It sounds like she has a cold. She’ll need to see a vet and the sooner the better. Since Rabbits are prey animals they hide thier illnesses until they are very sick….So it’s imperative she see a rabbit vet as soon as you can. Do you have a vet yet?

Hi Apryl. I know that bunnies can hiccup from time to time. Is that more like the sound she makes? Mine makes a cough like sound/looks like a spasm/cough if that makes sense. This normally happens when shes eating cecotrophs.

Do you have a vet for her yet? It’s really important to have a bunny vet lined up because bunnies can get ill very quickly. If you already have a vet, you can ring and ask them if it’s anything to worry about.

Welcome here! I’m sure some very experienced bunny people will be along soon to help with this.

EDIT: Like K&K (experienced!)  must have posted at same time!

Welcome Apryl. I triple ditto. Rabbits can get respitory infections, and sneezing/coughing can be part of that. Coughing in a bunny is like a really hard sneeze. It’s hard to tell it’s a “cough” because it sounds so much like a sneeze. But either way, finding a rabbit savvy vet is important. Better to establish with one now anyway since you recently got her.

I don’t know where you live, but check out HRS’s vet list – a good place to start – http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html
And here is a great article about how to find a rabbit savvy vet – http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html

welcome here. not to sound redundant… but i think she needs to see a vet. this is a good thing to do anyways with a new bunny, have an initial visit with a rabbit vet. tell us a little more about her too. what kind of housing does she have (indoors or out?), is she litterbox trained, what does her diet consist of? do you know how old she is?

Loopy used to sneeze a lot when he first came home. The vet put him on Baytril. To me it sounded like it had turned into a cough. I couldn’t be sure. HE took his baytril and the sneezing stopped. Unless he got really hyper.  Otherwise he was fine.  The Baytril cleared up whatever it was. So to play it safe a vet check is a good idea. You just never know with buns.

Just a suggestion -is there anything around the area that could be making the room(s) dusty or just releasing other various airborne particles? Whenever I REALLY let my room go for a while, I found that Binkles would go into little sneezing fits. This was always a sign that I really needed to shape things up! And when everything was clean, the sneezing would stop.

If it’s new could she be overheating? Aside from a cold and hiccups, bunnies breath heavily when hot– maybe that’s what she’s doing?

keep us posted!

If you’d like to tell us approximately where you live (ie. what city) Its almost a guarantee that one of us lives close and can recommend a vet-if not we can help find some recommended ones from other rabbit people.

Vet vet vet!!!! Also, what kind of bedding do you have her in? What kind of bedding did they have where you got her from? I’ve seen small animals do that when they’re exposed to pine chips. Also, is there a lot of dirt/dust in the air in the room where you have her? If its a really dusty room, it could be as simple as that. Definately see a vet to find out for sure.

Oh, that’s great you are switching.  Pine shavings emit certain phenols which can cause liver damage overtime.  But there are many pine PELLETed litters that are okay, like feline pine and even many woodstove pellets becaue the harmful oils/phenols are dried out during processing.

Below is a great link for NJ vets, and be sure to click on the section in the article where it says “ask the right questions” .  Very important.

http://www.njhrs.com/vet.htm

Keep us updated.