Desperate plea:Are there any good dental vets?

Hello,

Am desperately trying to find a good vet that can do 'burring' treatment of the molars (reducing spurs & overgrown crowns) and can do it effectively and without causing any soft tissue damage afterwards.

I have gone through numerous dentals now and despite having to change vets about 5 times in the past 6 months, (that includes a visit to David Crossley also) my bunny has come out and not been able to eat any better, infact, most of the time, she comes out in worse state than before she went in.

My most recent example is that a new vet I took Pepsi to performed dental burring just over a week ago and 24 hours later she was chewing all oddly with her tongue, dipping it out of her mouth, having difficulty chewing and acting in more pain. I got her back to the vets next day as I thought it sounded like a 24hr post-op swelling type of problem. Indeed, her tongue was swollen, vet said as a result from traction from the burring, he said he wasn't that worried about it. My rabbit is not happy though and its been a very stressful week, its even hurting her when I syringe feed her and I've got to do that because she can't eat for herself. I should stress that she's been back to this vet twice for heavy duty pain meds and is on metacam also. She still cannot eat much and I'm not happy with the situation as she has been through this type of recovery many times before. Help!!

Also, I have recently just lost my 9 year old who was in for a dental under a GA with my previous vet. However, she was coming round from the GA when she suffered a heart attack, I am suspecting she woke up in some sort of horrible pain. I found out couple of days later after I lost her that x-rays taken few weeks before showed a jaw dislocation too, which I never knew and was shocked to find out. I am sure this contributed to her feeling uncomfortable and added to the additional stress she had of being put through repeated dentals. I have left this vet now.

I would be very grateful to hear of anyone who is satisfied and has good recoveries with their bunnies from regular dental treatments, in particular removing spurs & overgrown crowns. I live in Shropshire, but am near to Staffordshire/Cheshire, have gone as far as Manchester on previous occasions. Also, can you state whether your bunny receives 'burring' or just 'clipping' as I am now wondering whether a more simpler treatment of just clipping would be in the best interests of my remaining rabbit.

Thanks


Sue

Theres some good dental vets in Gamston, pm Jill (honeybunny), they do burring without GA

hope you find someone

Same distance as manchester

Have you tried contacting any local rescues to find out which vets they use?

Amy

You may find this helpful for future reference:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=113169&highlight=recommended

oh i'm so sorry to hear the traumatic time you've had with your bunny. I dont really have anything useful to add but miffy's had her teeth burred 4 times since August under general anaesthetic and has eaten like she's never eaten before once she's home but foods like hay have taken a few days for her to try again and due to her usually becoming unwell out of hours she's been to 4 different vets to have it done, one was the petmedics in manchester one ashleigh rabbit specialists in manchester, our regular vets in wigan and emergency vets in warrington.

Hope your bunny gets better soon the poor thing x

Thanks for replies so far, have read with interest the links you sent Sooz, I have never heard of spurs being removed in that way, only heard of the 'burring' method or regular clippers. I have no idea if I could find a vet that would use that method, but it does sound like a safer way.

I guess it does depend on the amount of work a bunny needs doing though, Pepsi was put under GA for 45 minutes at her last dental, so her work goes beyond just a simple clipping really. There is no way she would be able to handle this without a full GA unfortunately and she gets stressed just going out in the car and being examined, so I can't imagine her having a dental done without it.

I don't let Pepsi's teeth get burred down to gum level anymore because she had such a poor time with recovery the one time it was done. Many people say it does require extra pain meds and worth it in long run, but that wasn't my experience, unless the vet that did it, injured her mouth so bad, she couldn't eat after anyway. Just seems I can't find anyone to do a dental on her and for her to be in less pain after and be able to eat.

Thanks for your message nina, my bunnies visited Ashleigh practice in Manchester too, but I had a bad experience with them, one of my rabbits came away with a bruised cheek after a dental with them and also they were put on very high dosages of metacam and my bunnies were only small, so I did not agree with them and ended up leaving them too. I had to put my rabbits on sulcrafate medicine to help from all the high metacam as one of them was developing gas pain all the time and we suspected ulcers.

Just seems I have no luck with the vets I use,

Sue

Aww so sorry to hear that i'm sure you'll find one. ITs horrid i remember the first vets we had i left them when they wouldnt examine parsley who suddenly couldnt walk and i spent the whole day on the phone ringing people and luckily found the vets im with now who were only across the road lol. Petmedics are very good in manchester but theyre not specifically rabbit specialists but they do refer on when they don't know hat to do but hmm if you've had a bad experience with ashleigh that might not be suitable coz thats where they send them. Hmm sorry i cant be more help i really do hope you find somewhere xx

The method described in my link is designed to be used under GA. I, and my vet, do not believe a good or safe molar dental can be done when the rabbit is conscious.

Anita mentioned teaching me to do it on a placid rabbit as an interim measure for emergencies or between treatments to remove, say, one or two small spurs, but my personal preference would be to have a professional do it everytime.

