Objective To establish a rabbit model of carotid atherosclerotic plaque by puncturing from central artery of rabbit ear and high-fat diet. Methods All rabbit were fed with high-fat diet for 4 weeks. By puncturing from central artery of rabbit ear, the balloon was inflated to injury intima of carotied artery and then followed with 8 weeks of high-fat diet. The right common carotid artery which damaged by balloon catheter were defined as experimental group and the left common carotid artery as self-control group. MRI and histopathology were used to evaluate common cervical artery lesions in rabbits. Results The success rate of modeling was 85. 0%. On MRI scan image, the wall of carotid artery in the experimental group was thickened and obviously strengthened, while there was no thickening of carotid artery wall in the control group, and no obvious enhancement was observed. In the experimental group, the intima of the common carotid artery wall presented the pathological manifestations of atherosclerotic plaques. In the control group, the inner membrane of carotid artery wall was normal. Conclusions A rabbit model of carotid atherosclerosis was successfully constructed with balloon injury by puncturing from central artery of rabbit ear accompanied high-fat diet. The modified method have advantages of small trauma, simple operation, strong repeatability, short modeling time and high success rate.