ArticleFrontiers in veterinary science2026
When touch is stressful: acute endocrine and behavioral responses of domestic rabbits to unfamiliar human handling.
Article in Frontiers in veterinary science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Infrared Thermal Imaging and Blood and Faecal Cortisol Measurements for Stress Assessment in Rabbits During Blood Sampling.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Methodological differences in fecal corticosterone metabolite extraction in pet rabbits: implications for welfare assessment.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Crossing the comfort zone: rabbit appeasing pheromone enhances acclimation to a novel environment.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Rabbits are increasingly kept as companion animals, yet little is known about their stress responses during interactions with unfamiliar humans-situations commonly encountered during household visits or animal-assisted interventions. This study evaluated whether tactile interaction with an unfamiliar person induced acute stress in domestic rabbits using physiological (salivary corticosterone) and behavioral indicators (ear position, eye openness, and body posture). Methods: Seven adult, intact female dwarf rabbits were each exposed five times to a 10-min stroking session while sitting on an unfamiliar person's lap, simulating a typical human- rabbit interaction. Salivary corticosterone was measured under control conditions (no stroking) and experimental conditions (20 min post-interaction), while behavior was recorded during the stroking period. Results: Tactile interaction with an unfamiliar person resulted in a significant increase in corticosterone concentrations (mean +214.4 ± 74.1%, Conclusion: These results indicate that handling by an unfamiliar person elicits acute stress responses in rabbits and should be considered when interacting with rabbits.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.