Excess Cecotropes and Choking on pellets

[Butter]

My bunny is 9 weeks old and as suggested for a young bunny’s diet, I give her unlimited Timothy hay and pellets (OxBow for Young Rabbits).

The past few days, I am finding cecotropes with her regular round hard poop.
I know that the excess cecotropes is a result of her eating too many pellets; she’s more interested in eating the pellets than the hay. So I limited the amount of pellets she could have in order to get her to eat more hay.

Yesterday, as I was refilling her pellets, she excitedly ate them as I was pouring them into her bowl. A few minutes later, she started choking for at least 15 minutes, making strange choking noises and she threw up two puddles of what appeared to be saliva. I was so scared because I thought she was going to die. I know that bunnies cannot vomit so I don’t know why that happened and I didn’t know how to help her. She is fine now but since the incident, I feel guilty and now give her access to unlimited pellets because I don’t want her to feel like pellets are a limited treat, but I am worried of the incident repeating. She’s been pooping excess cecotropes again.
What should I do?

 

[PhoenixTheMiniLop]

Not sure if this is the same thing but my 10 week old bun got so excited one morning for her pellets that she started choking on them so I removed them and fed them to her later on in the day, it was like she was guttsing them down and got way too excited for them. I also didn't let her eat them without me watching her for the next couple of days so I knew she would be ok. She never did it again, it must of frightened her

 

[Azerane]

Hello there, it's possible to take away unlimited pellets and still prevent choking. When you first go to feed the pellets for the day, don't put them all in the bowl at once, put 2-4 pellets in and let her eat them, then add a few more, and so on until she's gotten over the "crazy pellet bunny" phase and you can serve the rest of the measured amount and just let her eat from the bowl. Bandit used to be exactly the same, fortunately he never choked, but I had to start out with a few pellets at a time just in case.

In the meantime, there's a great link here for a Rabbit Heimlich maneuver that you can use to help save a choking bunny http://www.bunspace.com/groups/topic?tid=9871

 

[Butter]

Thanks for the replies. I've heard of the Bunny Heimlich Maneuver but having step by step picture instructions on how to do it is helpful. For now, I've been hand feeding her a few pellets at a time. I also switched out the Kaytee brand Timothy hay I've been feeding her from the pet store with hay from a family owned store that sells fresh Timothy Hay in bulk for cheap. Butter seems to enjoy the new hay more :woohoo

 

[JBun]

The excess cecotropes may be due to too many pellets, but it's also possible it is just due to your bunny being a baby. They have short attention spans and sometimes will be distracted and leave some uneaten. Now if the cecotropes are mushy and not formed properly, then that is different and is due to insufficient fiber(not enough hay)

When you are first feeding the pellets you could try scatter feeding some to prevent the bunny from scoffing them too quickly that she chokes. This way she has to take some time to look around for the next pellet to eat. If scatter feeding or offering a tastier hay doesn't work, and she is continuing to inhale the pellets too quickly putting your bunny at risk of another choking episode, unlimited pellets and not eating hay isn't ideal but far better than choking occurring again. Changing to a different pellet can sometimes make a difference as well(making sure to gradually transition to the new ones). A pelletless diet is also a possibility, but you would have to be careful about balancing the diet with the proper nutrients needed by babies for growth.

I would also highly recommend having your rabbit checked by a rabbit savvy vet asap. Choking episodes can result in the rabbit aspirating some of the fluid into the lungs, which can result in aspiration pneumonia developing. It does happen and it is extremely serious if it occurs. Your rabbit may need to be put on a rabbit safe antibiotic to prevent this from occurring.

 

[Butter]

Her cecotropes are fortunately not mushy. Just the regular blackberry looking kinds.

It probably had to do with her short attention span. She loves to explore and binky around when she's out of her pen. I think she was leaping around before she ate the pellets. That excitement must have caused her to eat too quickly. Thanks for the suggestions. She's been okay so far eating her pellets but I plan on scheduling a vet appointment anyway.