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Bunny with hiccups - Tumour? Heart condition?

M

MoBunny

Warren Scout
Hi,

My netherland dwarf who is 9 1/2 years old has hiccups (sp) most of the time. He is otherwise well eating,pooing and running around. This has been going on for a few days and its not normal.

I have a vets appointment for tom and have done some research and one of the causes appears to be gas or an enlarged heart,tumor.

Has anyone had this before and give me any advice what to ask, treatments possible or test that could confirm.

I must stress that he appears really well but it would drive me mad if it was me.

Thanks in advance
 
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I've never had a bun with persistent hiccups but I did have a rat which got them all the time. I never heard that it could be a heart condition or anything serious..I just figured he was prone to it. I never had any problems with the rat and he lived to the ripe old age of 3 and a half! Of course rats and buns are very different but neither can actually vomit so could be some similarities in that area?
 
I had an elderly cat Persia who appeared to be hiccupping so after a few hours of it not settling I took her to the vet. The vet ran some checks that Saturday afternoon / evening and diagnosed kidney failure and recommended having Persia put to sleep which I refused to accept as my cat appeared happy and healthy apart from the hiccups. I took Persia home and I asked for a second opinion. The following day she was still hiccuping and becoming distressed by it so back to the vet and she was kept in overnight on a drip until my regular vet examined her on the Monday. Unfortunately the first vet was right and my beautiful cat was put to sleep that day. We'd had her after rescuing her from a gang of boys who had been stoning her years previously. It was heartbreaking, she was about 14 and I still think of being sat on the kitchen floor talking to her when I first noticed the hiccups.

It may be something totally different with your bun but it may also be worth asking about his kidneys being checked as it is better to check all possibilities, then you have the chance of getting them better.

Good luck, let us all know how it goes.xx
 
It can be a symptom of a mass in the chest cavity

Do you notice that your Rabbit's third eyelid is more visible than usual or that his eyes appear to bulge a bit, especially when stressed-eg when being picked up ?

I would definitely get him to your Vet ASAP

Good Luck
 
Hi,

Went to the vets this morning he checked his chest and breathing and said it seemed fine but gave me a course of baytril. If there is no change he suggested doing an xray to see what shows up if anything.

He is still hiccuping more when he is relaxed, typical he did not do it in the vests.

Jane his eyes look fine and apart from the hiccups he appears to be very well for his age.

I'm thinking mass putting pressure on his diafram but only time will tell. I'll give it a few days with the anti biotics and then go for the xray.

I will let you know what happens

Fingers crossed
 
MoBunny said:
Hi,

Went to the vets this morning he checked his chest and breathing and said it seemed fine but gave me a course of baytril. If there is no change he suggested doing an xray to see what shows up if anything.

He is still hiccuping more when he is relaxed, typical he did not do it in the vests.

Jane his eyes look fine and apart from the hiccups he appears to be very well for his age.

I'm thinking mass putting pressure on his diafram but only time will tell. I'll give it a few days with the anti biotics and then go for the xray.

I will let you know what happens

Fingers crossed
Click to expand...

Hope all will be OK for him xx
 
Our elderly dutch X nethie Sweet Pea had this. He was about 9 when he first got it. It was diagnosed as due to his sphincter [?] muscles that stop buns vomiting starting to no longer be fully functioning. He also brought half digested food up a couple of times (this was a pretty worrying thing - we had to give him help to stop it cloggng his nasal passages or him breathing it back in and aspirating on the lungs).

The vet gave a low dose of gut stimulant (cant recall whether it was metaclopromide or other - think it was metaclopromide) to keep the muscles moving the right way - and we would give him that at nights (when the food problem happened) and that solved it.
 
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