FAO Those Who Have Experienced a Choking Rabbit

[NikkiBaron]

Thank you
So are you trying the Fibrefirst or the vetcare ?
Would be interested to know how you get on.
I know they are more expensive but cheaper than a vet bill surely?

i do need to change as well as one of mine gobbles so badly and seems to suffer afterwards! Bit like humans eating too many chocolates i think!

 

[cpayne]

Like Jane, I'm not willing to risk losing my bun after his choking episode, so I have moved him and all my others back to Rabbit Royale.

I'm sure there are many buns who do fine on ss, but after Mr Bubble choking on one, and almost dying in my arms, I'm not going to risk him or any of my others. I just couldn't go through that again. The sheer panic and feeling so helpless was awful.

The one good thing from changing them over is that they are now eating much slower. I think the variety of sizes slows them down quite a lot. Or it does with mine.

They had been on rr for some years, and I only changed them over a few months before this happened as I thought it would be better for them.

Is the RR bigger or smaller?

I was told because the Fibrafirst and Vetcare is longer it will slow Doughnut down.

 

[NikkiBaron]

Is the RR bigger or smaller?

I was told because the Fibrafirst and Vetcare is longer it will slow Doughnut down.

and are you talking about the Chudley Rabbit Royal or the nuggets or the pellets?

 

[natsusakura]

and are you talking about the Chudley Rabbit Royal or the nuggets or the pellets?

If the chuddley is the RR mix then this is what I will be moving Parsley back onto.

 

[cpayne]

Thank you
So are you trying the Fibrefirst or the vetcare ?
Would be interested to know how you get on.
I know they are more expensive but cheaper than a vet bill surely?

i do need to change as well as one of mine gobbles so badly and seems to suffer afterwards! Bit like humans eating too many chocolates i think!

I do tend to hand feed her most of her morning pellets but while she still has the other one in her mouth she's after the next. Also I've noticed she picks two up, one to munch on and the other at the side of her mouth which moves to the middle when the first has gone!

I'm just swapping her to the Vetcare one. It's being delivered today so will start her off on a couple of them and will end up giving her them at night and the others in the morning hand fed at a slower rate until they are all used up.

Yes that's what I think! I always have infracol in at the ready.

 

[NikkiBaron]

thanks for reple.
Infacol? The stuff you give babies for colic?

The RR mix? Now i am really confused - it says on their website that this is a muesli. i thought this was bad for buns as it encourages selective finding????

Why is this so complicated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cpayne]

Yes you can give rabbits infracol to disperse the gas in their stomachs. The vet advised it for me when she was bloated. They can't overdose on it but I tend to give her a couple of droppers which is 1.00mg and then see how she goes and give her more an hour later if I can still hear the bubbling in her stomach.

I'm lucky she laps it out of her dish, she's very good with all meds. She basically eats everything but fast

 

[NikkiBaron]

i am learning so much today, thank you
Still confused about all the pellets though!

 

[natsusakura]

i am learning so much today, thank you
Still confused about all the pellets though!

The RR muesli is more of a mix.
The buns tend to eat all of it rather than just selectively eat bits.
And instead of being dry its more moist. It actualy smells so nommy You should email them and see if they'll send you out a free sample xx

 

[NikkiBaron]

yes think I will do that thanks

 

[bunnytoes]

My bunny is and has always been a very enthusiastic eater. She gobbles all her food like she hasn't eaten in a week. She started having choking episodes a little over a year ago on pellets and her hay. She is an elderly bun though. I started soaking her pellets everyday to make a mush after her choking episodes became more frequent and scarier but her hay chokes were even worse for her than choking on the pellets. She has not choked once since I started soaking her pellets and hay.

 

[weedug]

Is the RR bigger or smaller?

I was told because the Fibrafirst and Vetcare is longer it will slow Doughnut down.

Most of the Rabbit Royale is smaller than the ss. There is one thing in it that is about the same size, but I break that in half for Mr Bubble.

I feed Chudleys Rabbit Royale, which is a museli. I only feed a small amount though, so it's all eaten. And I do know that the pellets are higher fibre and better for them, but for my buns, pellets aren't better for them if they cause them to choke.

They get high quality hay, readigrass and some good quality veg every night.

