Rabbit breathing very fast

Hi everyone!

I was just wondering if anyone could kindly help me with a concern I have.

My rabbit Rodney sometimes breathes really fast, so much thathis cage actually shakes. He almost looks like he is hyperventilating. He hasbeendoingthis onfrequent occasions for quite some time now.

He eats and drinks fine, is pooping, is active, is very affectionate and otherwise acts normal. He lives indoors in controlled temperatures,so I would think heat is not the cause of this.

Whenhe does this,he sometimes has his feet stretched out, or he is lying in the bunny flop position, which makes me think that he is not in pain or discomfort as he looks relaxed. He also chatters his teeth in pleasure when I pet him while he does this,so Idon't have any reasonto think he is in pain.

I havetaken him to2 different vets about this,andthey have both given him an all over check up, and said that he looks healthy andthat theycannot see any potential problems.

I have done a search of previous threads and also could not find any answers for this behaviour.

Has anybody seen such behaviour in a rabbit and know any potential causes of this?Is thissomething I should be very worried about and seek further vet advice?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, any advice would be very much appreciated.

Eve

Hi Eve!

When Baby was alive (RIP my sweet girl)she would do the same thing as Rodney,she would just lay there and breathe very fast,it worried me as i didn't know why she was doing it,it wasn't like she did it constantly it was every now and again,but she would always get up after and just do her normal things so i knew she wasn't sick,she still ate her food and drank her water,so i was just at a loss to why she did this in the first place,i have also seen Chocolate Bunny do this as well,but i have not seen her do it recently :?



Maybe someone else might know why



cheryl

Hi Cheryl!

Thank you so much for your reply. I havn't read about other members bunnies doing this before, so I was a bit worried. Thank you for telling me about Baby and Chocolate Bunny. I'm not sure why Rodney does this, but at least now I know some other bunnies do it too and aren't sick.

Yeah i'm not sure why either, i'm at a loss as to why they would do it anyway,but they weren't sick or anything and they still did their normal things that they always do,so i just don't know,as long as they don't show any illness or anything.



cheryl

yeah, I dont have any experience with this...anyone else???

:dunno:

Loki used to do this when I first got him. He was different from Rodney though because he did actually have some problems breathing and he would squeak/wheeze when he breathed like this. The vet said it was due to his extra chub, because when I adopted him he was a furry blob of butter with so few muscles that he couldn't hop normally- he had to brace his hind legs wider to get enough of a push. My guess is he was kept in a cruddy tiny pet store cage by his last owners and never out. He lost weight and gained muscle easily and I haven't seen a problem for some time now.

Loki is a lucky boy. He looks so fit and healthy in your bunny blog pictures Naturestee. :inlove:



Thank you so much for all of your replies.

I am driving Layla to anewvet clinic (a vet from the UK who specialises in rabbits) next weekfor a check up before I book her in for her spay. I might take Rodney along and get one last opinion on this while I'm there. This vet really knows her bunnies, unlike my local vets, so if she says he looks fine then I won't worry about it and will just assume its normal for him.

Thank you again for your help!

Eve wrote:

Loki is a lucky boy. He looks so fit and healthy in your bunny blog pictures Naturestee. :inlove:

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Thanks! I didn't have to do anything special to get him to loose weight or gain muscles. He was actually eating double the amount of pellets recommended plus lots of veggies. All he needed was a chance to exercise.

I hope the new vet is as good as she sounds! It's great you have a rabbit specialist available now.

Loki must have loved all the room and freedom he got when he came home with you. And he has a gorgeous girlfriend to snuggle up with too.It makes me so happy when bunnies get a second chance and end up in such loving homes.

I am really thrilled about the new bunny specialist. She has been highly recommended bythe bunny ladyworking at my local animal shelter, as well as by some Australian house rabbitgroups. She recently held a seminar to educate other vets about rabbit care and medicine, which is fantastic. I am so glad I found out about her. I have been putting off Layla's spay because I wouldn't trust the vets I have visited so far to operate on her.

I have visited the new vet and she is AMAZING! I am so happy to have found out about her. She is up to date with all things bunny-related and I was very impressed with her knowledge and love for bunnies.

She gave Rodney and Laylaa very thorough checkupand only charged me for one bunny too, which is really nice.The consultation went for about an hour and she even discussed my bunnies diets, housing, exercise time and pretty much made sure I was on the right track with every aspect of my bunnies care. She even gives out her mobile number so she is always contactable.

She found a small lump under Layla's chin, so she will be getting that X-rayed next week. Depending on wether it is dangerous or not , Layla will either have to have it removed or if it is not harmful she will get spayed.

I am in love with my new vet. My bunnies are finally in very good hands.:inlove:

I have just started posting about my 5 year old English Spot shaking or trembling on this site. This has been going on more than a week. She is most of the time very normal. Eats like a horse, drinks, runs and poops. But now and then she lies down and breathes rapidly. As soon as I nudge her or offer her hay she jumps up and acts normal. I have 3 other rabbits and have not seen any of them do this. I have read every book I can find. Thought she was in pain. Dental problems? Blocked stomach? But nothing mentions rapid breathing except for an overheat bunny. She is not.
I will be taking her to the vet tomorrow finally. I had to wait all this time for an appointment.
I really envy you finding a truly dedicated and knowledgeable rabbit vet. Very rare here.

Eve said:

I have visited the new vet and she is AMAZING! I am so happy to have found out about her. She is up to date with all things bunny-related and I was very impressed with her knowledge and love for bunnies.

