He's not eating...checked his teeth-not sure if this is normal

[lilangelhotots]

Hi Everyone,

Well my little guy is not eating today. For the past 3 days I've noticed a decline in his appetite. He's a3 year old Polish buck I purchased from a breeder less than a month ago. We love him so much, especially my daughter, so I'm really worried about him. He Is pooping normally so I know he is getting something down. When I looked at his teeth this morning, I noticed that there is a indent in his top two teeth, kinda like what an old horse would have and need it's teeth floated. Is this normal for an older rabbit? What should I do? The picture is taked directly from the Side-his nose just makes it look angled but it's not.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Lindsey

 

[Orchid]

I will be keeping you and your bun in my thoughts. I hope he starts feeling better soon!

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

I am kind of having a hard time seeing it as it is at the angle, they dont look straight across and i cant seet hem with his bottom teeth.



If there is any questions about his teeth I would get him to a vet to get them checked out. If he is having any trouble with his front teeth it can easily cause trouble with his back teeth. I dont know anything about Horse teeth so i dont get the comparison,lol. I am pretty sure that the teeth should be straight across and even.


http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11901&forum_id=10

 

[lilangelhotots]

Here's a better picture, this is a side view of his top and bottom teeth...does anyone else's rabbit's teeth look like this? Maybe I'm looking at something normal.

 

[lilangelhotots]

AH! Thanks Luvmyzoocrew, I didn't notice that you edited your post, I'll check out the links.

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Oh my they are awfully pointy i would be worried of the points to keep growing , because it looks like his teeth might not be alligned right. I would defintely get him to the vet and have his teeth checked out thoroughly. When they have problems with there front teeth they can also need there back teeth trimmed also so if your vet checks the teeth they need to look at the back ones also.



If his teeth need to be trimmed it usually isnt a big deal, I have a lop that has to have his teeth trimmed and we recently had him in for suregery to remove them completely but there were complications with the type of anesthesia and we were unable to have them removed so we will keep trimming them. My vet uses the clipper type trimmers, but i know they arent really reccommended. Good luck, keep us updated with what happens.

 

[naturestee]

I'll have to go look at my rabbits' teeth from that side angle. Hmm.

I do know that what is more likely to be a problem is molars, which you won't be able to see yourself. Malocclusion (misshapen front teeth) usually shows up when the rabbit was young, or maybe if he knocked them out of alignment in an accident. Molar spurs are like the spurs horses get on their molars- little sharp spots that haven't been worn down properly and need a vet to file/grind them down. But rabbit mouths are so small that they need to be anesthetized for the vet to be able to get in there and do the work.

First things first though, get him some fluids. Is he drinking on his own? Will he eat soft stuff like canned pumpkin (good for fiber and fluids)? If he's not drinking you'll need to syringe water or Pedialyte into his mouth. You can also syringe a little food into his mouth. I do this if they haven't been eating for 24 hours or so. You can make a slurry out of his pellets by grinding them up and letting them soak in water for 15 minutes or so.

How does his stomach feel? Is it softer than normal, or harder? If you put your ear to his stomach, do you hear sounds? If so, do they seem unusually loud and violent or no? What have his poops been looking like?

This is an article I wrote on GI stasis, you should really read it. It can help suggest some basic treatments like gas meds that you can do at home, and how to determine if it's time to run to the vet:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=28622&forum_id=10

 

[lilangelhotots]

Thank you all for such a wealth of information! I'm bookmarking most of it for future reference.

Naturestee, I listened for bowel sounds and they were *very* hypoactive. I think I heard one small gurgle...I palpated and everything felt fine, felt normal cecals too. He hasn't touched his water, I marked his bottle and will check it in the morning. I force fed some water through a 1 cc syringe(he put up a fight though), I'll mash some feed early in the morning and offer ituntil I can get him to a vet. Poor little sweetie, he's sat in the corner of his cage all afternoon. Keep him in your prayers.ray:

*edited to add: His name is BeeBo, I don't think I mentioned his name before. Hannah held her BeeBo for a couple hours tonite, he actually closed his eyes, it was so sweet! Here's a picture of them both:

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Aw poor BeeBo! The picture of him and your daughter didn't show up, but I'll bet it's cute! One quick question, are his gut sounds normal, loud or quiet? You said they were very hypoactive, which would mean they were very quiet and not doing anything but you heard one gurgle. I'm just making sure you didn't mean they were very hypERactive. This confused me and it could make a big difference in our mental image of his health, so I thought it was worth pointing out

 

[pamnock]

His incisors are normal. It's a good photo showing the set of "peg" teeth behind the front incisors, unique to lagomorphs. (Total of 6 incisors rather than 4 that rodents have). Generally these teeth are set deeper in the gum and harder to see, but occasionally they are a little longer. Like the other teeth, they grow continually. And yes, rabbit's teeth are normally very "pointy" and sharp.

Molar spurs can cause decrease in appetite, as can many other causes.

When my rabbits go off feed, I immediately start giving Nutri Cal. (High calorie dog/cat supplement). Also helps keep the rabbits hydrated.

Pam

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

pamnock wrote:

His incisors are normal. It's a good photo showing the set of "peg" teeth behind the front incisors, unique to lagomorphs. (Total of 6 incisors rather than 4 that rodents have). Generally these teeth are set deeper in the gum and harder to see, but occasionally they are a little longer. Like the other teeth, they grow continually. And yes, rabbit's teeth are normally very "pointy" and sharp.


Pam

Ha I wasnt looking at the picture like that but now that you said that i went back and looked and , of course , you are right,lol. When i looked at the pic to me it looked like the peg tooth was the other front tooth and sort of went up in the middle like and upside down v , if that makes sense. Thanks Pam now i see the picture the right way.

 

[lilangelhotots]

Update! We just got back from the vet and he said everything looked fine, sounded good. :dancingorig:I wish we had a vet that was rabbit savvy, he told me that he didn't know a lot about rabbits and if he got worse to bring him back...apparently I'm the only one withbunnies in this area as our feed store has to order my feed a week before we need it.

Anyway, the GOOD news is that when I got him home, I put in some hay and he went right to eating it!!! YAY! He has fresh papers so I can monitor his droppings/urine output for today.

Thank you ALL for your prayer and support, it means so much tousand BeeBo seems to be on the road to health again. :group:Thank you Lord!!! Still keep BeeBo in your prayers.