Bunny has stopped honking

Question
Hello,
I have an 11 week old mini lop. We got him at 8 weeks and
pretty much from the day we brought him home he started
honking. First off it was just when he was being stroked or
eating, but then it became when he was playing or flopping too.
We love his honking because we know he's happy. We went away
for the weekend and a friend came to look after him. Since we've
been back he's stopped honking. He seems a little bit jumpy too.
We think maybe our friend tried to pick him up and hold him
more than he likes. Do you think he's likely to start talking to us
again, we're a bit concerned.
Thank you.


Answer
Actually, honking noises are usually a bad sign. They usually point to an upper respiratory problem. The excitement from being happy could be what caused them to appear while he was being pet or playing. We had one that had allergies, and whenever he got excited (such as when we picked him up), he would make honking noises. In his case, it was just seasonal allergies (it always went away when everything stopped blooming, and his tests came back negative for any infectoin), but it could be something much worse.

Another reason for a sort of honking (sounds like grunting or whining) is actually aggression or moodiness, rather than happiness. Their actual "I'm happy" sound is teeth grinding. They softly grind their teeth when they are happy.

It may be that he had an upper respiratory problem, but it when into recession while you were away.