Rabbit tooth problem

Hi one of my rabbits has suddenly at 2 years of age been afflicted with a tooth problem. We havesince early this year been taking him every 3-4 weeks to have his front teeth filed down. I do not know how this happened because he always had perfect teeth before. Anyway we took him a few days ago and the vet says that his back teeth have got sharp and he needs an operation. Last time we took him we asked about the back teeth but they said they were fine so just 3 weeks later somehow they have all gotten sharp and they say he needs to have an operation within 1-2 weeks. I am now a bit unsure what to do as it seems quite odd to me. Has anyone else had this happen with any of thier rabbits? I am quite worried about my rabbit having the medication for the operation and do not want to put him through something he doesn't need to go through. Someone suggested to me about if he does go for the operation to have his front teeth removed at the same time. This also worries me, could he still eat alright? i know he uses his back teeth when the front ones start getting long and he can't use them as much (which is why i am surprised they are sharp if he wears them down)

Is he eating ok at the moment or is he showing any signs of discomfort (slow eating, salivating, tooth grinding, weight loss etc)? Are there any sores on his tongue or gums?
If his appetite is fine and the spurs on his teeth are not sufficient to cause problems at the moment it is possible that a GRADUAL change in his diet may prevent them becoming more of a problem. In particular he needs lots of hay and grass.
What does he eat at the moment?
Also what breed is he? (some types of rabbits are genetically prone to dental problems, although they are not inevitable).

I would agree with Lilbun above. Sometimes mild malocclusions can be maintained by diet alone - I have such a bun. He used to have his incisors burred once every 4 weeks and also has molar spurs but they have never been at a point where they needed treating. Our vet managed to correct his bite by burring his incisors carefully and he's not needed them doing since. We feed a diet of exclusively hay/grass and veg - NO pellets. BUT this sadly does not work for every bun, we were very lucky but I certainly think dietary management is something to consider. Had it not worked for him and he was still requiring incisor burring every 4 wks we would have considered incisor extraction (removal) as an option to remove the stress of montly incisor dentals. Should he have needed his molar teeth doing then this is something we would also have considered.

Molar tooth spurs can be very painful for bunny and generally, unless they are mild and can be maintained by diet, it is better in the long-run to have them filed down correctly under a GA for two reasons: it stops bun getting a sore mouth/tongue, blistering and abcessation on the inside of the mouth from sharp molar spurs - which can give ongoing pain and cause bunny to stop eating and develop a complication of GI stasis, but also because if the top of the molars start to form spurs, then 'sometimes' the roots of the molars will also become abnormal due to incorrect mechanical wear above, and vice versa. Abnormal tooth roots is something you really want to avoid. A head/jaw Xray at the same time as they put your bun under for a GA might be sensible to see the whole picture. If they go ahead that is.

It all depends on how bad your bun's teeth are. Try not to worry, many people on this forum have to put their buns through these dentals and their buns are fine and are often much more comfortable post-dental. Hopefully your vet will assess all the clinical factors - presence of spurs? dribbling or wet dewlap? carpel handkerchiefs? difficulty eating? blistering or sores in the mouth? degree of malocculsion and ongoing stress of repeated burring and incisor removal etc. I would suggest having a good long discussion with your vet about your bun's symptoms so that you can make an informed choice.
I also have a friend who's bun had her incisors out and she managed very well without them. It's about balancing up the risks and benefits. Hopefully your vet can help you with this.
Good luck

Ok we have always given all our rabbits food from a local pet shop but a small bowl (which have some pellets mixed in) once a day only and also plenty of hay from pets at home. We sometimes give them the dandelion, marigold hay as well (which most tend to love and i have noticed they tend to eat more hay now). They get vegetables. Mainly carrot and celery. Also curly kale, parsley and carrot tops (greens were given but i am a little unsure of them now as they tended to give them what i can only describe as runnyish bunny pats). One day at the weekend they get some fruit, either pear or apple. We have told the vets this and they told us that ideally the pet shop food should be taken out but seeing as they are doing fine and get plenty of veg and hay not to worry.

