Rabbit Snoring

Question
I have a 15 month old holland lop bunny and I've noticed that sometimes when he's all laid out and his eyes are half closed he will start "snoring" I'm pretty sure he's sleeping because I will call his name and he will wake up and the noise stops. He's healthy otherwise, he eats his pellets, veggies and hay and gets plenty of water and is quite active and gets plenty of time to run around in his play area. He has no discharge from eyes or nose that would cause me to think that he has a respiratory problem, I've just never heard of a bunny snoring and wanted to know if this was a normal thing to happen to a apparently tired bunny.

Answer
Dear Destiney,

Some bunnies--particularly short-faced ones, such as lops--do, indeed snore.  It's kind of cute, if you ask me. :)

I had a bunny (Slooby) who snored because he had unusually loose skin on his soft palate. It was so bad that when he was anesthetized for simple procedures the skin would sometimes fold back and block his windpipe!  Scared us to death!

This isn't all that likely with your bunny, but if he ever does have to undergo a surgical procedure, be sure to mention the snoring (and possible floppy soft palate) to your vet, so that s/he can take proper precautions to prevent this potentially fatal accident.  (Slooby turned blue and stopped breathing, but the vet managed to get him back.  We never put him under after that.)

Hope this helps.
Dana