Teeth

[2buns]

Hi,



My 18 month old bun has been to the vets twice in the past 3 months for operations on his over grown teeth. He eats plenty of fresh and dried food.



What can I do to stop this happening again?

 

[Pipp]

Here's a good article on rabbit teeth. Which teeth are the problems? If it's the front teeth, you may be able to trim them yourself, just get the vet to show you how. (It's not as daunting as it sounds).

If it's the molars, you're probably stuck with regular vet visits. You can try a variety of shapes and sizes of pellets (that's one reason Imix three different brands together formy bunny Pipp)and lots of hay so he uses a variety of grinding motions, but any improvement is unlikely to be too substantial.

Dental Problems in Rabbits (Dana Krempels, Ph.D)

[url]http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html[/url]


Good luck and let us know how it goes!

SAS and PIPP :nerves1 (who hates bunny dentists with a passion!)

 

[TinysMom]

Pipp wrote:

Here's a good article on rabbit teeth. Which teeth are the problems? If it's the front teeth, you may be able to trim them yourself, just get the vet to show you how. (It's not as daunting as it sounds).

Front teeth are easy to do once you and the rabbit both get used to it. SugarBear shows me his teeth through the bars when they need trimming (its so cute) and we trim them right away. He just sort of closes his eyesand lays there while Art trims his teeth.

I had the problem of buying some rabbits from another breeder and having them develop malcolussion after they aged a bit more. We don't breed them (obviously) and we check their teeth on a regular basis...but most of my rabbits are just fine with getting their teeth trimmed.

Back teeth - definitely need a vet visit and I think my vet told me that they could be pulled - BUT - I don't remember for sure...so don't quote me on that.

You're in my thoughts and prayers...

Peg

 

[naturestee]

Front teeth are more able to be pulled than the molars, and I know Northern Dancer had this done on one of hers that had really bad front teeth. If he's having that much of a problem at this young age it is likely to be genetic.

This is a story of a bun who's front teeth were pulled- his teeth were so bad that he needed tooth trims every two weeks.:shock:
http://www.ontariorabbits.org/health/healthinfo3.1.html

And this thread has pictures of a member trimming her rabbit's teeth. You should have your vet show you how to do it first, to make sure you do it correctly.
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=10064&forum_id=1&highlight=maloccusion

 

[2buns]

Thanks for all your comments and advice. Sadly it's his molars so he's going in for another op today - I just feel so sorry for him!

 

[naturestee]

How do you know when he has to go back in? Does he eat less and have pain symptoms, or did your vet recommend it? I'm just asking because there have been problems with vets trimming teeth that didn't need it. There is another member on here who's rabbit has frequent molar spurs- I'll try to dig up a thread on it.

 

[2buns]

Thanks,

He has shown symptoms over the past few days - eating less, being very needy and gnoring on anything hard. Any info would be very much appriciated!

 

[naturestee]

Here's the thread:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=8777&forum_id=1

You could try sending a pm to ditty816, the original poster. In the article, she said that her vet told her to cut back pellets as much as possible, and feed lots of hay and vegetables.

On another forum, some people recommend feeding multiple types/shapes of pellets together. They have to be chewed in different ways, so they wear the teeth down differently.

 

[2buns]

Thanks, I've just dropped Mandy a line - I'll let you know how I get on.

Have just heard from the vets that he's come round from the op ok - lots of cuddles for him tonight!!