Guess who else has molar spurs?

[naturestee]

Mocha :grumpy:

:banghead

Good thing I brought her along with Lokifor a checkup! It's not bad, mostly overgrown molars with some tiny spurs but the vet wants them done before too long. They'll be getting their spurs ground down together in mid-April.

I know it's her breed, but you'd think the good diet she's been getting all her life would have helped a bit more.

BTW, she's 4 years old and eats hay like a pig.

 

[paul2641]

That's crappy luck sorry.:shock:

 

[Maureen Las]

these teeth problems are going to be the death of us yet..............

I think it's genetic (particularly with your rabbits having such a good diet)

 

[tonyshuman]

:yeahthat:

(sigh)

 

[Flash]

Well now you know that's she's prone to get them regardless of her diet. Flash gets them every 3-4 months, but at least she can be sedated to get to them.

I agree these teeth problems are going to bethe death of us.

 

[slavetoabunny]

Maybe you'll get lucky and it will be a one time event. Sparky had molar spurs a few years ago. I had them filed down and they never recurred.

 

[myheart]

I guess it does pay to bring the bunners in once a year for wellness exams. Zappa gets to go in few more months for her first-year check-up. Baby Zappa at one year old...:biggrin2:

Patch and Luna go again in few weeks. I feel bad for Patrick, because he is finally eating his greens again. It was so sad to see him sitting there watching the girls eat, while he sat in the toothless corner pouting.

Good luck with the dentals....

myheart

 

[naturestee]

That's the thing- I brought Mocha in because she hasn't been in for three years. I planned on getting Fey and Oberon in sometime in the next few months because they haven't been in for a few years either. I hope they don't have spurs too!:nerves1

Mocha will either be an absolute hellion or she'll come to me for comfort. My guess is hellion. Although she has been letting me pet her for a few seconds now and then.

 

[Pipp]

Not to say don't do the surgery, but from my experience, the vets seem to say that pretty often. I was just told that Radar (4.5-year-old mutt/lop/NZ cross?) has very bad teeth (from a visual exam) and that was from Dr. Martinez, a vet I trust, but Radar has never had stasis, gas or a even a reduced appetite his whole life (other than getting a celery string caught in his teeth).

I was told Scooter had bad teeth by the bad vet, even though the vet in L.A. before he got here never noticed.

And others I don't have time to list...


sas :bunnydance:

 

[SOOOSKA]

I'm curious, how do your Vets "ground" down their teeth?

When I had Winston at the Vets a couple of weeks ago she used an instrument and kind broke the spurs off. It took three of us to do it. I had to hold him down, he had a towel around him with my two arms at his sides pressing really tight so he didn't move. The assistant held his mouth open with an instrument and the Vet did her thing.

Is this the usual way that it's done?

Susan:?

 

[naturestee]

I don't know, Pipp. This is my favorite among the rabbit vets here, and he was using a video scope so I could see it on the monitor. I could see there was something wrong before he said anything. The molars are definitely too long, even compared to Loki's. His don't overgrow so much now as get a regular line of spurs all along one side.

Loki's molars were slightly off but not this bad about a year before he went into stasis from them. He was seen by the same vet, who said they weren't bad enough to do anything about other than diet changes as long as he was eating normally.

Actually, this vet is usually the last one to recommend surgery and will try all other options first.

FYI Myheart, it's Dr. Travis.

 

[naturestee]

Susan, I think the vets use some kind of rotary tool kind of like a dremel. I know all three of the vetshere that treat rabbits prefer grinding to clipping teeth. They do this under anesthesia so they can really get in there andget all the way to the back. It also lets them grind down the whole tooth if it's too long.

SOOOSKA wrote:

I'm curious, how do your Vets "ground" down their teeth?

When I had Winston at the Vets a couple of weeks ago she used an instrument and kind broke the spurs off. It took three of us to do it. I had to hold him down, he had a towel around him with my two arms at his sides pressing really tight so he didn't move. The assistant held his mouth open with an instrument and the Vet did her thing.

