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spitting up/drool and small seizures

22 11:10:36

Question
Dr. Krempels, I recognize your name so I am confident that you may be able to shed some light on this problem.

My probably 3-year old rescue female rabbit just finished inhaling her small daily treat of pellets.  Shortly afterward she seemed to spit up what looked like drool and partially digested pellets.  She had also had her lunch of greens.  Shortly afterward she had a little "bounce" and another a few minutes later.  She seemed a little scared and lay down breathing a little heavily but she does seem to breathe faster than her companion male.  My rabbit doctors are not available on weekends and the emergency clinic doesn't have anyone who actually specializes in them.  I am thinking that I need to just keep an eye on Bebe and call my own vet in the morning to see what she says.  Any advice?

Thank you in advance.

Janet-marie Persico

Answer
Dear Janet-Marie,

It's hard for me to know without having seen the episode, but it's possible that your bunny, in her haste to eat her goodies, may actually have aspirated a little particle that made her gag and upchuck a little bit of food she had recently ingested.  This is extremely rare, as rabbits lack a gag or vomit reflex, but I have heard of the occasional rabbit who does have an idiosyncratic barf reflex.  Go figure!

Some rabbits do this once in their lives and never again.  I've not ever heard of a rabbit who was a habitual vomiter.  But it will be a good idea to keep an eye on her for trouble, especially if you say she seemed to have a bit of heavy breathing after the episode.  If the horked out (to use the scientific term) a particle of food from her trachea or bronchi (deeper is less likely), then there is a remote possibility of infection from aspiration.

If in doubt, you can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and get her in for a good going over to set your mind at ease.  Tell the vet what happened, and s/he'll go from there.

Hope that helps.

Dana