The ongoing saga of the bristle...update

I did another post a few weeks ago about Joe who ate a brush and in a nutshell got a bristle lodged in his throat which after causing stasis then went on to give him an abscess behind his eye which is being treated with a once a week depocillin jab along with daily baytril, metacam and fucithelmic eye ointment.

he is reposnding well and while i'm positive he is still blind in that eye, the lump has gone down a lot and the eye is no longer bulging out of his socket and is no longer blood red like it was before - however another complication of the abscess was that it caused his jaw to go over to one side meaning h his top and bottom big teeth weren't lined up,when he was last aneathetised they burred the side teeth to stop him biting his tongue and cheek but when he went for his jab last tuesday the vet showed me his front big teeth were wearing on a slant and were overgrowing, she said she thinks he may need both the tope and bottom teeth out :shock:

I'm back there tomorrow for another jab but before I go I just wondered if anyone else has had buns with teeth removed and if they can cope and eat normally? I've been doing everything I can to get him chewing this week including getting him the dried sweetcorns, and the fruity stick things but he just can't manage it, he is eating his greens but takes a bite then tears it off with his paws :?

Do they need anaesthetising to have them burred and/or removed? I'm guessing they do but he's had 3 Gen Anaesthetics in the last 3 weeks so i'm a bit reluctant to put him through that again, i don't know what to do for th best?

Oh dear, your poor boy!
I have no personel experience with this but have heard of many stories with 'gummy bunnies' who get along just fine, so I would not worry too much, He would need to be knocked out to have his teeth removed for sure and possibly to have them burred depending on how much work there is to be done. Jims has his teeth burred and clipped whilst conscious but that is because he is prone to statis and there is minimal work to be done.

I had a bun who had a severe malocclusion requiring his incisors to be trimmed every 4 weeks or so for around seven years. Our vet used a dental drill to trim and did it conscious.

I would think about retaining the incisors until the abscess has fully cleared and swelling gone. You never know the alignment may return when the obstacles are no longer present.

Poor Joe has really been through the wringer with this.

Thanks for your replies Yes i think you are right and I shouldn't rush into anything drastic - and also irreversable! I'll see if Claire can clip/file them down tonight and see if at some point if his jaw does re-align whether the problem of the teeth resolves itself.

He's normally a real chewer and loves picking his toys up in his mouth and tossing them up in the air so i think he'd really miss his toothy-pegs.

I'll let you know what the vets says tonight.

I have had buns with removed teeth BUT in this situationI would wait as when the other issues have resolved themslves the jaw (and teeth) may resolve themselves as wlel. In the meantime just keep an eye on them and have them burred as needed (although it is controversial - we have our nethies front teeth done NOT under GA as she needs them every 3 weeks at present - again due to a jaw abscess moving the jaw. But we are hoping it will resolve. We could not put her under GA every 3 weeks as she is elderly)

Awww poor Joe And it must be so worrying for you too. Sending abcess healing, jaw realining vibes from me and my buns

So, we went to the vets last night, and took jess along for company too and to aid the bonding further His eye is ok, no better no worse really so carrying on with the weekly depocillin injections for now along with daily baytril and metacam.

His teeth had got an awful lot worse and he's got a little ulcer on his top and bottom lips where the misaligned teeth have been digging in, so Claire burred them right down for him and we are going to see if the jaw re-aligns if the problem corrects itself but she did say that the back ones aren't wearing down evenly either and are starting to go overgrown and sharp again on one side so will have to see what they are all like when we go back next Tuesday and decide what to do then.

It's weird though, it's like he doesn't realise he can actually chew again now, because i offered him his fruity/seed stick and he just licked it still :roll:

I desparately need him to eat hay but he's never been a big hay eater and always kept his teeth in check more through chewing at willow sticks, toys and cardboard boxes etc. I've severely restricted his nuggets but he eats Jess's and being a baby I don't want to remove hers so it's tricky - how do you make a rabbit eat hay?!! I've bought two posh types this week and he's not keen on either. The vet did say it's not the end of the world him eating the baby nuggets as he's lost weight (3kg to 2.6kg) as they're higher calorie but he's filling up on those and veg and leaving the hay

Eating hay can become a real problem for buns with abscesses and ulcers. It causes pain when chewing so they naturally tend to avoid it. Even with a sore mouth my little lop would eat pellets (Oxbow Bunny Basic/T) by holding them in his mouth until they softened. Maybe soaking a few pellets in water to soften them might appeal to Joe.

Thanks Lobo, at the moment he's wolfing down his nuggets and also curly kale and he's even managed a couple of bits of carrot cut up into smaller sticks. I felt a real meany over the weekend but i gave Jess her nuggets while i i took Joe in the other room to give him his meds then only gave him a tiny amount, but it had the desired effect in the end as he did end up munching on some hay later on and he also had a good chomp on a willow stick for the first time since he got ill, and even tossed his jingle bell ball in the air last night for the first time in ages so i think the ulcers on his lips must be healing - fingers crossed he's doing enough chewing to keep his teeth down. back at the vets tomorrow night for his depocillin jab so fingers crossed they are ok

Poor Joe (and you) - such a trauma! Glad to hear he's improving