“Chirping” sound and what looks like choking?

[BunnyBooty]

So sometimes when I’m next to my bunny and petting her I can hear a sort of “chirping” (that’s the first thing I thought of and can’t find a better way to describe it) sound coming from her head and I’m curious to know what it means. She doesn’t move away or show any change in expression.

Another thing is she sometimes looks like she’s choking when she’s eating her pellets, her body and head jerking as she’s chewing on them. Is this something to be worried about or is she just eating too quickly? I’ve also seen her sneeze three times in a row before but her behaviour seems normal otherwise.

[Bam]

If she eats very fast, I’d scatter her pellets to slow her down. And/or I’d choose bigger pellets. Bunnies can choke if they eat too fast, and that can become very serious, if they breathe food into their lungs. It is a rare occurence, but we have had reports here of it happening. It’s preventable to a great extent.

As for the chirping, it’s difficut to say. My Bam makes some such noises sometimes. Sometimes when he’s eating sth super-delicious like a slice of peach, and sometimes when he’s really scared (at the vet f ex). I have yet to figure out what it means. If she seems comfortable, it’s probably an ok sound. Rabbits can vocalize in a variety of ways, but many rabbits never say anything. They do have the capacity to vocalize though, if a rabbit gets really scared, it can cry out very loudly.

[BunnyBooty]

Posted By bam on 6/24/2017 2:21 AM

If she eats very fast, I’d scatter her pellets to slow her down. And/or I’d choose bigger pellets. Bunnies can choke if they eat too fast, and that can become very serious, if they breathe food into their lungs. It is a rare occurence, but we have had reports here of it happening. It’s preventable to a great extent.

As for the chirping, it’s difficut to say. My Bam makes some such noises sometimes. Sometimes when he’s eating sth super-delicious like a slice of peach, and sometimes when he’s really scared (at the vet f ex). I have yet to figure out what it means. If she seems comfortable, it’s probably an ok sound. Rabbits can vocalize in a variety of ways, but many rabbits never say anything. They do have the capacity to vocalize though, if a rabbit gets really scared, it can cry out very loudly.

Hmm, by scattering do you mean I should feed less pellets at one go? She’s on oxbow young rabbit food and I’m not sure which brand of pellets would be bigger. I paid more attention to her eating and she looks like she’s getting more pellets into her mouth before she’s completely chewed up the ones already in her mouth I tried stopping her by covering part of the food bowl with my hand but she just continued

I’m glad to hear that the chirping I hear isn’t an abnormal sound for a bunny.

[Bam]

By scatter I mean don’t use a bowl but sprinkle the pellets on the cage floor, so she has to look for them. That will slow her down.

[Mikey]

My Blue over eats like that, too. He has choked a few times, but never anything dangerous. He stopped eating so fast when I started doing Bam’s method of scattering the pellets all over the floor instead of in a bowl. Since he had to find each pellet to eat it, it slowed down his intake so he couldnt basically inhale them any more

[Bam]

I have to do it with Bam’s probiotic pellets, he goes crazy for them.

[BunnyBooty]

I’ve tried scattering her pellets on the floor and I don’t see her choking on them any more! She also seems less interested in them for some reason and will take a longer period of time to finish them.

[Bam]

Great! It’s a more natural way of eating too, a wild rabbit spends a great deal of its waking hours foraging.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I have to do that with my boys as well. Bunnies can be real little pellet pigs.

[BunnyBooty]

So instead of creating a new topic I thought I’ll just put this here.

I just took Nini to get her nails trimmed by a groomer because I was not confident in doing it myself. I now regret my decision as she has clearly been shaken by the experience. The groomer said that they did nail trimmings for bunnies and no other bunny grooming services and I should have known not to bring her to them based on that alone. There were a man and a woman. The grooming area was an no entry area and I could only watch what happened from outside the glass door. The man grabbed her out of her carrier by her body and she struggled, falling to the floor. There was also a leashed dog present in the grooming area that I assume belongs to the groomer and the dog barked at Nini until the man went over to put his hand on the dog. The woman then went to get a towel to wrap her up and sat on a stool to trim her nails. I could not see what was going on during the nail trimming as my view was obstructed by the woman’s body.

After returning home, Nini did not want to return to her cage and instead chose to lay down in the corner of the room below some stacked chairs. She eventually entered the cage after some urging. She was uninterested in the treat I offered her and kept pacing around her cage, looking like she was looking for a way out. She also peed outside of her litterbox while in the cage which is something she has not done in quite some time. She has eaten some of the fresh vegetables I gave her and a bit of hay as well. She still has a strange expression on her face and seems to still be looking for a way out.

I will be getting a rabbit nail clipper and styptic powder to trim her nails myself in the future.

[Bam]

Poor darling! It must’ve been a terrible experience for her. I’m glad she’s eaten some veg and hay. You’ll have to monitor her appetite (obviously!) but hopefully she’ll soon settle.

If you can get a friend to help you hold her, it’s fairly easy to do the nails yourself. And styptic powder is a great product.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Awww….how awful.

I need to use a buddy system to do my buns’ nails. My husband holds them, baby burp style, and I do the nails. One side per night, or if they are particularly difficult, one foot per night. And always end with a treat. Bunnies hate having their nails trimmed unfortunately, and most bunnies do make a fuss about it.

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