I have buns that were knocking back the ss and Excel in a few minutes, and have slowed down now they are back on the RR

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Most of the Rabbit Royale is smaller than the ss. There is one thing in it that is about the same size, but I break that in half for Mr Bubble.

I feed Chudleys Rabbit Royale, which is a museli. I only feed a small amount though, so it's all eaten. And I do know that the pellets are higher fibre and better for them, but for my buns, pellets aren't better for them if they cause them to choke.

They get high quality hay, readigrass and some good quality veg every night.

I have buns that were knocking back the ss and Excel in a few minutes, and have slowed down now they are back on the RR

I think that the variation in size of all the bits of the RR makes a greedy Rabbit more likely to chew before swallowing. I think that if a Rabbit has a mostly hay/grass/edible weeds/veg diet then feeding a small portion of RR which is all eaten is no more likely to cause gut/Dental problems than is over feeding a pellet feed. As you say, for some Rabbits pellets are just not suitable and it is up to the individual carer to decide what is best for the individual Rabbit.

 

[NikkiBaron]

Hey
Did not mean to cause ant offence with the mix comment.
I was just a bit confused with all the stuff being written.
I am a new bunny owner so just trying to learn as much as I can from other more experienced bunny owners.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Hey
Did not mean to cause ant offence with the mix comment.
I was just a bit confused with all the stuff being written.
I am a new bunny owner so just trying to learn as much as I can from other more experienced bunny owners.

I dont think anyone has taken offence, I certainly haven't

 

[natsusakura]

Hey
Did not mean to cause ant offence with the mix comment.
I was just a bit confused with all the stuff being written.
I am a new bunny owner so just trying to learn as much as I can from other more experienced bunny owners.

nah no one's taken offence.
It's good you ask these Q's.
I think there is a bit of a stigma attached to the word muesli, which is why I prefer to think of Rabbit Royale as a mix.
I'd never heard of it before we adopted Parsley and that's what his changeover food was.
Angel is such a picky eater and when she had muesli type feed before she selectivey fed, when presented with the RR she ate everysingle last bit.
Compared to when she was younger and realised that if she ate the bits she liked from the muesli, then tipped the rest out her bowl she'd get more nice sweet bits. :roll:

 

[NikkiBaron]

ok thanks, will stop worrying then.
I am going to have to change to something else for sure.
One of mine is on ss but after eating seems to be in pain for 10 mins or so (gets me all worried) then is fine and causing trouble half and hour later

 

[nessar]

ok thanks, will stop worrying then.
I am going to have to change to something else for sure.
One of mine is on ss but after eating seems to be in pain for 10 mins or so (gets me all worried) then is fine and causing trouble half and hour later

Have you spoken to your vet? Unexplained pain or gut pain should be investigated.

If you are looking for an alternative to pellets, I'd advise trying Supreme's monoforage format foods - I mean the Fibafirst and the VetCare Digestive one, I haven't seen the other VetCare ones to see if they are similar. They are called 'pellets' but they aren't really, they are long, light sticks. My rabbits ate them in a similar fashion to eating hay, you know, when you see it sticking out of their mouths wiggling about, slowly disappearing. The two I have mentioned have a similar fibre content to grass, a rabbit's natural food; fibafirst is 30% and the VetCare Digestive is 32% - grass is generally 29.8% (meadow grass) to 35.6% (orchard grass). You can see the bits of hay in them.

You may get the idea from this thread that museli is better than pellets, but whilst in some individual circumstances it may be better to feed it, as a general rule it is better to stick to higher fibre foods like pellets (the highest fibre museli is 14%) unless there is a specific reason not to.

 

[willowflower27]

ok thanks, will stop worrying then.
I am going to have to change to something else for sure.
One of mine is on ss but after eating seems to be in pain for 10 mins or so (gets me all worried) then is fine and causing trouble half and hour later

This is odd these pellets dud exactly the same to Evan around 10-15 minute after eating he looked like he had gas after he also choked on the new bigger ss pellet I stopped feeding him this food immediately he has a consolidated lung lob so I can't take the risk of another choke

 

[Elena]

:wave: when id mentioned this many members said i was being over dramatic.
I hope those who have lost a bunny or experienced them choking on SS do email them.
I heard nothing back when i lost Brian.

Just a note that sometimes their emails seem to go missing. I had someone email me regarding something they'd sent as I hadn't replied but I never got the email.