The one with the tooth problem is a lionhead and every time he was taken to the vets before his myxi jab earlier this year he had perfect teeth according to the vets. One vet did tell us one time that sometimes it can just happen like a tooth could be broken without us noticing and then they can re-align out of place. It is strange because he was 2 at the start of the year and dental problems like this i read up are meant to show from birth.

Only genetic malocclusions tend to present early on in life. Injury and trauma related malocclusions can occur at any time and age-related malocclusions much later on in bun's mature years.

I really would suggest a higher fibre diet with much more tough fibrous plant material to encourage side-to-side chewing.
Carrot root and fruit are very high in sugar and likely to cause caecal imbalance which may only present when offering green foods, it may not be the green foods causing the upset - more that bunny's tum is already out of balance. I would also consider moving over to an extruded pellet of higher fibre content rather than a museli based mix with many 'starchy' (sugary) components. You may also find a fresh sweet farm hay or more selective commercial hay rather than the dry dusty stuff in pets at home will tempt your buns to eat more hay more voraciously. I don't mean to be rude but my buns wouldn't even touch the stuff at pets at home, it's so brown and lacking scent and flavour.
A good local farm will do a fresh bale for a few quid. Or you could try the hayexperts online which do a great range of hays and a sample pack to try out.

A small bowl of mix is actually a lot of food. A small to medium bunny only needs an eggcupful of dry food daily (around 10-15g). If you gradually reduce the dry food to this amount, your bunny should be hungry enough to eat more hay and grass (obviously don't let them get too thin though- it works for most but not if the rabbit finds chewing hay too painful).
Finding a good supplier of farm hay was a revelation for me and my bunnies, and it's so cheap as well xx

:wave: i have a wickle girlie..bif....shes had a few dentals to say the least. now two vets usually do conscious ones on her cos of the many GAs shes had.
but the last conscious dental went badly..her mouth was too sore to eat etc....i was horified and within two to three weeks the spurs were back again...i wanted to cry.
In the end she went into not eating mode and i took her as an emergency..the vet i saw was an expert from eatsern europe..hungary i think and this time he insisted she have a ga dental. That was several months ago now and shes showing small signs again..she goes nuts for her hay but in effect doesnt eat much as she usualy does..shes not eating much pelelts either..enuff but not as much as she could eat....shes gone into cowpat then teeny poops start of gi probs..so were giving her fibreplex and tummy rubs..herbal teas....fresh mint leaves and fennel leaves too.

the dental issues with her began a few months after i got her and id got her form the rescue aged 18 months old. and it wasnt until late half of last year i think it was that they discovered by chance doing a conscious dental..that her lower jaw in fact is wayyy back to where it should be...hence the grinding down no matter how good her diet...isnt enough.

i got a little lionhead cross recently from a rescue and he recently had to have a sharp molar spur burred....hes at least two...so maybe its a genetic thing...skulls of buns stop growing at 18 months...so i guess thats when dental issues can rear their ugly heads too.

i get the stalky hay meadow hay from the dust free hay company..cos i have two smaller buns and one frenchie and my mum has a dwarf lop..i get the huge hessian sack bale for about £26....they go nuts for it......

little merlin is just beginning to eat some hay.....he wouldnt before.

its not as easy to say diet is the only issue tho..sometimes a dental prob..like bifs can go unnoticed for 2 yrs!

i give my buns pellets...bif n bertie are on allen and page natural pellets..i cant feed them apart but bif isnt a pig like she used to be and bertie needs more thana few eggcup fuls!!!

merlin came to us on wagg premium pelelts...i havent changed him over yet...im not sure i will if hes happy on them. not for a while anyhow as its a ten to fourteen day job slowly changing over feed.:shock:

some buns have had something traumatic happen or illness and their tums are never the same again...and veggies and fruits arent tolerated..grass a bit...and pelelts not to be given a lot off as that too can give pancake butt.
so can dental probs or stress.