Question from the Audience: Hiccups?

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A question from Travis J. in Long Island, NY:
Q: I have a 5 year old Dwarf Rabbit. She is in great health- she is spayed, has a healthy diet and goes in regularly for check ups with her exceptional vet. Every so often, usually after jumping out of the cage and running around a bit, when she sits down or relaxes for a moment- she begins to twitch (her entire body). It looks similar to when someone has the hiccups. Its usually about 10 twitches lasting about 15 seconds. If I walk to her and pet her during the twitches, she stops twitching. Sometimes she will continue twitching the moment I take my hand off of her. Have you ever heard of this?


A: You correctly identified this weird twitching behavior as hiccups, although it is strange because when a hiccuping rabbit is touched, she does stop twitching (suggesting the behavior is voluntary to a certain degree). It can be scary to see, especially the first few times, because it looks somewhat painful or like a seizure, but it's just regular old hiccups.

As usual, make sure your rabbit is eating and drinking normally, in case the hiccups are being caused by disturbances in the GI tract. Other than that, it's most likely nothing to be worried about!