Epidemiology and economic benefits of treating rabbits coccidiosis in small farms from West Pomerania province, Poland.

The studies were carried out on 9 farms which deals with meat race of rabbits breeding. The basic herds had from 28 to 63 rabbits (total 275 rabbits) on Choszczno and Recz district in West Pomerania province. The study was based on two flotation methods:Willis-Schlaaf for qualitative and McMaster for quantitative analysis, which helped to establish the number of oocysts in 1g of feces (OPG). Ten species of coccidian were found in which 9 were intestinal (E. exigua, E. perforans, E. media, E. magna, E. irresidua, E. coecicola, E. flavescens, E. piriformis, E. intestinalis) and one was living in liver (E. stiedai). Baycox (Bayer) was used in drinking water in a dose of 25 ppm in 1 liter of water for 2 days. In rabbits from the experimental groups higher weight gain and lower mortality compared to the control group animals were observed. The results highlight the beneficial effects of coccidiostats used in the production effects in rabbits.