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Choking rabbit experiences?

H

hot knox buns

Young Bun
Please share. My old lady disabled bun is slowly going downhill. Tonight she choked on a pellet. It was bad enough that I had to do the Heimlich on her. Which is not good, as she is disabled and usually painful when I have to pick her up. Anyways, she was leaning way back and her eyes were bulging, so we did the Heimlich and she gagged up a bunch of fluid and a pellet. She has never choked on anything before that I am aware of. I called the vet, and the closest rabbit vet is at least an hour away. She is stable now, so I am going to watch her overnight and take her in tomorrow, unless she has any more problems tonight.

So what are your experiences with this? How long until you offer them food again? I'd like to give her some tramadol, but I'm not sure about food for a little bit. What about water? I've never seen a rabbit choke before, let alone throw anything up! (I know that they cannot do this) My poor girl.
 
Is she still expelling fluid/retching, does her nose/throat still sound like it's raspy or gurgly, and how is her breathing now?

When it has happened with me I have initially taken the food away, until he seems more settled. She will definitely still need to see a vet as she may have gotten fluid on her lungs. :(
 
Yes, she is breathing fine now and not making noises anymore. They stopped as soon as she got everything up. We are going in later this morning. I read up more about it last night, and it seems pellets are a common cause for choking, so we pulled those. This morning I am reintroducing hay and greens. My poor girl. :(
 
That's great news, glad to hear she is doing better...it's pretty scary isn't it?

Same thing happened with one of my boys, he's such a greedy little man and try's to down everything at once :roll: So I now hand feed him his pellets, slowly one at a time.
 
You need to get to see a vet tomorrow.
She will need covering antibiotics, and a pain killer.
She could have bruising in her trachea and swelling.
Metacam will be good for the pain and the swelling.
If you don't get to a vet then there is a chance of aspiration pneumonia.

Even if she seems ok just now, vets in the morning is a must.

When Parsley choked he was limp in my arms and I managed to do the bunny heimlich, which is slightly different to the human heimlich.
Gives info on how to do one in this thread http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?374912-Rabbit-Choking-101

I rushed him to the emergency vet even though he seemed fine after he got rid of the mucuos.
I had a painkilling injection, antibiotic and gut stimulant while I was there.
Then got the baytril, metacam, and I already had plenty of emeprid(gut stimulant) in the house.
I got a weeks course of baytril.

I have noticed that since this choking episode that Parsley now has a noise he makes when he is in a deep sleep, kinda like a wheeze.
I think this is potentialy damage from his choke, as he never did it before :(
Make sure to give your bunny plenty of hay to keep her gut moving through the night xxxx
 
hot knox buns said:
Yes, she is breathing fine now and not making noises anymore. They stopped as soon as she got everything up. We are going in later this morning. I read up more about it last night, and it seems pellets are a common cause for choking, so we pulled those. This morning I am reintroducing hay and greens. My poor girl. :(
Click to expand...

I stopped feeding Parsley pellets after his choking episode, I now have him on Chudsleys Rabbit Royale.
But I have found the pets at home pellets are nice and big, compared to the burgess ones, and I have fed him a few of these with no problems.
So I may move him onto the pets at home pellets with a little bit of RR mixed in.
 
My Mr Bubble choked. I had to rush him to the emergency vet because the mucus just kept coming, and he couldn't breathe properly. Unfortunately the vet is 12 miles away and the only way to get him there was by taxi. They rushed him straight into an oxygen tent and just left him there. Once he could breathe better they done a couple to x-rays, without sedation as he was still quiet, just to check his lungs were fine, and that there was no tumor in his windpipe.

He was on Septrin for 10 days in case of aspiration pneumonia and metacam to help with swelling.

It was an ss pellet he choked on. He had only been on them a couple of months, taking Rabbit Royale until then. Now he is back on the Rabbit Royale and is managing much better.
 
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