Choking Bunny!!! HELP

[mistyjr]

Thanks

 

[funnybunnymummy]

Good thinking with the nasal aspirator (nose sucky), Misty! I'm thinking that may be thenext thing I add to my bunny first aid kit!

How does his breathing sound now? Can you still hear gurgling or rattling? If he gets any food in his lungs, it can cause pneumonia which will require antibiotics.

:hug:

Rue

 

[mistyjr]

About an 45 min ago. I checked on him. I put hes chest to my ear and I didnt hear no griggling or anything or threw hes nose like I did earlier.. But he was still laying clamly and looking around. I believe with that nose sucky, That saved hes life or he would have been died right away.. That was my first thought on grabbing and that was all.. I was into shoke and wasnt thinking just that nose sucky.... They are a good thing to use even for this... It is a bad experience to go threw this.

 

[Happi Bun]

Thank goodness for your quick thinking! How scary. :nerves1

Our beloved bunnies get so excited when they get their pellets. It may just be them swallowing too fast and forgetting to chew? It's not like they can then vomit it up. I'm wondering how bunny caregivers can prevent this from happening? Would it make a difference to cut the pellets into smaller pieces and thus being harder to get stuck? I did this when Dewey was just a tiny baby. He had a hard time eating his pellets so I put them in a blender set on very low and it cuts them into smaller pieces.

 

[jcottonl02]

For smaller rabbits you can use the Excel Dwarf and Junior pellets, which are specifically small-sized for little buns.
However, the fibre content is only 18% in these, as opposed to a more appropriate 28% from Oxbow pellets, so I am a little torn between the two. I think as long as the buns get lots of hay, the small, slightly lower fibre, pellets could be a good option for little bunny mouths?

Jen

 

[mistyjr]

Some people don't feed them pellets due to this... :dunno:lookaround:dunno

 

[Happi Bun]

Jen; I don't think the US carries those kind of pellets, unfortunately. I've never heard of them anyway.

 

[mistyjr]

I don't know either... I may have to look on Thursday at the farm store.. I have to do something different..

 

[jcottonl02]

Happi Bun wrote:

Jen; I don't think the US carries those kind of pellets, unfortunately. I've never heard of them anyway.

US doesn't do Excel??! Oh wow. It is 'apparently' the UK's No.1 Vet recommended pellet for buns. We do have Oxbow here, which I personally think is better than Excel, but the UK disagrees with me

Are you sure?

Jen

 

[Happi Bun]

I just typed it into Google, those pellets you mentioned. All that comes up is UK sites.

 

[jcottonl02]

Ohh :s

That's the annoying thing about us all being from different places !

You can def get it from a site, and have it sent over easily, but I dunno whether it's worth the postage, from UK to USA- it would probs be as much as the food again.

Funny, cos we have Oxbow here.

Jen

 

[kirbyultra]

I've never heard of those pellets either!

Starting to think if I should get a nasal aspirator for this type of emergency as well. This is so frightening! I don't think I'll ever feed the buns pellets in a hurry and run out for errands ever again. It's a habit of mine -- I do all the stuff that takes a while (giving hay, washing veggies) and then the last part of the morning routine is to throw down some pellets and race out the door.... after reading this, while I also never thought it was a common problem, I think I might stay around for the buns to eat their pellets! Especially Penny... my crazed eater.

 

[kirbyultra]

BTW, not sure if it matters but I have noticed that some pellets are bigger than others in terms of diameter.

Zupreem and Kaytee pellets are about the same size (maybe 1/8" in diameter if you look at the cross section of the pellet). But generally the length of each pellet is smaller.

Oxbow has some longer pieces along with smaller pieces (depends on how much they're tossed around in the bag), and the diameter is slightly smaller than 1/8".

Small differences, but down a little bunny throat, could be crucial?? Though the truth is once it hits moisture, pellets all expand

 

[jcottonl02]

Okay- wait- Burgess? Do you guys know of that? It is the same brand.

Burgess and Oxbow are THE 2 leading brands in UK, both the highest recommended by vets.

Can't believe US doesn't have Burgess!!! lol

Jen

 

[mistyjr]

**Update**

I went outdoors to check on him. He had a piece of hay in hes mouth eatting it. Good News! But he sure acts different. Maybe that took a lot on hes body. He's not hyper and all over hes cage like he useally does.

I have a couple bun's that go on their pellets. Maybe I need to take about an hr just to cut the pellets in half or just put them in the blender???

 

[Victoria]

Hi
We had two experiences similar to this with our bunnies the bunnies are quite small 2 kg and one died unfortunately. We dont give them pellets any more now after Black died earlier ( late January) this year. I am not sure why this happens. I went around pet shops (this is where I got my rabbits) asking about why and if there are other types of pellets but they all are very similar type of pellets. So we only give hay now (good Oxbow hay not the old type from supermarket we have here. We are in Sydney Australia). Our rabbits also had other health problems but we have not found out what they when the vet examined the rabbit...the choking could be alsofrom some other problem butwhen our rabbits choked it was always on those hard pellets. Even if mixed with water I dont think it is safe because of molasses in the pellets that stick.

 

[Victoria]

I mean we give hay plus greens and apples at times and carrots etc.

 

[mistyjr]

poor bunnies its the worst to see your babies going threw that.

 

[mistyjr]

:biggrin:**NEWS** :biggrin:

This morning Spidy was happy to see me and wanted hes pellets this morning but I didnt give him any yet, I just had to check on him and the babies!. :weee::clapping::yahoo:

 

[kirbyultra]

Glad he is looking alright. He's ok because of your quick thinking!

Nope never heard of Burgess either, Jen!