I hope you manage to sort something out, Im guessing Sheffield is a bit far to travel.

Have you called the RWA?

Have sent you PM.

Hi Sooz,

yes, unfortunately I think Sheffield too far, I have called the RWA for Rabbit-saavy vets in my area and I have been to the ones that have been recommended already. Only one or two really, we were going out of our way to get up to Manchester really, but as I said I was not happy with the treatment my rabbits received from there.

I really am very desperate, I don't know where to take Pepsi next. Its actually a week on now since her last dental and she can't chew properly at all, just watched her try to eat some carrot-tops and her tongue is still dipping out her mouth and she's chewing like its getting all caught up on something, I'm not even sure he's got all the spurs taken care of. I was told her tongue injury was only minor but she's taken a week of heavy pain meds to get over this and still is not any better.

This is why I was hoping to hear from anybody living within around the countines close to me really, if I had recommendations from somebody else who was happy with their vets (and thier dental work) that would be a huge relief for me and I'd happily try them.

Shropshire/Stafffordshire/Chesire areas would be good, but can reach other places like N.Wales, possible Chester, Wrexham areas too. I used to travel to Wolverhampton for a while too, but would consider again if anybody can recommend vets around this area too.

Thanks again,

Sue

Capel (hilda) is in Chester and Karen 354 is in Wrexham, perhaps PM them to ask about there vets and dental work?

Are there any good dental vets?

Thanks Sooz,

I will get in touch with them, also, just wondered with the 'technique' your vet uses for getting rid of the spurs, would that method work for any spurs anywhere in the mouth, Pepsi has had some backward facing spurs on the most furthest back molars in the mouth, possibly really awkward to get at, just wondering if it is really effective for all spurs everywhere?

Also, just incase I do re-consider Sheffield as an option, could you let me know your vets details anyway. It is quite a distance for me to go, but I'd like to keep that option available just incase. Do you know what anaesthetic techniques your vet uses also? Pepsi has been used to having 'Isoflurane' and 'Sevoflurane' at her last few dentals. I also prefer her to be masked rather than tubed.

Sue

SueMarketDraytonUK said:

Thanks Sooz,

I will get in touch with them, also, just wondered with the 'technique' your vet uses for getting rid of the spurs, would that method work for any spurs anywhere in the mouth, Pepsi has had some backward facing spurs on the most furthest back molars in the mouth, possibly really awkward to get at, just wondering if it is really effective for all spurs everywhere?

Also, just incase I do re-consider Sheffield as an option, could you let me know your vets details anyway. It is quite a distance for me to go, but I'd like to keep that option available just incase. Do you know what anaesthetic techniques your vet uses also? Pepsi has been used to having 'Isoflurane' and 'Sevoflurane' at her last few dentals. I also prefer her to be masked rather than tubed.

Sue

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Anita prefers to mask rather than intubate rabbits and uses Isofluorine. I will PM my vets details.

I believe the technique is useful for any tooth as it was used on Pippa's fifth molar in the furthest oral recess.

It IS expensive at this vets though and you must make sure only Anita performs the procedure, the others use different techniques.

She will willingly explain it all to you if you explain the problems you have had.

Sooz

YHM

hya if your in stoke on trent you could visit poolfarm vets in madeley.they are brilliant!!!ask caismeister!x

My vets usually do dentals conscious. Although they sometimes have to give rabbits a slight whiff of gas if they don't think they can do it whilst the rabbit is fully aware.

I *think* the method they use is a manual rasp, like vets use for horses teeth (but smaller obviously). This method only works for small spurs, so perhaps it wouldn't be suitable for Pepsi? Mind you, if you find a local vet who can do this method, then perhaps Pepsi could have a regular dental every week, so the problem doesn't escalate?

I was a bit dubious at first, but it honestly doesn't upset the rabbit at all. Mine have been eating within minutes of the procedure.

Amy

My bunny Goofball has 2 dental operation, one is under a GA, the other one should be under a GA. The vet who did the one under GA is very experience, he's a exotic pet specialist, who specialize in rabbit.

So my experience w/ vet w/ good dental experience is a good rabbit specialist vet in general.

The vet who deals with the rescue I help at specialises in dental work, and won't let any other vet in the practice touch dentals.
It's in Alvechurch in Worcs, but don't know if that's too far for you
Acorn Vets 0121-445-1191 or the Studley branch (which is where I think most of the dentals are done 01527-853304. Postcode is B80 7HR if you want to check distance.

kim davies said:

hya if your in stoke on trent you could visit poolfarm vets in madeley.they are brilliant!!!ask caismeister!x

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Never had dentals done there though never needed to so don't know how they are with teeth although they are good at everything else

I have dentals at my vets which is in Wolves, my one bunny is done like every other month, it's Cavan 01902 784555

Thank you everyone for all these suggestions, I am looking into all of them and hopefully will be able to find someone to help my bunny soon.

Please keep adding, if you can recommend anyone else that is good or comes highly recommended at performing rabbit dentistry.

Truly appreciated!

Sue