Alfies teeth

[polly]

Ok i will try not to be to longwinded. Some of you might remember i posted pics of Alfies molar spurs after he had them taken out. He has been happy and healthy since but tonight when we brought him in and had a look now his front teeth aren't meeting and have grown quite long.

So i need to do something but he is a stressy bun when he goes to the vets. He is better if its a woman but as soon as he goes on his back he panics and for a nethie he is pretty powerful! Bruce finds him a handful and he is great at keeping hold of them.

So i would like to know a couple of things

1) has anyone had a bun that has had their front teeth taken out after they are over a year old.

and if so how did it go.

2) would it be viable to give him some metacalm an hour or two before we go to get them burred so he is a bit stoned and not so stressy.

I know they would bunny burrito him but i just don't know how he will take it he goes mental if the vet tries to look at him.

Thanks in adavnce for your help

 

[aurora369]

I believe Haley has a bun with no incisors as does JadeIcing.

Both, as far as I know, coped very well with having the teeth removed.

In cases where the bunny gets stressed easily, and trimming is not a viable option, removing the teeth is probably your best bet.

You'll just have to cut up his veggies into small bit sized pieces and trim his hay down to manageable lengths.

--Dawn

 

[BlueGiants]

I know someone that has one of my Flemish girls and they had thebunny's front teeth removed after she pulled them on the cage. They didn't meet up anymore, and it was way too stressful to have them clipped or filed every 5-6 weeks. So the vet took them out and the bunny is getting along quite well. It's been over 18 months and the rabbit is thriving and doing well. She says the bunny is a lot calmer (probably cause no one is sticking things in her mouth anymore)! I think she cuts up the bunny's hay into 4" lengths, and no more carrots... but she loves her cilantro and romaine.

Talk to the vet about the metacam. It would probably be better than dealing with all that stress. But the vet would need to know about it ahead of time.

 

[Offspring2099]

Polly,


Our Penny's front teeth never were the same after she had a few molars removed (dental abscess). Anyways, we go every month to trim them up.

I've read that removing the incisors is more difficult then molars and very tough on the bunny, so we just trim them.

Our vet uses a dremel tool, much like a dentist, except its not a drill but a little disk. Opposing to an older method where a vet would clip the teeth, which cloud create cracks in the root and lead to the dreaded abscesses.

 

[polly]

yeah offspring its adremel thing our vet uses too. i just don't know if they will get him on his back for long enough!!! thats why i wondered about the metacalm problem is he is over a year old and my vet has said that cause the front teeth calcify they can't take them out when they are older than a year!

 

[Pipp]

Metacam takes an awfully long time to work and it's hard on the kidneys.And I don't thinkit would relieve stress, it's anNSAIDpain killer, it never seems to make my guys calm or dopey.

There are other drugs that do act as traquilizers for situations like that, however. Definitely best to ask your vet.

Hope it allworks out.



sas :clover:

 

[ra7751]

Hi Polly,

First let me address the"metacalm". We have something like that in the US called Rescue Remedy. I would never use anything like that with my rabbits. While I am not opposed to using some of the holistic treatments....this is not one of them. A much safer and controllable event can be created by using something like valium or ketamine. And remember that some holistic treatments can interfere with drug therapies and there are often reactions that are not always positive.

We have a rabbit...check our blog for Noah...that has had all six of her incisors removed. She also has some molar issues. This is due to a broken jaw caused by being run over by a car. The surgery for either incisors or molars is a very difficult surgery...and the younger the rabbit, the more difficult. The roots are quite long and with younger buns, the teeth are much tighter. There is always the risk of a mandibular fracture when extracting these teeth. For dental surgeries....we do not use masking. It is better to intubate the rabbit as it is easier to maintain sedation and prevent aspiration of anything that might be a by-product of the procedure. Intubating a rabbit is done "blind" and very few vets have the skills to properly perform that procedure...but it is so much safer for the rabbit. It took about 72 hours of care post-op with sub-q fluids, lots of aggressive pain meds (narcotics) and just general TLC. We were wondering if we had made a good decision, but Noah fully recovered and we now realize it was the best thing we could have done for her. We have 3 other rabbits with malocclusion that will have their incisors removed over the next few months. You can also check out Yoshi on our blog...he has tusks that require trimming every few days. While we have found the first few days are quite stressful...to us and the bunny....we are convinced that it is in their best interests.

Randy

 

[polly]

*update*

Took him down this morning. They said no way they would take them out as he is over a year old and the bones have ossified!!

He did really well though and behaved brilliantly. The girl i got was a newbie though and she said that it wasn't caused by the surgery he had on his molars, i said maybe not but he didn't have probs with his front teeth before the surgery. so she told me that malocclusion only tends to show up after they are over a year oldonder:I was a bit like rubbish! most of the buns i have seen its before a year old and i have seen it by 4 weeks old. (well seen she wasn't one of the vets that knows i have over 17 rabbits) otherwise she wouldnt have bothered. I think she knew i wasn't very impressed then sh ehad the cheek to charge £12 for what she did (dido only used to cost me £4) So next time it will be Catrina. (she deals with the rabbits the most)

god help me from new vets that have never had a rabbit!! she wouldnt even pick him up in front of me Big give away!