Retching

Question
My sweet 9 1/2 yr old Jersey Wooly bunny has been retching intermittently the past few weeks with decreased appetite and stooling (although still eating some and stooling some). The vet felt his abdomen was a little full and she started treating him for a possible GI infection. If he doesn't improve the vet said it might be early carcinoma. I am starting to get suspicious that the latter is true and this is a partial bowel obstruction.
I asked the vet about the retching because it looks like he is refluxing. She said that rabbits cannot vomit.
I am curious about the retching. Have you heard of rabbits doing this? I have gone through many bouts of GI stasis with this little fellow and never saw him retch before. Any insight would be appreciated.

Answer
Dear Jo Ann,

Your vet is correct that rabbits cannot vomit.  However, they can gag if they have severe molar spurs or if some hair is caught on a rear tooth and causing a partial obstruction of the throat.  I know of some vets who have seen this, and it's pretty gross!  One vet (in NJ) had a "choking" bunny under anesthesia, opened the mouth up wide and saw nothing unusual...except a thin, dark band around the base of one molar.  He picked at it with a forceps and pulled--and up came a huge wad of hair and food that had been stuck there just by a thin "rope" of ingested fur.  Please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

Since your bunny is a long-haired breed, you might want to share this story with your vet and see if she can have a look deep into the mouth for molar spurs or other physical problem that could be causing coughing/gagging.

It's normal for the GI tract of a rabbit to always have food and ingested hair in it.  But again, because your bunny is long-haired, it might not hurt to ask the vet about a few days' course of twice daily lactulose (an osmotic laxative) to hydrate any hair masses in the intestine (they're almost always mixed with food, so they do hydrate pretty well, and make them easier to pass.  Simethicone and a tiny bit of laxative-grade mineral oil might also help the masses pass, *once they are hydrated*.  I would not use mineral oil if there's a chance the intestinal contents are desiccated, since it could coat the mass and prevent hydration.

I hope this helps.

Dana