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Twitching Lots in Sleep - Fitting? U/D Phoned vets & OK.

helgalush

helgalush

Wise Old Thumper
I havent seen this before but Starbuck was sleeping just now and doing a lot of twitching while he was sleeping.

It looked like he was sort of fitting :shock:

I have seen him flinch and twitch just slightly while sleeping - a bit like we do sometimes when we are drifting off to sleep. But this seemed a bit different.

His eyes seemed rolled in to his head and sort of blinking, his mouth was wobbling, his head was back a little, and his paws were flickering quite a bit, especially his back paw which flicked out a few times.

But it was not really bad, all quite subtle.

Has he had a fit? We touched him very gently to wake him up, and he sort of did but was quite sleepy, but then he seemed to miss a breath and not breathe for a few seconds. Then we woke him up properly and he sat up and seems fine.

He even came chasing Daddy for some treats, so we are not worried about him now.

Could he have just been in a deep sleep or do you think he had a mild fit?
 
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It cant hurt to get a vets opinion.
Having worked with folk who have epilepsy, tiredness and taking time to respond can be the norm after a seizure.
I wouldnt have a clue about buns...Obviously no previous history of this happening....I would chat to a vet on the phone at least.
 
He perked up quickly when we offered treats - came hopping halfway down the room for them. I dont know whether it was just normal sleep twitching or something else. He seems perfectly fine now, I dont know if we have overreacted or whether we should be concerned.

Thank you Yvette, we may ring the out of hours vet.
 
Hmmm, as housebunnies, I watch my two sleep alot, especially when the bf is out, I turn the tv off and they snooze for ages.........I have even seen winni in a hen position trying her best NOT to snooze and end up falling on her nose :love: but I have never seen them twitch lots.... Win once twitched and woke herself up and binkied about the place ..... Hmmmm...... I dont know how deep a sleep buns go into.... they are prey animals after all, unless you have one VERY chilled fella !! ;) I would speak to an experienced vet, they may have heard of it before.

Sorry I cant help more!! :wave:
 
Thank you. He is a very chilled out rabbit, he sleeps several times a day and although we usually disturb him and wake him up if we go near, there have been the odd occasions when our presence hasnt woken him up at all - so yes he does sleep deeply at times.

We are ringing the vets now.
 
We have phoned the vets. We have been told to keep an eye on him and if he does it again, particularly if when awake, then we should take him down, otherwise it may be that he was just having a particularly deep sleep or bad dream :( Poor Starby having bad dreams. Dream of carrots next time Starby!

Thanks for your advice everyone.
 
Mr Bubble twitches when he is asleep, pretty much exactly as you described, but his nose twitches like made too. He's done it for ages. The first time totally freaked me out, but I'm more used to it now.

When he's doing it, he starts to fall over onto his side too, makes it even more scary.

He never does it when awake, and is fine otherwise, so I assume he is just having a dream or something.
 
Mr Bubble!! What a cute name!! :love:

Yeah I suspect we have just not seen it or noticed it before - the vets seemed to think it was reasonably 'normal' and said the fact he was back to his normal self straight after was good. They would be concerned if he did it when he was awake or I guess if it was very bad, I have to say my heart was pumping anyway!!
 
Thanks. Mr Bubble is his official name. He gets called allsorts though :lol:

He's 5 now and every time he does it I'm worried that he will be breathing his last breath :oops:.

I used to rush over to the cage to make sure I could waken him. He was not amused :lol:
 
Wesley scares the life out of me when he is sleeping sometimes as his head will twist right back and his legs start twitching. But I have seen many bunny fits and they have all been wide awake when the fits start and there is often quite a lot of body twisting rather than just twitching and they can go quite stiff rather than floppy.

Hopefully it is nothing to worry about and he was just having a very nice dream :D
 
Hugo's There said:
Wesley scares the life out of me when he is sleeping sometimes as his head will twist right back and his legs start twitching. But I have seen many bunny fits and they have all been wide awake when the fits start and there is often quite a lot of body twisting rather than just twitching and they can go quite stiff rather than floppy.

Hopefully it is nothing to worry about and he was just having a very nice dream :D
Click to expand...

I agree. Sounds like a dream to me. Poppy has them just like you describe Helen. I don't think they are bad dreams either.... more 'running in a meadow' type dreams. :D Everything you described Poppy has done when having full on REM sleep. As Liz says, unless bun is awake I would be surprised if it was a fit.
 
Thanks everyone for explaining more about it. It must be so scary Liz when they do fit. :( Sounds awful. The vet nurse said it was more that if it happened when he was awake.

Yes I hope it was a nice running through the meadows dream. :D I've just never seen him do that before, his mouth was quivering and everything.

But yes everything is fine and I was probably being a hypochondriac as usual! :lol::lol::oops:
 
helgalush said:
Thanks everyone for explaining more about it. It must be so scary Liz when they do fit. :( Sounds awful. The vet nurse said it was more that if it happened when he was awake.

Yes I hope it was a nice running through the meadows dream. :D I've just never seen him do that before, his mouth was quivering and everything.

But yes everything is fine and I was probably being a hypochondriac as usual! :lol::lol::oops:
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with being on the ball!!!!!!:wave::wave:
 
French lops seem to do it more intensely than my dwarves ever did.Think Barley's head is going to fall off!!:lol:
 
Hugo's There said:
Wesley scares the life out of me when he is sleeping sometimes as his head will twist right back and his legs start twitching. But I have seen many bunny fits and they have all been wide awake when the fits start and there is often quite a lot of body twisting rather than just twitching and they can go quite stiff rather than floppy.

Hopefully it is nothing to worry about and he was just having a very nice dream :D
Click to expand...

I agree with Hugo's There. When Bindi has fitted she has been awake, and she's bent her whole body backwards so who knows how contorted a spine she gets during them. Her feet clench and unclench too, and she tends to bite/chew the ground and what ever she is lying on. They aren't a pleasant thing to see, I have one on video on the other computer. I've not managed to bring her out of one by touching her either, I think like humans you just have to monitor, and make sure they are safe and time it. It also takes her a little bit of time to come around properly, so I reckon starbuck was probably just having a fun binky filled dream!

(hehe this response is more than 10 hours after the others, oops, blame work)
 
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