Do rabbits hiccup?

[kirbyultra]

I got a short msg from a friend that I talk to on facebook from time to time, saying her rabbit has been hiccuping for 3 days, and her vet said it was just a muscle spasm. I don't know anything more specific than that, but it struck me as odd. I don't know if her vet is rabbit savvy. I have never heard of rabbits hiccuping, or that they even have the physiological parts to produce a hiccup. Anyone know if hiccups are anything to worry about?

I asked if he was sneezing, and she said no, he's hiccuping. :?

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

I've never heard of actual "hiccuping", but..

Snuff makes this strange noise when he's meatloafing alot, well, once in a while. It sounds like a quick choke sound. He was just at the vet, he's fine, except for the Cataract that he has now. But, this sound he's been doing for probably just over a year, not very often...

 

[kirbyultra]

I suspect it's not truly hiccups either, butI don't really know what to make of it. :?

 

[tonyshuman]

Hiccups are normal for mammals--they're a spasm of the diaphragm, the muscle that moves our lungs up and down in the chest to fill them with air and empty them. They're also sometimes cited as evidence of evolution--as animals moved from land to water, they had to have spasmic movements of the diaphragm to bring air in and out of the lungs before conscious control of the diaphragm was evolved. But I digress, and I don't mean to upset anybody who's not ok with evolution.

Hiccups for 3 days isn't normal. Also, there are some things in rabbits that may look like hiccups but aren't, things like shallow gasping breaths, etc. I would have the bunny seen by a vet--calling the vet and saying "he's been hiccuping for 3 days" won't really get much info on whether it really is hiccups or a lung problem. Shaking due to pain can also look like hiccups. My dwarf hammie Petunia did that in her last moments . If he truly has been hiccuping for 3 days straight, I would think a muscle relaxer or something might be called for.