This will be a long post, please bare with me. I will try to give as much detail as possible.
I have a 2 year old, female, red-eye-white dwarf (possible Polish/Dwarf cross). I adopted her last December. She lives in my bedroom in a pen that runs the length of the room and about 4-5′ out from the wall. Essentially she has a good chunk of the bedroom for herself. She is fed 1/4 cup Oxbow Adult pellets daily (which she takes about a day and a half to finish). She gets romaine in the evenings and is given unlimited timothy hay. I use Yesterdays News (unscented) paper pellets for litter and the floor is covered with fleece blankets (I have laminate floors).
Since July of this year(2015) she has had several episodes that I could describe as choking. Her first episode (Mid-July) I was not present for, however I did walk in to find her wheezing and making gurgling noises and she had drool dripping from her mouth. We immediately went to the emergency vet, who was not helpful and didn’t even consider choking, sent me home to “keep an eye on her” and chalked it up to nasal discharge from over-stimulation (Pearl had been in a fight with a visiting rabbit about 10-12 hours prior-no wounds, just a scuffle)
The next episode (early October) I was present for, and we were visiting my parents when she began to bob her head, almost like a chicken would. Or imagine when you are dry heaving, that motion you make as your body contracts to heave. (I know rabbits can’t vomit-it just looks like the motion). Her eyes were wide, and then drool started forming. I quickly grabbed her, positioned her for the Heimlich and swung her twice. I set her down and she just cowered while slightly bobbing her head. I kept her tilted forward to help get the drool to pool out instead of back in. She breaths rapid and inhales it. Within a few minutes she was fine. I booked her in to see the vet, but she had another episode within a couple of days…
The third episode (2-3 days after second) I heard before I saw it. I heard the same gurgling sounds and this time I took a video for the vet and then proceeded to do the same thing I during the second episode. She was producing much more saliva this time around and it was a bit longer that she was bobbing her head. I just held her forward and hoped she wouldn’t die in my arms.
Last night was the fourth episode (December 28). I heard the start of the gurgling and I grabbed her, I only attempted to swing her once because I don’t know if it is even something lodged in her mouth. I have a baby aspirator which I used to suction as much of the saliva out of her nose/mouth. She was really struggling this time, with the head bobbing being very prominent and she would tip her head back more than I’ve ever seen. I know she was extremely frightened with me holding her, suctioning her face and the whole situation so I don’t know what part was the actual condition and what part was her stressed out. I kept her close beside and tried to get a good amount of the drool away from her face. She recovered but she had much more drool than I’ve ever seen in the past. We are seeing the vet today (December 29).
Each episode lasts only a few minutes where she is bobbing her head. The drool is what makes her start to gurgle and I can hear her wheezing as shes inhaling it. After several minutes she starts to sound normal, less gurgling and wheezing and she is furiously cleaning her face up. Within 10 minutes shes completely normal and its as if nothing happened. She will even run up for treats and do her usual dance around the pen for them. She doesn’t go and hide afterwards, however last night she seemed more lethargic than usual after. She went to one of her sleeping spots (a blanket over the heat vent) and flopped over and was out cold for a while, which she doesn’t do on a regular basis. She’d get up, rearrange herself and flop over again. She was like that for a good hour and a half to maybe 2 hours after this episode. Eventually she went off and explored and ate her treats, greens, pellets and hay.
Every time I’ve actually been there to see what is happening, she is NOT eating. She grazes when she eats and doesn’t inhale pellets like some rabbits do when they get their food. The last two episodes she was sitting on top of one of the hidey boxes. Its a small cardboard box with a fleece blanket over it. She likes to sit on it and sleep in bunny loaf position. She doesn’t have food on it and I know she was not eating prior to the episodes because I can see/hear her if she is eating.
So my question is, could this be a type of seizure. She looks “present” when its happening. Her eyes are wide and she knows I’m there and will run and try to hide from me if I attempt to get her during an episode. She doesn’t gasp at the air or open her mouth during the episodes, which I’ve seen other videos of rabbits choking and they are ‘biting at the air’. She tucks her head back and bobs it like a chicken. Clear your throat, and the motion your body made, is what she looks like. Chest kind of pushes up and head tucks in slightly.
Has anyone experienced this at all? My vet is at a total loss (not the vet who sent me home, but one of the best vets in the province for rabbits). Without food being present for at least 2 of the episodes, choking is very hard to diagnose.
She has had skull xrays an endoscopy to examine the back of the throat and esophagus and a complete oral exam while under anesthetic to rule out spurs. There were no abnormal findings or anything to suggest she had a deformity, or a spur catching fur/hay which would trail into the throat. We have put her on allergy medications, added air purifiers and stopped the cat from being in the room. She was also put on a regime of Metacam(two weeks) and Panacur (30 days). After the last episode, she didn’t have any fits until the one last night. I have slowly introduced the cat back to the room because they had said the episodes don’t fit the profile of an asthma attack (allergy dx). The last dose of her Panacur was mid-November, so over a month ago.
Any ideas/theories out there? We’ve thought neurological, (EC possibly) but I’m wondering if there is anything else out there, something we don’t normally see. My vet is great and would love any information, (scholarly articles only please) that could suggest the cause of this. I have read that only certain breeds/types have ever presented with absent seizures (not convulsing, just staring). Anything you can think of would really be helpful. I will reiterate, IT IS NOT FOOD RELATED. I have posted in several facebook groups and keep getting “change the food” but its not food, we’ve ruled out food already. Many have suggested a seizure of sorts, so if anyone else out there has had this, or similar, please message me.
Kindest regards,
KP (and Pearl)
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