Choking Bunny!!! HELP

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mistyjr

mistyjr

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, Michigan, USA
Spider Man is an Blue Dutch Buck... Age: Unknown 6 months +

I went into the shed to feed and check on the babies.. I went to hes cage and put some pellets in hes cage and he was happy and running up and down the cage. And I went to the other rabbits to feed them. He went to the bowl and started to eat. And I start hearing him sneezing like crazy.. I went up hes cage and I saw hes nose started drainning out yellow burger stuff. And He started to choke and gapping for air... He was fine this morning and yesterday with no sneezing or anything.. I ran into the house and grabbed our nose sucky that you get from the hospital when baby is born.. I put it hes mouth and start sucking stuff out.. And putting it up hes nose and start sucking stuff out that way...

Right know hes breathing heavy and i can hear bubbles in hes belly and hearing it out of hes nose.

Is he coking or sick??

Help!!
 
You did exactly the right thing. He could be choking on pellets. How is he doing?


sas :?
 
I'm holding him at the moment.... I still can hear griggling hes hes nose and hes not hardly moving.. Hes breathing different.. I try to put my finger down hes troat to help to see if there is anything in hes throat and hes bite me... So I stopped..

I was reading on some sites.. And they said alot of rabbits choke on there pellets...

I just dont know what to do??? He was fine this morning and was very hungry and started to eat hes food and he started doing this...
 
I wouldn't hold him or stress him out unless you do it to give him oxygen.

If you're not doing more to clear the airways, let him lie still in a quiet place so he can catch his breath. His body needs to be consuming as little oxygen as possible.

Is he breathing through his mouth or his nose?


sas :pray:
 
Does it still sound like he has somehting in his airway or does he seem to be recovering?

What color are his gums?

There is a maneuever for rabbits with stuck pellets, just looking for it.
 
I put that nose sucky in hes mouth again.. He stop making those sounds from hes nose.. I put my ear against hes belly and hes heart is going hundred miles an hr... Its beating fast..... But hes belly is still griggling. Hes breathing out of hes nose at the moment... Hes moving better alittle.. All jumpy...
 
Here's a post from Pamela Alley, she sent this to a few Yahoo Groups...


Yesterday, one of my buns suddenly began to snort, gag, and her eyes bugged
out alarmingly, followed by a gush of feed particles and saliva and mucous
from her nose. She was not able to breathe; she had choked on her food.

I held her nose-down, gave her a good thump on the back with a flat hand, no
help. Cleared her nose and did a finger sweep in her mouth--again, no
result although she was able to gasp in a small amount of air--and from the
sound of the rales in her chest, ingesta. :( Not a good sign. Still
turning blue.

Out of desperation, I did as you do with calves and lambs, held her by the
hindlegs and scruff of the shoulders and swung her, nose-down, HARD, twice.

More green gunk out the nose, more saliva/mucous, still not breathing well.
Cleared her nose with a towel. But breathing. Then her eyes began to bulge
again and blueness built.

Totally out of options and lacking an airway of any kind, I stuck my first
finger down her throat, depressing the base of the tongue forward, away from
the airway. She could breathe, but what about my finger? For that matter,
what about her tongue, a lovely shade of blackish blue?

My finger was now up to the main knuckle in her mouth, her incisors on, but
not in (thank you, babe!) my skin. Did you know a plump forefinger just
almost fits between the molars of an adult Rex? :)

I waited until she was breathing easy, then had a friend who was there
gently open her mouth a fraction so I could withdraw my finger. I brought
her tongue forward and draped it sideways out the diastema (space between
incisors and molars). A very unpromising color and limp...not at all normal
for a rabbit tongue.

The important thing is that she was BREATHING! And continued to do so even
as I gently, gradually, returned her tongue to her mouth.

I've seen rabbits choke before, but never to this extent. Had I not seen
her first signs, had I not been THERE, I think I would have just found a
dead rabbit with a wet, green nose and bluish ears. :(

Today, it's obvious that she has a sore throat and tongue, but she's hungry
and drinking, good signs both.

I hope that my experience may help others; be aware, though, that the rex in
question is a very sweet and well-handled bun. I do not know if I could
have pulled this off with a stressy or unhandled bun.

PA



 
And here's a response from somebody on the Etherbun group...


--- On Fri, 12/26/08, Pamela Alley <[email protected]> wrote:
"Out of desperation, I did as you do with calves and lambs, held her by the
hindlegs and scruff of the shoulders and swung her, nose-down, HARD, twice."
--------

If this maneuver is used, it is *crucial* the rabbit have back support or there is a high likelihood of breaking a rabbit's back. I have had to use this maneuver twice in rabbits, both times during resuscitation attempts. The swing does not have to be hard, it needs to be fast & smooth, with the rabbit head downsince you are relying on centrifugal force to 1)clear theairway (inthe case of choking) or 2) to move the diaphragm which will cause a manual exhalationand inhalation, depending on wherethe body is in the arc of the swing.

In both instances it should be used as a last resort. With choking, trying to clear the airway with your finger is the first step before using this swinging motion. With resuscitation, CPR should be attempted first (especially if you can establish a clear airway).

