Long back teeth

[qtipthebun]

When I took the Tipster to the vet the other day for her check-up, the vet told me that her right back teeth were a little long.

I've got her on the eighth cup pellets a day (that's all she usually gets anyway), and unlimited coastal hay. Is there anything else I can to do make her teeth normal? There's no way in hell she'd go for a tooth trimming...I was afraid she was going to break her back trying to get away from the vet when she tried to look in her mouth!!

Any suggestions?

 

[Margarita]

Wow 8 cups of pellets seems like a lot. Rabbits diet should be mostly hay and a small amount of pellets. Maybe your bunny isn't eating enough hay to trim her teeth because she is filling up on pellets.

My bunny is 3.6 pounds and only gets a quarter cup of pellets a day. The rest is hay. You might also want to get her chew sticks to help her teeth.

Just a suggestion.

 

[missyscove]

Margarita, I think she means 1/8 cup of pellets; half what you feed your bunny.


She'd need to be sedated to have her molars worked on. If your vet didn't suggest that I'm guessing they weren't too bad. Do you have access to any other types of hay? I like to provide a variety of grass hays since they're different textures and I think it gives the teeth a little more work to do.

 

[qtipthebun]

I have a little bit of timothy but it's hard to find by the bale here, so I just get it in pet store bags. And yes, I meant an eighth of a cup...she's just a little bitty thing, so....

Missy, will different types of hay help with her teeth?

 

[Margarita]

Sorry I read it wrong

 

[JBun]

Chew sticks may help as well. Apple wood, willow, even blocks of thoroughly dried pine wood

 

[qtipthebun]

She noms chew sticks like it's her job. That's why I was surprised that she had some long teeth. I guess she chews them with her front teeth....

 

[whitelop]

I second different hay varieties. Foo ate 4 types of hay a day and her vet said her teeth were great because of the different textures. Even if you just buy a bag of a few different kinds and give her a handful of them a day, that will help. Plus at just a handful or 2 a day from the bags, they'll last you a while.

 

[missyscove]

I'm not sure there's really any evidence that hay variety does or does not help their teeth, but it is something I've heard in the past as an option that might help. I would think things like wooden chews would do more wearing down of the incisors than the molars.