Is this the usual way that it's done?

Susan:?

 

[Boz]

Aww poor Mocha!
She is a little piggy! (and she's soooo adorable!)

I'm curious, is it expensive to file down molar spurs?

 

[Flash]

Usually they sedate a bunny to get in there, it's too stressful to do it manually for any bunny. My vet has to do it without sedation now and he uses a cone shape instrument with a light in there to see and he tries to knock off the spur with that. Sometimes he's successful and sometimes not. When he used to sedate Flash he showed me a Revlon file he uses for spurs.

I asked him to come up with a thimble like shape to go on his finger to get in there with it being rough on one side for those that can't be sedated anymore, and he looked at me like you got something there.

 

[Pipp]

SOOOSKA wrote:

I'm curious, how do your Vets "ground" down their teeth?

When I had Winston at the Vets a couple of weeks ago she used an instrument and kind broke the spurs off. It took three of us to do it. I had to hold him down, he had a towel around him with my two arms at his sides pressing really tight so he didn't move. The assistant held his mouth open with an instrument and the Vet did her thing.

Is this the usual way that it's done?

Nope, not usual at all, but a hot debate topic. Dana Krempels recently posted something about doing her own spur surgery on a very calm rabbit, and continuing the practice once she got good at it.

It is something only for the experienced because the wrong movement could mean a severed blood vessel, which I've seen (in posts) happen more than once. However, that is something that can also happen (and has) with a slip-up on an unconscious rabbit.

My preferred method of treatment is a sedative (my vet uses a pretty safe one called Domitor) with another shot of another drug to wake them up. Gas puts them under too deeply and affects more organs, not to mention the added hassle of dealing with a mask.



Naturestee wrote: .I'm not saying the vet is gouging or wrong or anything of the sort, I'm just saying that I think a lot of rabbits will have overgrown spurs that don't cause them any trouble. I personally wait for Pipp to show signs, and will probably do the same with Radar. It is an easy fix, a few days of soft food isn't going to do any damage, so I'd rather wait and budget for a definite need.

The irregular growth (on one side but not the other) may be more of an issue than the overgrowth.

And Boz, my vet was charging around $80 but I think the price has gone up to $125. ssd:


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Pipp]

Flash wrote:

I asked him to come up with a thimble like shape to go on his finger to get in there with it being rough on one side for those that can't be sedated anymore, and he looked at me like you got something there.

Hey, this sounds like a brilliant idea to me!!


sas :bunnydance:

 

[naturestee]

With his prices, I'm not worried about gouging. I do like how regular grinding has kept Loki and Luna from getting stasis from spurs again. For some buns they do grow back pretty quickly and start causing problems again. Loki's been starting to have some off days, I'm hoping he lasts till his appointment. I'm not sure if it's from the teeth or the heavy molting though.

Boz, at our clinic the full bill for a molar grind is roughly $50 depending on how long it takes and whether you need pain meds or have some left at home (few bucks). Which is pretty darn sweet.

 

[naturestee]

Both Mocha and Loki had their molar spurs ground down today. Loki is normal for him- meaning acting a bit uncomfortable, slightly spacey/preoccupied, but eating some. Mocha came bouncing out of her travel kennel fully alert and looking for food. She's eating everything and in large amounts, including mass quantities of hay. If I didn't know better I would think she hadn't had anything done at all. But it does make me think her teeth were causing her some pain before. In any case, I'm not giving her the Metacam unless she shows signs of discomfort. She hates to be touched and if she's acting like this the stress isn't worth what pain relief she needs.

 

[Maureen Las]

I wouldn't give the metacam either.
I'm glad that they are both OK

 

[naturestee]

Well, someone is unusually happy today. In fact, she flopped in the living room, which she almost never does! And here I was expecting Mocha to be a grumpy little wench after the horrors of veterinary treatment. Shows what I know.