Choking?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Bindi gave me a horrible scare last night. I was in the rabbit room while they ate their bedtime snack (lettuce and a few pellets sprinkled all over the cage). All of a sudden, Bindi stopped eating, started drooling really bad and ran in his house. I went to check on him but he wouldn’t let me touch him, he was swallowing really loud and repeatedly and had a very strange look on his face. I thought he was choking. I was terrified and I felt so helpless. After a few minutes, he went right back to eating. It was really weird and scary. Any idea what this could be? He never drools when he eats. Can bunnies choke? I suspect he maybe had a piece of pellet stuck in his throat or something.

[Sarita]

Makes me wonder if he had some dental issues.

[LBJ10]

I used to have chinchillas and they could choke. It would happen because they would be eating pellets too fast, taking in more than one at a time. Perhaps he was excited and inhaled too many at a time? Or maybe the pellets got wet and mushy when he was chewing them and he got a glob right in the back of his throat? I don’t know, I’ve never had experience with this in my buns. I wouldn’t think it would be a teeth issue though unless it was happening frequently.

[Huckleberry]

Oh no! Im glad he is ok. That is really scary.

[KatnipCrzy]

Makes me wonder also about choke. I would recommend when you feed pellets or hard treats for the next couple of days to make sure that you have time to watch and see any reactions when eating or after eating. Hopefully it was just a one time incident from eating too fast. Drooling could be the bodies natural defense to dislodge whatever is stuck- could be in throat, cheek or maybe anywhere else in mouth that something could have gotten caught.

[RabbitPam]

We had a thread on choking and first aide many months ago here. I’ll try to find it and link it.

[RabbitPam]

Yep, found it. There were a couple of links, but I think this one, copied here, is useful. It is written in reply to an inquiry. It’s Dr. Dana Krempels, whose expertise we often find helpful here:

Answer
Dear …,

Rabbits do not have a vomit reflex, but they can choke on their food with the result you saw here.  I hope he’s okay now!  If his nose was pointed in the air, then his airway was blocked, and he was trying desperately to get oxygen.

When this happens, and if the rabbit cannot clear his own airway, then the only way to save his life is with the “rabbit Heimlich maneuver” which is difficult to safely perform.  I know it’s too late now, but if this ever happens again (not likely, I hope!), you must take the rabbit and firmly align him between your forearms so that his neck and spine are absolutely immobilized.  Swing your arms upward (rabbit nose pointing to the sky), and then smoothly (not *too* fast) swing them down, being extremely careful not to allow the bunny to hit the floor!

Again, it is *vital* to have the neck and back completely immobilized so that the force of the swing doesn’t break the delicate back!

The centripetal force of the swing will push the bunny’s internal organs forward, forcing air out of the lungs, and (hopefully) clearing the rabbit’s trachea.  We have had to do this only a couple of times, and it is very traumatic, sometimes requiring 2-3 swings before the bunny can breathe again.

Once the bunny can breathe, it’s important to schedule a veterinary appointment as soon as possible, since aspiration pneumonia can result from an episode like this.

I hope your little bunny recovered from this terrifying incident, and that you’ll never need the instructions above again.

Take care,

Dana

[mocha200]

I know cats are different then rabbits but about a week ago our kitten swallowed something ( she is worse than a 2 year old ) and it got stuck and she started drooling all over. It was really scary. she is fine now but still eats every thing including the bunny’s veggies.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Well he does get incredibly excited and eats really fast. I suspect he ate more than one pellet at once. At night I sprinkle the pellets all over so they can forage and have something to do but he just goes bananas because he can’t find them fast enough.

Pam: thanks for posting that. Sounds extremely hard to do. I wish there was a picture or a drawing.

[Author]

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