Abstract
BackgroundWhile ectopic pregnancies account for 1–2% of all pregnancies, abdominal pregnancy is extremely rare, accounting for approximately 1% of ectopic pregnancies. Extrauterine abdominal pregnancy is defined as the implantation and development of an embryo in the peritoneal cavity. The present report is the first of an incidental case of abdominal pregnancy within four full-term foetus simultaneously with 2 weeks of physiological gestation in a healthy doe rabbit.Case presentationThe doe was born on November 3, 2014 and the first partum took place on May 18, 2015. The doe had previously delivered and weaned an average of 12.0 ± 1.41 live kits at birth (no stillbirths were recorded) during 5 consecutive pregnancies. The last mating was on December 18, 2015 and the detection of pregnancy failure post breeding (by abdominal palpation) on December 31, 2015. Then, the doe was artificially inseminated on January 27, 2016, diagnosed pregnant on February 11, 2016 and subsequently euthanized to recover the foetus. A ventral midline incision revealed a reproductive tract with 12 implantation sites with 15 days old foetus and 4 term foetus in abdominal cavity. There were two foetus floating on either side of the abdominal cavity and two suspended near the greater curvature of the stomach. They were attached to internal organs by means of one or 2 thread-like blood vessels that linked them to the abdominal surfaces.ConclusionsIn our opinion a systematic monitoring of rabbit breeding should be included to fully understand and enhance current knowledge of this phenomenon of abdominal pregnancy.
Highlights
To satisfy the demand for rabbit meat, mainly in Mediterranean countries, breeders have developed an intensive and rationalized rabbit production system based on selected crossbred lines and specific reproductive management
Marco-Jiménez et al BMC Veterinary Research (2017) 13:307 belonging to the Animal Science Department of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain)
The current report illustrates a case of primary form of abdominal pregnancy within full-term foetus simultaneously with 2 weeks of physiological gestation.To the best of our knowledge, only one report has found one animal with natural gestation and abdominal pregnancy at the same time in rabbit [3], but the status of the foetus was unknown
Summary
To satisfy the demand for rabbit meat, mainly in Mediterranean countries, breeders have developed an intensive and rationalized rabbit production system based on selected crossbred lines and specific reproductive management. Setting up rabbit production systems has allowed researchers to observe or describe pathologies previously unknown in non-intensive rabbit farms [3] resulting in a high replacement rate (i.e. around 10% per month, [4]). Marco-Jiménez et al BMC Veterinary Research (2017) 13:307 belonging to the Animal Science Department of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain) This line was established between 2002 and 2003 by applying a very high selection intensity (i.e. two to five females were selected from 1,000) to obtain females with a long reproductive lifespan (i.e. at least 25 parturitions averaging a minimum of 7.5 live born kits per parturition) [6], which led to very robust females [7].
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