FAO Those Who Have Experienced a Choking Rabbit

[cpayne]

I've started the vetcare digestive formula with Doughnut. She certainly isn't that interested in them but eats them if there is nothing else. She does prefer the normal SS pellets but will phase these out eventually.

The are a lot longer and also break really easy, so can't see her choking on these.

Supreme have sent me a sample of Fibrafirst, which is the same sort of thing but longer.

 

[Gem]

Blue bunny choked on his pellets last night Most terrifying thing I've ever dealt with

He was eating SS pellets, he has no other health problems but is a fast eater.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Blue bunny choked on his pellets last night Most terrifying thing I've ever dealt with

He was eating SS pellets, he has no other health problems but is a fast eater.

......... and another one

I hope he is OK now xx

 

[weedug]

I hope he is ok now and that you have both got over the shock

 

[Gemmapookie]

Another one :shock:

 

[Georgeypudding]

Hiya guys, I'm currently half way through writing a big post on what to do when a rabbit chokes for the forum (am going to consult with my vet). As I have never experienced a choke myself would anyone be willing to message me quickly to say what the signs were? :wave:

 

[natsusakura]

You can't miss them choking, parsley was pointing his nose in the air to breath, and hopped funny, with his head to the side, and then he made a gurgling choking noise.
If you search bunny Heimlich it kinda describes what I did with parsley.
My vet informed burgess of what happened and I've to contact them ill be doing it on Monday.
I think everyone should contact the manufacturers to let them know, so there can maybe be a warning to supervise your buns while eating or something. If id been out the room.. It doesn't bear thinking about.

 

[weedug]

My bun started pawing at his face, and was making a lot of gurgling sounds. He started hopping about, stopping every so often to paw his face. Then he would put his nose in the air again. And there was loads of clear fluid bubbling out his nose, and out his mouth. I was frantically trying to wipe it, but more kept coming .

He started moving about less and less, and I really thought he was going to die .

That's when I picked him up, thinking if I was going to lose him, then I would let him know I was there. Felt I had nothing to lose, so cradled him in my arms, and sort of tipped him so he had his head down (so I was sitting at an angle). Done a couple of little up and down movements with him then (don't know if that was wrong), and even more fluid came out. Done that a few times then bundled him in the taxi and off to the emergency vet, where they rushed him to the oxygen tent and then came back to speak to me.

Sorry, that was a bit long . I too hate to think what would have happened had I just fed him and gone straight out somewhere

 

[Santa]

Well IMO there are too many choking incidents involving SS for it to be a 'coincidence' :?

I'm not so sure you know, having looked through this thread there are a number of people whose rabbits have choked on SS, A and P, excel, hay, papaya...all sorts. As SS is the market leader, you'd expect there to be more incidents because more people are feeding it, but the overall rate of choking on ss compared to the numbers feeding it may not be any different.

There might be something in the pellets v non pellets debate, but equally the cohort of owners we have on RU is very different to the population at large; we probably have more housebunny owners here who are more likely to notice anything happening, more people who feed pellets because they understand the issues of selective feeding, more people who only feed a handful of dried food so can watch bunny eat it...all of which mean that overall, the population of RU are perhaps more likely to notice a problem rather than just find a sadly dead bunny, or one that has maybe managed to resolve it on its own.

I'm not dismissing it as non-existent problem, because clearly there are a concerning number of bunnies who have choked...but I do think its dangerous to draw conclusions about which particular foods are causing it from a skewed cohort. If we drew conclusions on the safety of things based on RU experiences, none of us would have our bunnies neutered or vaccinated because of the concentrated number of people here who have had problems with either of those things.

 

[thumps_]

I'm not so sure you know, having looked through this thread there are a number of people whose rabbits have choked on SS, A and P, excel, hay, papaya...all sorts. As SS is the market leader, you'd expect there to be more incidents because more people are feeding it, but the overall rate of choking on ss compared to the numbers feeding it may not be any different.

There might be something in the pellets v non pellets debate, but equally the cohort of owners we have on RU is very different to the population at large; we probably have more housebunny owners here who are more likely to notice anything happening, more people who feed pellets because they understand the issues of selective feeding, more people who only feed a handful of dried food so can watch bunny eat it...all of which mean that overall, the population of RU are perhaps more likely to notice a problem rather than just find a sadly dead bunny, or one that has maybe managed to resolve it on its own.

I'm not dismissing it as non-existent problem, because clearly there are a concerning number of bunnies who have choked...but I do think its dangerous to draw conclusions about which particular foods are causing it from a skewed cohort. If we drew conclusions on the safety of things based on RU experiences, none of us would have our bunnies neutered or vaccinated because of the concentrated number of people here who have had problems with either of those things.

