Can a rabbit choke on his food?

[Rippy]

My bunny gave me quite a scare a few minutes ago…he was eating his pellets and I think he took in too much, spit some of them out then started opening his mouth and using his paws trying to “get it out”. He started to panic and I think that for a few seconds he was not breathing as his tummy was not moving. I tapped him on the back but in retrospect that probably could have done more harm then good. Then he started to panic even more because I scared him.

I give him the pellets as a treat that’s why he is overzealous when eating them. Its not the first time this happened but he spits it out without a problem if he takes too much in. He is fine now (recovered from the scare), jumping and eating hay. He really enjoys them (I took them out of his main diet months ago so he would eat more hay) and goes binky nuts when he is outside and sees me giving the pellets to my other bunny.

But I need to know if giving him pellets would be too dangerous for him? I rather have a grumpy bunny then a dead one.

Edit: I think I know what might be the problem…these are Oxbow pellets and they expand substantially when hydrated, he grabs a mouthful and they expand faster then he can chew and swallow. I’ll consult my vet but I think it might be “safe” if I had feed him one at a time and wait for him to be ready for the next one.
 

[RabbitPam]

That sounds like a possibility and a workable solution. My first thought was whether his teeth are not doing well and he isn’t really chewing the pellets completely, so they are getting stuck in chunks he’s swallowing, too.

I had found a list of First Aid suggestions for rabbits, but rather than post it here, I’m going to start a separate thread for it since it’s general. Check it out in case it gives any suggestions on what to do in a choking situation. I also believe we had a thread on choking here once fairly recently. I’ll do a search for it.

[jerseygirl]

They can choke, especially on pellets. I’ve read of a few cases where rabbits choked on those extruded pellets that are round. They can dislodge it themselves (thankfully) but there is also info around for a modified heimlich maneuver to assist them if they can’t. Well, it’s not exactly a heimlich.

So many things you report about Shmoo remind me of Jersey! She also eats too fast and I have seen her gag and do that thing with the paws when something has set of a gag reflex. Since I feed a small amount of pellets, I always make sure I’m about the place why they have them. They’re polished of pretty quickly.

[Rippy]

I know that eating too fast can sometimes be a problem in dogs but that “condition” mostly results out of competition for food with one or more dogs and can stick with them even when they are separated out.

But in my case its because it tastes good and he is not getting “enough of it”. He sometimes gags slightly on bananas as well and the way I handle that is to give him thin slices. But I think this is less problematic as it is soft food. You know how bunnys are like…if something tastes good to them they need it NOW!! and start acting like they have been starving for days. So teeth might not be the real problem in these cases but there enthusiasm when they eat treats.

As for modified Heimlich maneuvers…do you have any links for that ? Thing is I would hate applying force to an 4 pound animal with bone rigidity close to that of a bird. Someone might call me a bastard now but because of that and me being unfamiliar with there organ structure I would feel safer doing the appropriate maneuver on a human baby then on a bunny. But then again its like CPR you lean it but hope you never have to use it.

[FluffyBunny]

One of my rabbits does this sometimes. He gets so exited about the pellets that he picks up more than he can chew. I’d suggest scattering your bunny’s pellets around the floor instead of putting them in a bowl.

[Andi]

Maybe try a treat ball and put his pellets in them?
He’d have to work for it and only a few would fall out at a time.

[Helenor]

Unfortunately my friend’s rabbit choked on his food and died. He got too excited for them and once he inhaled them he started running around like crazy and my friend could not catch him. By the time my friend reached him, the poor thing already died. After this happened, I started looking up how to do bunny Heimlich maneuvers just in case something like this happened to Lago or Panko. This is what I found: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/pet-rabbit-gagging-Rabbit.htm

[Rippy]

This maneuver seems to be extremely difficult to pull off on a panicked bunny…trying to catch him, position him and then do the swing all which could injure him fatally. I rather remove the source of the potential problem.

If I hand feed him one pellet at a time he will still swallow them quickly and probably not chew enough. But what is the main issue? Would a reduced volume of food at a time eliminate the problem or does it have as much to do with him not chewing it good enough?

I can definitely cut him off if there is a risk even while hand feeding.

 

The specific issue with Shmoo is that he is a bad hay eater and in the past he had constant borderline GI stasis problems when he was shedding (which is often). So I reduced the greens substantially, took away the pellets. Basically I’m keeping him slightly hungry so he hes no choice but to eat hay. Now he is very excited when I give him “the good stuff”. When its greens time he will be very happy and binky. Banana and pellets are “I don’t care if your finger is in the way”. It is very interesting that the same brand of pellet which was “meh” before drives him frantic now.
 

[Helenor]

I have tried putting Lago into that sort of position before to see what it would be like (I didn’t swing of course though). It’s easy enough to put a calm bunny in the position, but a panicking bunny would be different. There was another method I saw which involved holding the bunny upside down head facing the ground and gently thrusting below the ribs. I’ll have to go look for the webpage on it.

Edit: I think this is where I saw it. http://www.ontariorabbits.org/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4852

I remember reading somewhere that some breeds are more suseptible to choking. I don’t remember where I read this though.

[Rippy]

Well I came to a decision that I am too traumatized by the whole “him almost choking to death, me almost snapping his spine” experience. I did not give him any pellets today and will completely remove them as they don’t provide much benefits as a treat. I will rather brush him a few minutes each day to make it up to him

[RabbitPam]

Pellets are not all bad when it comes to nutrition, and I think of them as a bit of a supplement since I think they use some nutrients that are actually healthy for the bunnies. (At least the brands I have trusted like Oxbow and Big Red, etc.) If he loves his pellets, you could always give him a slurry, which just puts a few pellets in water and makes it into mush, that he can lap up or be fed with a syringe. I think it’s something you can try until you get him checked out by a vet to make sure all is working well at this point. The tactic of having him so hungry he will chew his hay is effective and certainly good for him, but you can give him like a tablespoon of pellet slurry as a treat. Just a suggestion.

[KatnipCrzy]

I agree with what others have said- rabbits can choke on anything that get stuck.  I doubt it is from the pellet expanding before he chews and swallows- as while they do expand when wet- they do not expand quickly and dry objects are more likely to get stuck than something moist that might be able to be dislodged by the bunny when they react to the choking.

I would eliminate anything that he can choke on- pellets are obviously an issue.  You could try scattering them- but that may not help if he still pigs out on the pellets anyway.  The other option would be to add warm water and make them mushy- but I would not do that for a healthy young rabbit that does not need pellets in the diet anyway (unlike an older or toothless bunny).

 

[jerseygirl]

Yes, wetting his pellets might help some.

That link Helenor gave is pretty much the same info I have at hand – a maneuver described by Dana Krempels. You would use it as a last resort, allow the rabbit time to try cough up the obstruction itself. I would be very hesitant about pushing below the ribs though. Just the action of putting them head facing down allows gravity to do it’s bit. Let’s hope nobody ever has to do any of this!

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