teeth wearing down at an angle

[SnowyShiloh]

I look at Phoebe Mae's teeth a couple times a week to make sure they look alright, and tonight I had quite the surprise! Her top teeth are wearing evenly, but her bottom teeth are wearing very slanted. The top surface of the teeth are probably at a 75 degree angle! The teeth themselves are perfectly straight (so they aren't sticking out or anything), the bottom ones are just wearing oddly. She has a lot of things to chew in her cage and loves to rip up her phone book and chew on thick cardboard. However, recently she's taken to chewing on the cage bars a lot. Could that be causing the problem?

 

[Maureen Las]

I know that cage bars can damage teeth but I don't know in what way....maybe it is the cage bars :?
Ikeep mine in x-pens so they don't chew to try to get out.

probably should have a vet look at her teeth, maybe they need to be filed

I hope that someone here has a method to prevent cage bar chewing.

 

[Flashy]

In terms of the bars, how big are they and does she have a particular time when she chews on them?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Phoebe has a willow basket, a tunnel made of thick cardboard, a phone book and some apple wood sticks in her cage to chew on. She plays with all of them. You know those knotty nut toys? These:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p_25481_34265PZ.jpg

I bought her the honking big $10 one at the pet store tonight, as well as another chew thing. At the moment she's chewing the other toy. I got one for Rory as well and he's chewing his too!

I think she's chewing on the bars because she wants to come out of her cage to play or is bored. She doesn't do it all the time by any means, but the past few days I've been hearing it some every day. She comes out of her cage for several hours every day, but unfortunately we have a small apartment and Rory and Skyler need to come out too! We'll see if the new toys help keep her from chewing on the cage bars, I hope so

 

[JadeIcing]

I have this issue with one of my gps from chewing on his bars.

 

[pamnock]

I've seen this happen occasionally. I would just keep a close watch on them, and possibly have the vet check to be certain there are no molar issues causing an abnormal chewing pattern. I'm not sure that the cage bars are causing the problem, but it's possible. In those cases, I've seen rabbits pull their teeth forward, break them offor pull them completely out.



Pam

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Pam, I'll make an appointment soon to have Phoebs seen by the vet. I wanted to have the vet look her over before she gets spayed anyway. Also, Phoebe has balls and other toys in her cage too- I just listed the chewable ones before! She likes her toys.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Good news is Phoebs teeth are looking straight again! Maybe the extra chew toys have helped. I haven't heard her chew her cage bars the past couple days. We're going to try spraying some bitter apple on the bars to see if that will deter her.