Please help. Rabbit has developed dental issues and I dont have a rabbit savvy vet

[BrownieDaisyandJasmine<3]

Im so sorry for logging in just to ask for advice, but I really really need your help

I have a 5 year old girl, Daisy who has developed dental issues.

The issue started 3 weeks ago when she stopped eating hay and drooling. She would still happily eat pellets and veg.

Took her to a local vet because I had no option. He looked inside her mouth with a scope (which kinda looked too big to fit in her mouth idk, do they have specialized scopes?) and said she had some spurs poking into her cheek and tongue.


Next day, she went in for the filing. He apparently used clippers and a file which I just found out is not a good way to do it. Some sort of burring tool is the best, if Im right.

Anyway, she came back and chowed down some greens 2 hours after the proceedure and was doing okay till 2-3 days after. Still didnt touch hay, but did start eating grass.

And then declined again. Wont eat grass or hay, went back to eating only greens and pellets like before, and the drooling came back.

Took her back, vet said sores have not healed and are starting to get infected. I asked for antibiotics but he said that could mess up her tummy so he told me to use an ear cleaning qtip to apply betadine inside her mouth twice a day.

Its been 3 days since, and no improvement, so I took her back and now he's saying the spurs are growing back and the sores are as bad as ever, so she has to go through trimming all over again.

I dont trust this vet anymore since during my research, I found most bunnies with molar spurs that are caught early go back to normal very quickly.

I couldnt get her spayed either for the same reason.

I think the main reason she stopped eating again is the sores but they dont seem to be getting better.

I know Im failing miserably at caring for them but had I known 5 years ago that they required this kind of vet care, I would not have got them.

I dont have the best family either who would care enough to help me get her to the only rabbit-savvy vet I know of who is 12 hours away.

I've tried my best to keep my trio healthy, free roaming them with access to the garden and the best diet (80% hay, 20% veg, pellets and treats) and I guess its worked so far but I dont know where to go from here.

Im devastated as I have previously lost
one from my trio due to the same reason. I hate to see her like this since she is the sassiest little baby I have ever seen and I love her to bits.

Please, I need any suggestions, anecdotes or anything else that might give me some hope.

Thank you so much for reading. Im rambling and I dont have it in me to put it in a better way right now

 

[JBun]

You're right. If the spurs were truly trimmed enough, and it's only been a week or two, they wouldn't have grown back enough to cause problems yet. That usually will take 4-8 weeks minimum, if it's a reoccurring problem. But if it has been 4 or more weeks since they were trimmed, then that could be the problem and you may need to take in for a trim again. But that doesn't rule out the possibility that there may be an infection causing problems as well.

If it's been less than 3 weeks since they were trimmed, the likely issue is they either didn't really get trimmed (unless you were there and saw it), they didn't get filed down very much that it's still causing problems; or if they did get trimmed enough, then it's probably the sores in the mouth causing problems, whether they are infected or not.

If you aren't sure about the teeth being trimmed enough, or whether or not there's actually infection, if you can get a meloxicam suspension, that could be tried first. It's an anti inflammatory pain med commonly used for mild to moderate pain in rabbits. If the only problem is there's mouth sores without infection, that need time to heal now the molar spurs are filed down, the meloxicam can help reduce the pain enough to facilitate this. I would give 0.5 mg/kg, twice a day, (dosage range 0.3-0.6mg/kg, 2x/day, but up to 0.75mg/kg 2x/day for a max of 5 days is sometimes prescribed) and see if that helps. If it does seem to, I would give for a week. But meloxicam shouldn't be given if a rabbit is being given corticosteroids or other NSAIDs already, has stomach ulcers, or kidney problems.

https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/drug-focus-meloxicam/

After meloxicam is tried, if symptoms return after stopping the meloxicam, or symptoms continue to worsen after starting the meloxicam, then there's likely either an infection present or the molar spurs weren't filed down at all, or not enough and are still rubbing. So you will either need to consider trying antibiotics or taking your rabbit in for another attempt at a molar trim.

If there truly is an infection, antibiotics do need to be used, or the infection will only continue to get worse and then could spread. The vet is right though, on some level about antibiotics and rabbits. You do have to be careful about which ones are used and how they're given. Some antibiotics when given orally in particular, will cause a fatal disruption to the rabbits digestive system, called enterotoxemia. So it's important to only use rabbit safe antibiotics given in the correct manner, as some are only safe given as injection only and never orally.

https://medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Safe_drugs_main.htm

https://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits

https://www.medirabbit.com/Unsafe_medication/dangerous_antibiotics.htm

If you can get the antibiotic enrofloxacin, this is generally considered safe for use with rabbits given orally, and is a common antibiotic prescribed to them. It is less prone to upset a rabbits digestive flora, but does taste bad to them so can sometimes be difficult to give it to them orally. It is usually dosed around 10mg/kg, twice a day. This is usually recommended to be given for a minimum of 4-6 weeks, and at least 2 weeks past the last of the symptoms clearing up. If you get it in tablet form, it will need to be crushed into a powder then mixed into something palatable as it's nasty tasting. I've used pure maple syrup as it's sweet and mixes in well.

https://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Treatment/Facial/abs_dental.htm

https://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Bacterial/Abscess/skin_abscess.htm

If you're able to buy the enrofloxacin as a premixed suspension liquid, just make sure it doesn't use a suspension with artificial sweeteners like xylitol or aspartame, as these have the potential to cause problems.

Though enrofloxacin is usually one of the safest antibiotics for rabbits, it's not always very effective. If you find it isn't helping with the infection by seeing any decrease in symptoms in the first 7-10 days, a different and more effective antibiotic will likely be needed, if the problem is in fact an infection and not sharp points still being present.

I've had really good success with oral azithromycin dosed at 50mg/kg once a day, as it penetrates tissue and bone well, and starts working quickly to significantly reduce symptoms, in 3 or 4 days. But I did find a more extended treatment period of 3-4 weeks was needed or the symptoms returned, and it seems to be best given on a mostly empty stomach, maybe an hour prior to feeding your rabbits usual meal. Though it will only be effective if the bacteria present is sensitive to it.

But though azithromycin is generally considered safe for rabbits, there is a rare chance of it causing severe digestive upset. The most I saw was minor stomach cramping and lack of appetite, that cleared up after a few hours and my rabbits returned to eating and acting normally, and didn't develop any poop issues or further stomach upset. But this risk of upset does need to be carefully evaluated as there have been rare cases of severe digestive upset where the antibiotic has to be immediately stopped and possible other treatment needed.

There are other antibiotics that can be tried if you can't get either of those, or you try those and they don't seem to help. But if you can get those medications, meloxicam is what I'd try first, then enrofloxacin and/or another molar trim. Then another antibiotic like azithromycin if none of those options help.