The studies recognized invasions of nematoda (Obel iscoides cunicul i, Graphidium str igosum