This site has applicable info on airway obstructionand how to attempt the Heimlich maneuver on small animals:

http://www.ferrets.org/First_Aid_Info.htm#AirwayObstruction

Lyssa


And a response to someone else from Pamela...

No, she's doing fine--and as my finger can attest, there's no molar problem.
She was put in a cage where another bun had left crumbs in his dish and she
dove in like it was the only food in the whole wide world.

She's doing very well and is forming new habits of eating more slowly, since
her tongue is still sore (poor baby!); I'm making sure she is getting enough
to eat and that things are going smoothly. Since she has a sift-bottom
feeder now, that should prevent dust or fines from being a problem.

Someone on another list asked me why I didn't use a Heimlich, and the
reasons in rabbits NOT to use a human-style maneuver are several. Potential
severe, immediately life-threatening damage to the liver is top of the list;
In this particular case, there are others...

Blockage wasn't complete, for one; for two, rabbits breathe (primarily)
abdominally rather than thoracically as we do--which means that the most
effective way to expel air from their lungs is to simply tip them forward
and let the gut push the air out (swinging, in this case, gave the necessary
force). When the gut falls back as the rabbit comes nose-up again, air is
pulled back into
the lungs, if the blockage is gone.

One thing everyone can, and probably should, do is to think through what
they should do in various potential emergency situations--if you know ahead
of time, when you are calm, what is needed, you are more likely to do the
right thing if the situation actually comes up (heaven forbid!).

PA


 
Well good job thinking under pressure, Misty! :great: You couldn't have handled it better!

Listen for any rattles in the chest in case he inhaled any particles.

You'd think that would curb his appetite at least a little!


sas :biggrin2:
 
God...well done Misty, for thinking and acting well in such a terrifying situation.


This is an utterly terrifying thread. I am....well....shocked and a little disturbed.
I have heard a few stories about rabbits choking on pellets...but I didn't think it was very common.

Is it enough to reconsider pellets as part of a diet? My rabbits get dwarf-sized pellets, specifically for dwarfs, and are about half the size of normal pellets (these are Excel). I was thinking of switching....but it would be to larger pellets.
This thread has really given me the heeby-jeebies and I am reconsidering tbqh.....

That manoever.....how do you hold the bun. I am imagining holding the bun by the actual legs, and scruff, from that description, but that cannot be right? :? :?
Is it okay to hold them against you and swing your body round?

I wanna be prepared!!!! Because rabbits can't vomit....so I guess choking is even more dangerous for them than us....no heimlich manouver or anything......

Jen
 
Sounds like a bunny burrito may be the way to go. I just woke up poor Pipp and tried to 'dip' her, it's not that easy and she's a 2lb dwarf! Shudder to think how I'd handle 14lb Mikel.

I don't think Pamela meant to actually hold them by the hind legs and really swing, the point is secure them and 'dip' their heads down with a gentle swing motion. As long as their heads are the lowest point and there's some motion forcing the air, that should have the desired effect.

All these sources stress that it really is a last ditch effort thing. I wouldn't try it unless the rabbit wasn't breathing and was literally turning blue.

I'll have to do some experimenting.


sas :ponder:

PS: I'm writing this one up for the Library!
 
Lol!!! Does Pipp look impressed right now? Explain to her that it's really important :rofl:

Okay, I see now. The first thing they say you should do with a human is get them to put their head RIGHT down to try and just let gravity do its work. THEN heimlich, rather than heimlich first, so I see this is quite similar.

Thanks Pipp!
Jen
 
Pipp wrote:
PS: I'm writing this one up for the Library!
Click to expand...

Great idea!!!!! That will be so helpful.

Jen
 
No Heimlich maneuver was done. I just stuck the nose sucky down hes throat and in hes nose to suck out the nasty stuff. And started rubbing hes throat. It was very scary.. I though he was dying. And I was shaking and crying so bad. I didnt know what to do.. I was home alone with the kids. They were screaming at me and it made it worse..

But however I just checked on him maybe 15 minutes ago. He was breathing normal but he was staying in one spot. Just looking around. He's right eye (brown eye) was different then hes blue eye. It was smaller like he was squinting..

Why could that be???

But how ever I just
 
mistyjr wrote:
No Heimlich maneuver was done. I just stuck the nose sucky down hes throat and in hes nose to suck out the nasty stuff. And started rubbing hes throat. It was very scary.. I though he was dying. And I was shaking and crying so bad. I didnt know what to do.. I was home alone with the kids. They were screaming at me and it made it worse..

But however I just checked on him maybe 15 minutes ago. He was breathing normal but he was staying in one spot. Just looking around. He's right eye (brown eye) was different then hes blue eye. It was smaller like he was squinting..

Why could that be???

But how ever I just
Click to expand...

Well, heimlich is only for animals that can vomit...I believe, so that's why this 'dip' manoever is the next step for buns.

I am so glad he is okay now. You certainly did the right thing! That sounds so terrifying :(

I don't really know what happened to his eye. Maybe he was trying to hard to breathe, and was stressed, so perhaps that burst a blood vessel around his eye? Should be okay soon- just keep an eye on it.

Jen
 
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