She gave Rodney and Laylaa very thorough checkupand only charged me for one bunny too, which is really nice.The consultation went for about an hour and she even discussed my bunnies diets, housing, exercise time and pretty much made sure I was on the right track with every aspect of my bunnies care. She even gives out her mobile number so she is always contactable.

She found a small lump under Layla's chin, so she will be getting that X-rayed next week. Depending on wether it is dangerous or not , Layla will either have to have it removed or if it is not harmful she will get spayed.

I am in love with my new vet. My bunnies are finally in very good hands.:inlove:

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Is this the Dr Narelle Walter at the Melbourne Rabbit Clinic? I've been to the RSPCA vet and the Warranwood vet with Dr Brendan Carmel who I thought was pretty decent. But by your accounts the melb rabbit clinic seems to be on another level.

Again I truly envy you for finding such a vet. I am taking Bandita to a good rabbit vet today but the problem I have with her is she allows 15 minute visits and as soon as the 15 minutes is up her assistant knocks on the door and says "your next patient is here". In other words get out! And $90 plus tax is a lot for 15 minutes.

Eve what you described in your first post is exactly how my Bandita is acting. Her rapid breathing comes every so often and lasts a few seconds.
today I took her to a rabbit vet I dealt with for my late Sedgewick. She listened to her heart but had to get to it from under the chest. She said that normally you can hear it from any position on the back or sides.
Her heartbeat was 240 which she says is in range and she was stressed. Her tummy was fine and her temperature was 101.9, again in range. However she was concerned about the lungs and strongly suggested I go to the hospital and get x-rays. ($215.00)
The x-ray shows what she thinks is asthma and it can be treated with an inhaler ($$$) but she wants to send the x-ray to a specialist for further analysis ($70).
I have yet to hear what she says.
The thing that bothers me is there are no outward signs of asthma - no sniffles, wheezing etc. And earlier this week I had taken her to another vet to have a lost nail bandaged and told him about the breathing. He checked the heart from the regular position and said it was okay.
With the $76 fee for today's visit it was an expensive day. I don't mind paying what it takes but I want to be certain that I am paying for the real cause.

I heard from the radiologist and she confirmed what the vet had thought. The heart is fine but there is a fatty lump in the vicinity although it is of no concern. She also stated the bunny was obese which is interesting. She weighs 2.5 kg and has for the last few years. I do notice rolls of flab around her neck so I will try to reduce her pellets from 1/4 cup per day.
The vet wants me to put her on a course of Baytril and get an inhaler mask which would be on her face for 7 seconds after one puff. She won't like that at all.
Given that she has no asthmatic signs at all I wonder if this is not just going over the top. Someone suggested I let it ride for a day or two and see how she reacts. She is no worse now.

I have read that small animals breathe faster naturally. I have seen my bunnies noses puffing kind of fast sometimes. I think they just have faster respiration possibly. But yes, ask the vet and then tell us what he says. It's probably worth it to know for sure.

Asthma manifests in different ways for different people, it doesn't always give runny noses or wheezing etc. My fiance has asthma and often he just experiences a tightness in his chest which does make him breathe faster, but not wheeze. So glad that you've found out the cause. How old is Bandita? I would probably be trying to give her the medicine with the mask, since it may help her to return to being more energetic.

Bandita is almost 5. She is as energetic as she always has been.
I am upset and confused. When the vet checked her heart she said she could not her it from her back and had to reach under to her chest. Said it could be a lung problem. Heartbeat was 240 and body tem was 101.9. She strongly suggested chest x-rays ($215.00) as she thought asthma. I agreed and she later said it is from her perspective asthma but would like a specialist to look at ($70). The radiologist confirmed asthma and stated she was obese and had a mass by her heart which in her opinion was not dangerous. The bunny weighs 2.5kg and has forever. All of them weigh the same and they all get 1/4 cup of pellets as food plus hay and vegetables.
Now the vet wants me to put her on an inhaler ($75) plus the medicine which will come from my local pharmacy. And a course of Baytril.
Last week for an unrelated item I took her to a local vet and while there he checked her vitals and had no trouble hearing her heart. And she shows no signs of asthma such as wheezing, sniffles or noise in her chest. I mentioned this to the vet and she said rabbits are like that. They show nothing and then they die.
I have spoken to a few knowledgeable rabbit folk and they think what she is proposing is a bit much.
Bandita acts normal in every respect and occasionally she goes into a rapid breathing spell which lasts no more than 15 seconds. I have been watching her and if anything she seems no worse.
I can afford the treatment but do not want to put her in a mask as an inhaler.
My predicament now is do I start the treatment or let things go and watch her.

As this thread is originally 8 years old, if you wish to continue this discussion it would be best to either move it to one of your current threads or start a new one.

Having a specialist look at this might be worthwhile, because if they come up with a different diagnosis it will save you from wasting money on unhelpful and unnecessary treatments. And having a second opinion is good, especially with a diagnosis of asthma as that seems a very unlikely thing to occur with a rabbit, even though possible. I think it's possible the mass that is near her heart, may be a more likely cause. Was the possibility of a thymoma investigated at all? Also, if it really is asthma, will the stressful treatments really be worthwhile when your rabbit isn't exhibiting any signs of it causing significant respiratory distress.

You may want to ask who the specialist is though, and research them first before deciding if it will be helpful.

Sorry I was not aware it was that old. I did look for a date but could not find one.
Trying to find a specialist is not easy. Even difficult to find a good vet.