Question: Length of front teeth.

I adopted a bunny last week. He's under a year old. Before coming here or being neutered, he had a bad GI stasis episode and did not eat for several days properly. He recovered, was neutered and was cleared as being completely healthy so we were able to adopt him.

Edgar's front teeth look long to me. When I say this, I really mean that they look LONGER than I am used to seeing with my own four bunnies. My own four have short front teeth, so short I have to gently lift their lips to catch a peek of them, because otherwise I cannot. They're also very white. Edgar, by comparison, has teeth which are more visible. I do NOT mean they are protruding over his lower or upper lip. They 'fit' within his mouth and do not cause him any trouble when he is eating, they're just more visible and so it is easier to notice this.

He has been here a week and has shown himself to enjoy EVERYTHING offered foodwise. He enjoys his hay and adores grazing on grass. He has shown no difficulty with anything, so his teeth do not seem to be causing him problems.

He is booked in for his VHD vaccine this coming Tuesday, so I will be able to gain some idea of his back teeth then. I obviously have no idea what sort of condition those ones will be in, but his front ones are puzzling me. Do bunnies have teeth of varying length? I mean, is there a length for all, or slightly varying lengths? They seem to meet, the upper and lower teeth... with him grinding down hay and grass, now it forms a larger part of his diet, could this fix itself? Or would he need his teeth burring, and then hope his diet would assist with managing or correcting the problem a little?


... I'm all stressy. The last 'dental bun' I had was my first bunny, and I feel I let her down horribly (it was ten years ago, I know more now, I hope) and she kept having recurring problems due to it. The idea of facing that again is scary, but I'm determined to do all I can to help Edgar if he has toothie problems.

It may be that your bun has an incisor malocclusion causing them to overgrow, in which case it would be worth having a rabbit-savy vet have a check of them. Incisor malocculsion is sadly, as you know already, often related to molar spurs and abnormal tooth root elongation, another reason for popping your bunny down to a good vet for a thorough oral examination.
Don't despair! One of my buns has both an incisor malocculsion and molar spurs.
We were lucky, our bun's incisor malocculsion was trauma related and so a careful burr one day managed to correct the bite and they have not needed doing in 2 years....touch wood! So it's always better to get on top of these things and find out what you are dealing with, the prospect can be scary of having a dental bun, but not all stories are bad ones! Our buns molar spurs are at the moment managed by diet alone, I can't recommend enough a good quality and tough hay. Good luck, be brave You never know, they could be normal.

As you know teeth continually grow so if they are stained or heavily grooved from incorrect wear this should grow out gradually as the old tooth wears away and new replaces it.