Background: Animal models are important tools needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the progression of renal disease and to implement new therapeutic approaches. A non-surgical model of chronic kidney disease (CKD) developed by chemical nephrectomy using an adenine-enriched diet has been shown to be a robust model to induce kidney failure in mice and rats. The purpose of this study was to implement an adenine diet to induce CKD in rabbits. Methods: Male New Zealand rabbits were fed for 4 weeks with a diet containing 0.75% (w/w) adenine, and renal function was assessed by measuring plasma urea and creatinine concentrations. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured using the plasmatic clearance of lohexol. Kidney histology was performed with haematoxylin erythrosine saffron and Sirius red staining. Results: In contrast to what was observed in rodents, adenine diet failed to induce kidney failure in rabbits as is evident in the plasma concentrations of creatinine and urea and the direct measurement of GFR or histopathological studies. Conclusion: Adenine diet is not a surrogate of subtotal nephrectomy to induce kidney failure in rabbits. Several interspecies differences in metabolism and renal physiology could account for this observation.