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- This topic has 9sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 1 month ago by
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Little-Bit choked a little when I gave her her pellets this morning. She was fine and managed to spit out the pellets -it wasn’t a complete blockage or anything and she never actually gagged- but it was rattling as it has never happened to me before.
She is a very voracious eater, especially since I only give her about a teaspoonfull of pellets a day, so I suppose it was bound to happen at some point. She was eating behind me and then I began to hear her chewing more slopilly, almost as if she was eating something semi-fluid. When I turned around he stopped eating and began to make a really quiet strong breathe-out noise, almost like a sneeze but more prolonged. She hopped over to the side in distress and kept making the noise, pawing at her face, and hopped around a few more times pawing and retreated underneath my bed. I followed her and by the time I got down on the ground she had stopped making the noise and seemed to be recovering. She came over to see me with that ‘what?’ look on her face and dove back into her food bowl (which I immediately confiscated..).
I’ve heard of bunnies being over-enthusiastic about eating and choking as a result and knew this could happen, but I just wanted to verify with everyone that it is okay to continue feeding her pellets.
Is this something that just….happens on a rare occasion? I’ve read that choking can be due to teeth problems, but I checked her incisors and everything seemed fine. Did she just get too excited about eating? -
Somebody posted a ‘bunny Heimlich’ instruction video on here once, but I am not sure even if I were capable of doing it that I would try it. 0_o
You poor thing, that must have been terrifying! (((((((((hugs)))))))))) But yes, scattering the pellets or placing them in something she has to maneuver to get them out of (like a Kong) has been suggested here before. I saw Pip kind of gag on them once, so I just stopped feeding them. Both she and Fiver get poopy butt now if they have them, so it was worth giving them up anyway.
I think as long as Little Bit has enough hay and veggies to eat, she could do without the pellets.
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Awww scary!!!
I don’t think rabbits can gag-they don’t have the throat muscles needed to throw up and gagging is a part of that sytem, but choking would be so scary.
How do you feed her pelllets? Could you scatter them, or put them in a folded towel so she has to dig? Or in a pellet dispenser? Just to slow her down
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I use something like this just as a toy. You could use this or something similar.
(This one was posted by a member. From drsfostersmith.com)You can twist the dial to make the opening smaller. Jersey has a great time nosing one of these around when I put pellets in it.
You can also get her foraging for her pellets, even scattered amongst strips of newspaper. Someone posted in the toy section an egg carton with some hole cut out the top. They put treats or pellets in it, tied it shut and let the bun toss and flip it to get the goodies out.
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