How to clear a bunny’s throat when choking

[Hermelin]

Hello everyone!

I have recently gotten the problem with my 6,5 year old french doe Lilja, always choking on her food.

She won’t choke when she eats large food that have a bit of chew resistance. It have become quite common with her choking and I’m going to take her to a rabbit savy vet when I get the money. She’s full with energy and when she gets to run loose she will binky, she loves food and still eating hay but not as much. I expect there might be problems with her molars which would explain why she won’t eat hay as much and choking on her food.

But I have no good technique on how to clear her throat when choking. What I’ve done it’s quite a clumsy heimlich maneuver on her and managed to get the food up. I don’t do the one for bunnies that you can see, because she’s a 6 kg big bunny and I would drop her if I did that way. That only works on Toste and Odin.

Lilja gets pellets solved in water, hay and when she eats veggies I guard her. Because she have managed to choke on a banana when she ate it as a treat.

So I would like to know if any of you know another way to do the heimlich maneuver on larger bunnies without risking of dropping them. I just feel lucky I managed to get food up and I get really worried, when I see her panicky running around while trying to get the food up.

 

[Fuz]

Hey Hermelin.
Hope your rabbit will be okay.
I dont know to help, but maybe she eats too fast because she is very hungry? This may cause her to choke. Does she eat her cecotropes properly? Does she share food with another rabbit, maybe one gets more than the other? You could also try to chop her veggies into smaller pieces and see if that works.
Or you are right, it could be her teeth, which the vet may help with. Sending support your way and good luck, Keep us updated!

 

[Hermelin]

Hey Hermelin.
Hope your rabbit will be okay.
I dont know to help, but maybe she eats too fast because she is very hungry? This may cause her to choke. Does she eat her cecotropes properly? Does she share food with another rabbit, maybe one gets more than the other? You could also try to chop her veggies into smaller pieces and see if that works.
Or you are right, it could be her teeth, which the vet may help with. Sending support your way and good luck, Keep us updated!

Lilja lives alone, because she wouldn’t accept any of the bucks. Even when she eats carefully she will start choking.

So I always keep an eye on her when she eats food that are not mashed. Also she never had this problem 2 years ago when I had adopted her. It have just recently started to become a common problem for her. She’s the nicest bunny when it comes to eating from the hand

The bucks might accidental bite my hand but Lilja will softly use her tongue and slowly eat from the hand. If she was like the bucks I would be scared hand feeding her. So she’s not that much of a gluttony like the other bunnies.