hiccups?

[Imbrium]

can rabbits get hiccups? today, Gaz (12-week holland lop) scarfed down a bunch of lettuce (about 1 leaf from a romaine heart), pooped then got into her litterbox (*grumble*), groomed herself a bit and then went to their sleep corner and laid down stretched out on her stomach.

right after that, her whole body started kind of heaving a little - if she was a cat, I would've thought she was about to barf up a hairball. since rabbits can't throw up, the only other thing it looked like it could be was hiccups. I started gently petting her side to help her relax (since hiccups are caused by the diaphragm having spasms) and it stopped pretty quickly, but it's pretty scary looking to see that in such a teeny tiny bunny! (she didn't seem bothered by it, though).

it happened to her once the other day, too... I *think* that time was also right after eating a bunch of lettuce, but there have been multiple occasions where she scarfed down lettuce and it didn't happen.

 

[Ellie]

This JUST happened to me last night too!
I was sitting on the computer and he was lying beneath me, and all of a sudden this awful noise (just like a cat coughing up a hairball, like you said) started coming from him. I yelled for my boyfriend to come down, and by the time he did he was done and running around. He called me a paranoid bunny mama, hehe
Age probably has nothing to do with it though, as Buster is almost 3 and a half!

Sorry I can't help, but interested to see what people have to say.

 

[Imbrium]

thanks! I just wasn't 100% sure that hiccuping was a normal thing to have happen to a rabbit - glad to know I'm not the only one with a hiccuping bun! it worried me a little 'cause I'm a paranoid bunny mana too, lol, but she didn't even seem fazed by it.

I figured age didn't have anything to do with it anyway, but thought there might be a small chance it had to do with gobbling up lettuce since she JUST hit 12 weeks and started eating veggies three days ago.