Bunny Heimlich Maneuver can save the life of your rabbit.

Just like people, rabbits can choke. Choking most often occurs while they are eating and can become fatal within minutes. In these situations, there may not be enough time to call for help.

The Bunny Heimlich Maneuver, if performed incorrectly, can cause serious injury or death. For this reason, it should only be demonstrated and taught to you by a licensed exotic rabbit veterinarian.

Please ask your exotic DVM to show you the proper technique during a routine visit so you are prepared in an emergency. We can also provide links to reputable educational resources for veterinarian-approved demonstrations.

We have personally had to use this procedure to save the life of a baby foster rabbit who was being hand-fed at the time. While emergencies are rare, being informed and properly trained can make a life-saving difference.

We have a link to the HRS Education Conference which shows a demonstration of the Bunny Heimlich Maneuver. You should watch the entire video. We were “bottle feeding” a 2.5 week old orphan when chocking occurred. We have watched the video about 6 months prior. We knew that the orphan was chocking. We had no choice but use the Bunny Heimlich Maneuver and it worked.

You should also be aware chocking may occur if you are giving critical care.  You should always go slowly and give time for the rabbit to chew and to breath.

Rabbit may also chock while eating their pellets. We tend to spread their pellets around and not use a food bowl. We give them their pellets spread out during their morning and night time home health check.  We do have foster rabbit that need their pellets in their food bowl.

We also have a video that shows different ways if your have a larger bunny. It is important for you to watch both videos.