Emergency 1 month old bunny choked

[Debbie Medina]

My baby bunny choked on a piece of grape (seedless) about 2-3 hours ago, he went tachycardic and made this horrendous sound "gurgling" heavily audible, "kid with foreign object" sound, the medical term would be roncus if this were a kid. my boyfriend attempted a human heimlich cause we were panicking then i said hold on they dont vomit like humans, quickly google the hemlich maneuvered and my bf performed it then i did various times but the gurgling sound dint go away I left him with his momma and went back on the net. Then the noise subsided and decreased until it went away, I was like okay tommorrow you are going to the vet, i thought he was out of the danger zone.
Yet hes not eating! it feeding time and hes not eating, not moving as usual and looks sleepish his mother is GLUED to him nudging him constantly cause its feeding time but he doesnt show any interest whatsoever, which is extremely odd cause hes an eager eater (usually chases mommy into submission every single night always around the same time). Theres a box on their habitat and mommy usually goes and lays there to signal feeding time he inmeaditely follows, but today shes been going in and out goint back to him nudging and nothing, after an hour he got to the entrance but doesnt feed.
Just heard him sneeze?cough? i think he still got it in there

Hes roughly about the size of my palm just a little bigger.

 

[Catlyn]

Do not give your baby bunnies fruits and vegetables! They are still too young for that!

I cannot help with the issue otherwise though, just see when you can get them to a rabbit vet.

 

[Debbie Medina]

The grape was an honest mistake my mom was eating grapes, (and its kinda my fault they are used to always get a snip of fruits if im eating them, so they have developed this thing when if they see you eating they intently look at you stand on 2 paws and dont surrender until you give in a bite size for them), so she fed the mother a seedless grape , then the baby rushed and attempted eating form the same grape as his mother, so my mom was like aww ill give you too, sliced the grape and offered him. I was on the living room doing a Q-bank and my mom is like quick come I go and i see him eating the grape, grab my phone and tape him and then he choked

 

[Catlyn]

What do you mean, 'tape him'?

 

[JBun]

I don't know that there is anything you can do until you can get him to the vet. He could have aspirated some of the contents and that would cause respiratory difficulties. He probably needs to be put on oxygen. Aspiration of food can cause inflammation and infection in the lungs. So the vet will probably also need to put him on a rabbit safe antibiotic as well as anti inflammatories. The bunny will also probably need to be syringe fed once the vet gets him treated and on meds.

As soon as you can, phone your vet and get your bunny in as an emergency. Aspiration pneumonia can progress rapidly and prove fatal very quickly.

Basic rabbit choking information.(consult with your vet on proper way to clear an airway obstruction)

 

[Debbie Medina]

His siblings stole mommy's spinach leaves form her plate around his age "got them on tape" which is why i was like ohhh gotta tape him too! didnt even thought about the fact that he was eating a juicy grape cause "he was eating for the first time" dumb me

 

[Debbie Medina]

Literally took my phone out and pressed record, he was eagerly eating that grape until he choked, it happened so fast 3-5 second at max

I left a message, since its off working hours. I hate that there's not a 24hours rabbit vet available
Somehow this type of stuff always happens when vets are closed

 

[JBun]

You couldn't have known. Rabbits can just as easily choke on their pellets. Happens quite a lot. In fact pellets are probably the most common choking hazard in rabbits.

 

[bunnysgalore]

Any news?

 

[Benjamin The Nut Case]

You really should bring him to the vet as soon as possible. When it is an emergency you don't need to book anapoinment just walk in and tell them it is an emergancy. Until then you should constantly massage his tummy and pour some boilinh water over some pellets until mushy, then syringe feed him. He will probably resist but just gently pull his mouth open and squeeze out the food as the grape is possible still stuck and the food will help push it down. If there is no sign of the grape in his stools he is likely to be in shock and if that is the case you need to constantly comfort him but keep him with his Mum. Hope this helps

 

[Roo1234]

How is he?

 

[Debbie Medina]

he moves, i think i can hear the sound back again not so loud as before, but i havent seen him drinking milk
About the vet I left a message, called no answer (its the last day of carnival here, even tho they were suspended due to covid, people are allowed this days off)

I spoke with a 2 vets over the phone and they all told me to go the one thats closed which is my usual vet. Not many people treat exotics here

Im worried about him cause hes not latching on to drink milk, very active but havent seen him feeding

I spent the whole day researching and Im considering nebulizing him with saline also i got an oxigen tank from my grandma ..
read about antibiotics and mucolitics but if he cant vomit i wonder if he can cough out the mucus? im scared of giving him anything aside from saline but dont wanna just sit and watch
I saw a video of a girl giving her bunny gentamycin via nebulization for pneumonia, read cases of people whose bunny choked then ended up on antibiotics for posible neumonia
Im also considering oral meloxicam but hes so tiny i wonder if it can disrupt his stomach and make it worse??
Does anybody have any experience with this?

I dont see no sings of neumonia then again it would evolve so quickly i believe

How does one even auscultate a bunny so little ?

 

[bunnysgalore]

How is he today?

 

[JBun]

Mucolytics thin the mucous to make it easier to expel. Rabbits can cough, they just can't throw up. So stuff can come out of the lungs, just not out of the stomach.

Giving meds to such a young rabbit isn't ideal, but in the case of aspiration pneumonia, is necessary. I can be hard to tell if anything is going on with such a tiny little thing. I would try and just look to see if it seems to be breathing harder and more quickly than normal, but even that might be hard to tell. Noisy breathing or mouth breathing would be a definite sign, but by the time that happens it could be too late to turn around.

So far the only thing you have to go on is that he won't nurse. But is he eating other foods ok? If he is eating and drinking other foods fine on his own, maybe he just weaned himself and he's actually doing fine. If so, it might be better to hold off on the meds or treatment. But only you can decide what's the best course of action based on what you are seeing is going on.

 

[bunnysgalore]

How is he?

 

[Debbie Medina]

I realized I never uploaded his recovery here. So sorry He came out just fine from that choking scare, I had to nebulize him with saline and mucolitics and he got better and fully recovered.
hes one heck of a handsome fella

 

[JBun]

That is so great to hear! Little bunnies don't often survive aspiration pneumonia. Sounds like you did just the right thing to help him. One lucky little bun :❤

 

[Debbie Medina]

He grew so fast, bigger and heavier than his momma, I keep joking he’s pregnant cause he’s so heavy and big. Anyhow here are some baby pics of him and then all grown up being cuddled by both my mom and my boyfriend.
And yeah he was totally sneaking into the legumes basket at a young age