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Dribbling, weight loss but not teeth?

S

spider

Warren Scout
Hi,

One of the rabbits I took in last year and found a home with my friend has started losing weight and has saliva around her mouth. Her sister is fine. She was taken to the vets today and her teeth were found to be fine, as this was my initial thought. The vet wasn't sure what was wrong but prescribed Baytril to 'see how she goes'. I don't think much of the vets she used but it was the only one she could get to in her lunch hour. I've recommended she take her to another vet a little further away when she is able to on Friday.

In the mean time can anyone suggest what might be the problem? She has no symptoms other than weight loss and dribbling, although the vet thought there may be some swelling in the back of the mouth but she wasn't certain.

I've tried researching into this but I've not found anything other than molar spurs. Can anyone please point me in the right direction?

Many thanks,
Clare
 
I have also heard that excess dribbling can be a sign of kidney problems, so it might be worth having a blood test done for both kidney function and e.cuniculi infection (it's an infection that can affect the kidneys). Were her teeth checked while she was conscious? It can be hard to get a really good look at the back teeth while they're awake so I would want to be really sure that the vet did get a proper look at all the teeth before totally ruling out dental problems.

Hope you manage to get to the bottom of it - please do keep us posted.
 
Still could be teeth problems. Vets can't have a good look unless buns are sedated and can sometimes miss spurs if the bun wont stay still.
 
Agree, it could still be teeth problems unless the vet has had a proper look - swelling could be an abcess ?

I would get a second opinion or ask for the teeth to be checked properly (get and X-ray too)

Edit - I kept getting told that some problems I had with Homer were not related to teeth - I kept asking as I had lost a bun through teeth - when we got someone to check properly and do X-ray his teeth had grown through his jaw.:( this was over a year ago and he is fine so long as he has regular dentals.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies and for sharing your thoughts and experiences. They're really helpful. I will pass these on to my friend tomorrow, I work with her so will see her then and will show her this thread. I think the vet felt for teeth spurs so could have missed some but I might be wrong.

Thank you so much,
Clare
 
If it is teeth, they can dig into the cheek or tongue which can cause a cut and lead them to dribble.

Hopefully it will be teeth which can be sorted out. Not sure what else it could be, maybe someone with more experience will come along.
 
My rabbit Smudge has serious dental disease, and used to dribble a lot sometimes his chin, legs etc would be soaking. We only found out how serious his dental problems were after he had some x-rays. You couldn't tell what was wrong with his tooth roots by looking in his mouth as his teeth are all fine. I am not sure why he dribbled so much unless it was the discomfort and pain as his tooth roots at the bottom of his jaw are trying to grow out the bottom of his jaw and press on his nerves and also his tooth roots do not grow straight down but all over the place making it worse.
He does not dribble at all now thank goodness but he is on antibiotics and pain relief for the rest of his life now and this seems to be keeping him stable and happy at the moment. He lost a lot of weight when he was dribbling as well but has put it all back on now.
I would definitely recommend that your friend has some x-rays done on the bun to establish what the problem is. Let us know what happens?:wave:
 
Well bun is feeling a lot better and eating well. I'm thinking perhaps she had a mouth infection and the Baytril is doing the trick. I certainly hope so. My only concern is that the infection is likely to have been caused by teeth spurs and will only reoccur after the antibiotics have finished. Hopefully this won't be the case but I have expressed my concerns with my friend so she is aware that this may be a possibility. She will be taking the rabbit to a different vet (a good one I have recommended) if there are further problems.

Thank you for all your advice. It has all been passed on and she has had a look at the thread as well.

I will let you know if there are any further developments.

Clare x
 
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