Malocclusion and hair loss

[BBBunny]

AGE - 18 months ish
SEX - neutered male
BREED - dwarf casmere lop
DIET - Commerical pellets, hay and grains with occassional fresh fruit and vegies
HOUSING - House rabbit with own space, no straw/hay bedding, mostly indoors. Outdoors cage/house on grass.

Since we have owned our BB Bunny he has always had an issue with his teeth in that they dont match and therefore dont wear away, it is only an issue with his incisiors , the other teeth are perfect. His bottom teeth grow out of the mouth and his top grow around and in. I have been taking him to the vet every month (about 4 weeks) to have this trimmed back. The longest he has ever made has been around 6 - 7 weeks.

The vet has discussed the possibility of removing these teeth altogether. My question is, is this the best approach for this? Im not comfortable trimming them myself as I fear that I will cause him serious injury. Hence our monthly visit to the vet.

The second question is related to his coat. Ive taken the poor thing to the vet about this one too, he just seems to get bald all of a sudden. I try to keep his coat from being matted, but his under arms and leg creases are a bit of a bother (tips for that would be awesome). But his hiney is going bald again. The last time this happened the vet diagnosed a "mite" and gave us some low dose drops to put on his neck for cats. It cleared up and then he started again though no little white flakes visable, she gave him a steriod injection to stop this itch and kept with the drops. It stopped.

It warming up again and its started again. Has anyone had an experience like this? This time it is much worse and seems to coincide with the heat.

Please help, my poor boy is looking very sad and sorry and I just want to make him all better. Thank you :cry1:

 

[LakeCondo]

I don't know about the teeth, but I know other people have had their rabbit's incisors removed. As a rabbit gets older the filing gets more stressful, I would think, which would make removal sound good.

About the hair loss, as it's related to hot weather & cleared up before using external drops, it certainly sounds like mites. So a source outside sounds likely. Do you treat the outside area with anything to keep mites etc from wild rabbits & other animals from getting on him? I especially like spreading food-grade diatomaceous earth in the area, the day before I plan to take Honey outside. As long as humans or animals don't breathe a lot of it,it's completely harmless to all but insects & such.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

AGE - 18 months ish
SEX - neutered male
BREED - dwarf casmere lop
DIET - Commerical pellets, hay and grains with occassional fresh fruit and vegies
HOUSING - House rabbit with own space, no straw/hay bedding, mostly indoors. Outdoors cage/house on grass.

Since we have owned our BB Bunny he has always had an issue with his teeth in that they dont match and therefore dont wear away, it is only an issue with his incisiors , the other teeth are perfect. His bottom teeth grow out of the mouth and his top grow around and in. I have been taking him to the vet every month (about 4 weeks) to have this trimmed back. The longest he has ever made has been around 6 - 7 weeks.

The vet has discussed the possibility of removing these teeth altogether. My question is, is this the best approach for this? Im not comfortable trimming them myself as I fear that I will cause him serious injury. Hence our monthly visit to the vet.

The second question is related to his coat. Ive taken the poor thing to the vet about this one too, he just seems to get bald all of a sudden. I try to keep his coat from being matted, but his under arms and leg creases are a bit of a bother (tips for that would be awesome). But his hiney is going bald again. The last time this happened the vet diagnosed a "mite" and gave us some low dose drops to put on his neck for cats. It cleared up and then he started again though no little white flakes visable, she gave him a steriod injection to stop this itch and kept with the drops. It stopped.

It warming up again and its started again. Has anyone had an experience like this? This time it is much worse and seems to coincide with the heat.

Please help, my poor boy is looking very sad and sorry and I just want to make him all better. Thank you :cry1:

--lets get this link to you first http://www.medirabbit.com sounds like you have a good dvm -but perhaps not an exotic vet--australian government has a bad history with rabbits.-if you can-get the bunz vaccinated against myxi virus,--it is deadly,--teeth,in my opinion should not be removed unless there is infection/disease-,-teeth are required for proper chewing of grasses which control growth of them--and maintain proper balance of the gi tract flora-(bacteria)--as far as fur lose-(not molting)--it could just be a dietary issue,--but check medirabbit--dietary and urine scalding-,--as time permits-let us know what happens,--sincerely james waller :bunnyheart:anotherbun

 

[missyscove]

If he goes outside regularly, he could very well be reinfecting himself with some sort of mite although I would want a skin scraping to confirm a mite as it could also be something like a fungus or a hormonal issue.

As far as the teeth go, yes removing the incisors is probably your best bet. You'll need both the top and bottom incisors removed and then he will no longer need his teeth trimmed.