We can't do a statistical analysis on RU. for exactly those reasons. We don't know whether 1 in 100,000 bunnies choke or 1 in 100. Those are the essential figures a company would want to know before changing it's manufacturing techniques.
I would like to know whether there has been a change in the length of pellets over the last 3 years or so, as this might be very easy to change.
I have 2 reasons for wondering this.
a) When Pretty lupin's Poppy choked on some leaves/apple about 3 years ago no one seemed to have experience of a rabbit choking.
b) For some inexplicable reason, Benjie won't eat pellets unless I break them into small pieces for him.

I want to give a public apology to Nessar. I said that Burgess were smaller than other pellets. I only use them for rapidly growing young rabbits then change to SS. The Burgess pellets I used, are for baby rabbits. Those for adult rabbits are just the same size as the rest, as Nessar said.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

I just know that I am not comfortable with feeding SS to my Rabbits. What others choose to do is entirely their decision

 

[Georgeypudding]

My bun started pawing at his face, and was making a lot of gurgling sounds. He started hopping about, stopping every so often to paw his face. Then he would put his nose in the air again. And there was loads of clear fluid bubbling out his nose, and out his mouth. I was frantically trying to wipe it, but more kept coming .

He started moving about less and less, and I really thought he was going to die .

That's when I picked him up, thinking if I was going to lose him, then I would let him know I was there. Felt I had nothing to lose, so cradled him in my arms, and sort of tipped him so he had his head down (so I was sitting at an angle). Done a couple of little up and down movements with him then (don't know if that was wrong), and even more fluid came out. Done that a few times then bundled him in the taxi and off to the emergency vet, where they rushed him to the oxygen tent and then came back to speak to me.

Sorry, that was a bit long . I too hate to think what would have happened had I just fed him and gone straight out somewhere

thankyou

You can't miss them choking, parsley was pointing his nose in the air to breath, and hopped funny, with his head to the side, and then he made a gurgling choking noise.
If you search bunny Heimlich it kinda describes what I did with parsley.
My vet informed burgess of what happened and I've to contact them ill be doing it on Monday.
I think everyone should contact the manufacturers to let them know, so there can maybe be a warning to supervise your buns while eating or something. If id been out the room.. It doesn't bear thinking about.

No I'm sure you can't miss it but its not very helpful to say "You won't miss a choking rabbit" in the post I'm writting as I'm sure some people will have absolutely no idea what their rabbit is doing. I'd probably have been able to guess what it was but it's always nice to see it written down somewhere

 

[Starlight]

I know of an unfortunate bunny who choked whilst eating Wagg Optimum pellets. Unfortunately he passed away as it could not be dislodged in time

 

[natsusakura]

thankyou



No I'm sure you can't miss it but its not very helpful to say "You won't miss a choking rabbit" in the post I'm writting as I'm sure some people will have absolutely no idea what their rabbit is doing. I'd probably have been able to guess what it was but it's always nice to see it written down somewhere

that's why I described what parsley was doing, as once I noticed all the factors I realised what was happening. Sorry I should have worded the post better. I was tired when I wrote that.
How's the post coming along georgey?

 

[bunniesgalore]

This is frightening. Milly is a dental bunny and Rupert a gobbler. What should we feed? Should we not leave food down when we're out/at night? What do we do if choking occurs? I'm really concerned by this as I feed SS.

 

[Georgeypudding]

that's why I described what parsley was doing, as once I noticed all the factors I realised what was happening. Sorry I should have worded the post better. I was tired when I wrote that.
How's the post coming along georgey?

Pretty good, I'm waiting to hear back from my vet and then I can finish it off. Hopefully by the end of the week/start of next :thumb:

 

[Gem]

My bun started pawing at his face, and was making a lot of gurgling sounds. He started hopping about, stopping every so often to paw his face. Then he would put his nose in the air again. And there was loads of clear fluid bubbling out his nose, and out his mouth. I was frantically trying to wipe it, but more kept coming .

This exactly!
Except Blue didn't move that much, it was a very loud wheezing noise as well.

 

[Lady Logamorph]

Bumping this up as my healthy rabbit daisy choked on an Science selective pellet yesterday and luckily survived as my vet is only 10 minutes away. The vet thinks it was due to the long shape of the pellet getting lodged in the food pipe, expanding and pressing on the wind pipe. I will definitely not feed SS anymore and when I feed pellets will scatter them rather than give in a bowl

 

[tulsi]

Bumping this up as my healthy rabbit daisy choked on an Science selective pellet yesterday and luckily survived as my vet is only 10 minutes away. The vet thinks it was due to the long shape of the pellet getting lodged in the food pipe, expanding and pressing on the wind pipe. I will definitely not feed SS anymore and when I feed pellets will scatter them rather than give in a bowl

Agree with this. My lot have rabbit royale (muesli) scatter fed.

 

[bunnybannanas]

What do you do if you see them choking?!