Could she live without her front teeth?

Hello all! :wave:

I know i know, ive disappeared off the face of the earth since Sookie arrived, her & Rodge have been keeping me busy!

Ive been monitoring Sookies front top teeth & they are worrying me. Shes nearly 15 weeks & it looks like they are growing inwards instead of straight down!

Anyone else had this problem? Im taking her to the vets next week & if they suggest removing them.....would she be ok without them? Her bottom ones are a bit squint also.

Poor wee lamb!

Yes incisors can be successfully removed provided done carefully and stem cells at base properly killed to prevent regrowth, gummy bunnies as they are called usually manage very well without them and just need veggies and sometimes hay chopping up a bit smaller than usual and lots of tlc post-op but many buns on here are gummy bunnies and manage fine.

However, as she is so young still there is a possibility depending on the degree of the malocclusion that as she grows, provided she is supplied with an adequately fibrous diet for optimum tooth wear (e.g. hay and grass) and if the vet is able to correct her bite through careful burring of the incisors then sometimes this issue can be rectified... it does depend how bad the malocclusion is and whether or not it is trauma related or congenital for example. As buns grow the facial muscles change shape and therefore with mild malocclusions correction is possible. This was the story with our male rescue bun whom we adopted at around 5-6 months. He began with burring of the incisors every 4-6 weeks but our vet carefully adjusted his burr to adjust his bite and his facial muscles adapted and he has not needed his incisors burring for 3 years nearly now. We also manage his wonky incisors with a diet strictly very high in tough fibrous material - a diet which is over 90% hay, in fact we don't feed pellets at all, so the teeth have constant wear 24hrs a day from hay and grass and other fibrous plant materials.
This is quite unusual, his malocclusion was trauma related we think and also fairly mild, we also had a very skilled vet. But it is possible, so just see how she goes but make sure you find a vet who burrs and does not clip teeth. :wave:

thenamesJT said:

Hello all! :wave:

I know i know, ive disappeared off the face of the earth since Sookie arrived, her & Rodge have been keeping me busy!

Ive been monitoring Sookies front top teeth & they are worrying me. Shes nearly 15 weeks & it looks like they are growing inwards instead of straight down!

Anyone else had this problem? Im taking her to the vets next week & if they suggest removing them.....would she be ok without them? Her bottom ones are a bit squint also.

Poor wee lamb!

Click to expand...

:wave: Hi, I'm not much help on the teeth front, but glad to see you back

....adn I do believe you owe us some pictures of Rodge & Sookie......

Leo had a similar-ish problem. His bottom teeth started growing out of his mouth, which meant his top teeth grew down on top of them and push them further out. He had them burred a few times in the hope that it would help allign his jaw, and he then begun to eat a better diet. Unfortunately that wasn't enough for Leo, but it could be for your bun. The more fibreous foods the better really.
Leo ended up with having to go for burring every 3 weeks :shock: But if you can feed a perfect diet and only go for burring a couple of times a year i'd say that would be okay.
In the end Leo had his incisors removed because his teeth seemed to be getting worse, and if his jaw remained ill-alligned he was at risk of his molars ending up with problems too. Touch wood, his molars have been fine. He manages okay without his front teeth, but I just have to watch his weight. It takes him longer to eat things, and Roxy, his wifeybun scoffs them down, so I have to make sure he's getting enough! Unfortunately he's looking underweight at the mo. But i'm down the garden at all hours picking grass and cutting up leaves for him to eat

All in all, he's got a much better quality of life without those teeth, even though it means he can't eat 'independantly', as pretty much everything that pass through his tum has been picked or sliced by me.

Oh, almost forgot! You have to watch their bums too, they can't chew out any poo that gets stuck on fur, so can easily become a bit messy down below, but as long as you are vigilant and clean anything up as soon as you see it, it's not a problem. Their fur also gets matted in funny places, Leo has a problem with the fur on the bottom of his back feet at the moment, which is very awkward to try and trim out!

Hi :wave:
She'll be absolutely fine without them. If they're growing funny she'll find it a lot easier to eat without them as with them scew-wiff she won't be able to pick up her food properly.
When I rescued Blakey her front teeth grew out of her mouth at almost right angles and because they'd been like that for two years she was teeny tiny with not eating well. We had them removed 3 days after we got her and she hasn't looked back, put on a good amount of weight and was happier immediately.
They can use their lips to pick up food without the sticky out teeth in the way and the only things you have to really do is cut up their hay and veg into bite size pieces and really check their bum regularly as they can't groom themselves as well so can get a bit of poo stuck down there at times. They can eat ordinary pellets fine.
Also, with their cecotrophs they'll poo on the floor and then turn round and eat them rather than straight from source as it's easier for them that way.
They'll probably want to take out both top and bottom sets if they going to remove them as whatever's left won't have anything to grind down against.
Good luck at the vets and don't worry if they recommend taking the teeth out, Blakey's very happy being my little gummy bear :lol:

Echo everyone else she will be fine without them. My mums bun has no front teeth and he manages fine - he does have to have some of his veg chopped up for him though

Thanks all, youve gave me peace of mind now!

Im going to take her to Edinburgh University Vet School so I know shes getting the best care. Booking her in for Friday 2nd July....my birthday!

Lots of vibes for Sookie's appointment

p.s I will EVENTUALLY upload pics of my beautiful new addition!