Rabbit repeatedly choking/aspirating

[Mrattle1990]

Radish, our 3 year old female bun, has had several bouts of what I can only describe as choking or aspirating. Her breathing becomes laboured and clear mucus comes out of her nose for about 30 seconds. After a little while of this, she makes a quacky cough noise and acts like nothing ever happened.
On the first occasion, mid August, we rushed her to the emergency vet who told us there was no sign of infection and to just keep an eye on her in case it happened again.
She was fine for about a month until it happened again on a Saturday night and then again on Sunday morning. We then took her to the vet again who suggested it might be caused by ear mites which she had picked up. She got treatment for this and metacam to ease any pain from the mites.
Two weeks later she visited the vet again for some more mite treatment and the vet found a scratch where radish had been at the mites so was put on antibiotics just in case.
Since this second visit to the vet there have been 3 more bouts of choking. We don’t know what is causing it and it seems like all the treatment has had no affect so far.
I also can’t seem to find any other info on this.
Has anyone had this with their rabbit?

[BinkyBunny]

Do you notice this is happening when your bunny is eating or chewing on something? My bunny Rucy, had tooth issues. Spurs would develop and it would trap food in odd places, which caused some odd behaviors as well. I’m not aware of mites causing a choking/aspirating — did the vet explain why that would actually cause that?

Did the vet look deep into her mouth, throat and around her teeth with a scope? Just to make sure nothing is stuck or caught there?

[Mikey]

Is it possible she as asthma? Does this happen around specific scents?

Is it possibly allergies? Is her hay or pellets dusty? Is her living space dusty? Even a little bit of dust can irritate some bunnies. Some bunnies have also been noted as having allergies to specific hay dust (similar to humans, interestingly enough).

[jerseygirl]

That must be so distressing to see. Im glad she is able to at least clear it and doesn’t seem to be affected after.

This page may be of interest to you. It does show a video of a rabbit having episodes like this and lists some things to be investigated. (The video does not autoplay)  Could one of you could briefly film your rabbit also so a vet is able to see exactly what is happening?

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Differential/excessive_en.htm

Im also confused as to why the vet is linking it with ear mites.

[Mrattle1990]

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies.

Sometimes it is just after eating and sometimes it seems to come on out of nowhere.
As for ear mites, vet thought this might possibly cause an ear/nose/throat issue. Also does nees treating anyway. The vet has looked in her mouth and throat with a scope but hasn’t found anything so far.
There is the possibility it could be allergies. Her living area isn’t particularly dusty and hoovering which would kick up the dust doesn’t seem to be a trigger factor.

The linked video is exactly what it’s like apart from the mucus being clear instead of green.

Saw the vet today, continuing with the metacam and having an overnight stay and a consultation with another vet to see if we can find the problem.

[AZ485]

Hey! I saw this post as I was looking for information for my little guy. Did you ever find any resolution for you bun? Our bunny Louis has had almost the exact same thing happen to him recently and we (and his vet) are currently trying to find what the cause may be.

I came across this post and wonder if you ever found what the cause was?

Thanks in advance!

[Bam]

Hi Az485!

This thread is rather old, and the original poster is no longer active on the forums. It’d be great if you started a thread of you own on this topic, with some details about your bun and his situation!

(We ask our members to not reopen older threads, since medical information gets outdated really quickly. )

I’m locking this thread now.

[Author]

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