I'm so nervous ......

[BunnieMom]

I'm new to this site - and I hope some of you can help calm me down a little.
I have two rabbits - Jasmin at almost 10 years old and Abu, only 4.5 months old. Abu is full of life and a very sweet and loving little bunny
July 1st I went to the vet to get Abu neutered, when he was under anastetic the vet took at look at his teeth at the same time..... unfortunately his has a severe under bite and his front teeth doesn't look normal - they are growing out of his mouth instead of being in line with one another.
As he is full of life and doesn't suffer from any other illness my vet suggested to have the front teeth removed - she told me it would not be a problem for him - specially not with me as his bunny mom. He doesn't eat carrots today, never have (now I know why) unless they are grinded due to the issue with his front teeth.
The decession to have his incisoirs removed has been made - it will be done tomorrow.
My issue however is, will my little baby be able to have an almost normal bunny life once his teeth has been removed? Anyone has experience with bunnies without incisors?
I have had rabbits for more than 30 years - but never one with bad incisors - any calming stories and advices are a great help for me as I'm really really nervous.
My vet is a specialist in rabbit diseases and teeth issues and she is the only one who does this kind of operation at the hospital.

SORRY FOR THE LONG POST ;-)

 

[JBun]

Rabbits really only use their front teeth to strip hard plants or cut them. So like with stripping bits off carrots, other hard veggies, stripping bark off branches, snipping a long stem of hay, things like that. But with some minor changes in cutting up certain foods, a rabbit without incisors can do just fine. You may have to cut veggies into smaller pieces and strips, or possibly snip long strands of hay a bit shorter. Most rabbits can adapt pretty well. Your rabbit is young, so should adapt pretty easily.

Is the vet removing both the top and bottom incisors, and peg teeth?

There are some links to owner experiences here:
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Malocclusion
Some presurgical info on this link:

 

[BunnieMom]

Thank you JBun
All 6 teeth will be removed tomorrow….. since I got him he would only drink from a bowl and he would never eat anything hard like carrots unless it was grinder, so I had a suspension something was wrong….. I’m just happy he ended up with my husband and me - cause then he got a second chance to have a looooong and happy bunny life with us
The vet is specialised in dental issues with rabbits.
After reading the posts and some of the experiences I’m pretty sure Abu will have a good life once the incisors has been removed…..

 

[BunnieMom]

Hi again,
I just got a call from the vet - the operation went very well - but, cause there is always a but when you are talking about a bunny - he did not have any peg teeth.....the vet have seen it a few times before, he has been x-ray and there is no peg teeth - the good thing is it has made the operation a lot easier to deal with.
Now I'm just waiting for him to wake up at the vet, once he is awake I can get him home to Jasmin....❤

 

[JBun]

That's great to hear! At least the 'but' was a good one. That's very interesting he didn't have peg teeth.

 

[BunnieMom]

And here he is my little baby
“Look at me mom - I can wash my feet now
I also eat a little hay and carrot - but I will not eat critical care….”

How do I get him to eat critical care? He bites at me at spit out what I manage to get in his tiny mouth
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[JBun]

You could see if he will eat it himself from a shallow dish. Or try making a mush from his usual pellets and see if he's more inclined to eat that. But if not, he'll have to be syringe fed. I hold them, with one hand kind of cupped behind their head, then stick the syringe in the side of the mouth and give a little squirt, just enough for them to chew and swallow. You just don't want to squirt too much in at a time, as you don't want to risk your rabbit aspirating it. If when you squirt a little in, he doesn't swallow, or spits it out, then you will need to talk to your vet right away, as he may need to be hospitalized if he won't swallow food. It can also mean there is something critically wrong, and he needs to be checked immediately.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Medicating_your_rabbit
Also make sure his ears aren't ice cold(reflects body temp). If he's too cold, as rabbits can become hypothermic after anesthesia, then he won't likely want to eat.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

 

[Moonshadow]

When my bunny needed critical care (he had a broken jaw that was healing) the vet gave him apple-banana flavored. Min-Min absolutely hated it and repeatedly struggled and spit it out. A friend ended up dropping off papaya flavored critical care and he liked that one a lot better (at first just tolerated it but then started to actually look forward to being given it).

I think oxbow critical care has three flavors apple-banana, anise, and papaya. Maybe your bun will tolerate one of them better than another.

 

[BunnieMom]

We were really struggeling with him yesterday evening and had to give up with the critical care - he was so stressed and angry, and he had already eaten a little hay and some grinded carrots but I also wanted him to have some critical care to get his stomach started - but as I said, we had to give up

This morning he had eaten the rest of the grinded carrots but not his pellets, so my husband and I was discussing tactic on how to surringe feed him - while we were talking tactics - Abu just went to his bowl with pellets and started eating, he ate 43 pellets......I almost cried of joy.....then we just needed to give him metacam for pain - this is a lot easier.....

As a reward for beeing so nice this morning, his little carrot bowl were filled with fresh grinded carrots.....
He doen't seem to be in any pain, and everytime I open his cage he is ready to jump. He is an cage to keep him calm and to control what he is eating and how much, in a few days he will be free to go wherever he wants in the house, just not outside yet - he has to wait untill his wound has healed.
Now he is just relaxing, washing himself and eating carrots...

 

[JBun]

You just want to be careful not to overdo the carrots, as they are a sugary food and could cause mushy cecals when too much is consumed, especially if he isn't used to eating them. If he's used to getting leafy greens, I've had the best luck getting my rabbits eating after surgery, by feeding their usual leafy greens. One rabbit wouldn't eat anything but leafy greens for two days following his neuter. If possible, it's best to stick with the greens your rabbits digestion is already adapted to. And of course, they would need to be cut up in pieces or strips so he can eat them without too much of a problem, now those front teeth are gone.

 

[Cef81]

My little guy loves cilantro and parsley will eat little kale does not like sage or rosemary maybe your bun will like something like that I always like more of a variety the better specially with greens and herbs .