Teeth removal tomorrow :(

Buttons is going in to have his front teeth removed tomorrow, his been having problems since we had him 2 years ago and the vets think he will have a better quality of life if he has them removed, basicly his front teeth grow funny and he cant close his mouth properly which the vets beleaves is the reason spurs keep going quickly on his back teeth as he cant chew to grind them down properly. We are both really worried and would like some feed back as to what to expect after the operation? how long it takes for him to get back to normal? will he still be able to eat his favorite veg? any foods to avoid? he loves picking up toys (and anything else he can pickup) and run around with them, will he still be able to do this without front teeth?

thanks for the advise

Hiya, we have 2 gummy bunnies - Fifi came to us with her teeth already removed, but Arthur had his taken out because when he came into rescue they growing out of his mouth & his bottom ones into his nose

Arthur has never looked back!! Neither has Fifi

Both of them manage absolutely fine - they eat everything our other bunnies do that still have their incisors Except we just have to chop all veggies into small pieces for them. They both also manage their Science Selective pellets whole - we don't have to mush them or anything.

After his op, Arthur was back to eating normally the same evening. They even manage to eat hay ok - Fifi better than Arthur, but Arthur still does ok. So much so that they both have really good back teeth.

You'll need to keep an eye on Buttons's grooming habits, as some gummy bunnies can't always manage to groom properly due to having no front teeth. If he's got a partner though, they will be able to help with this

For ours it was definitely the best thing to have done for them Hopefully Buttons will bounce back in no time & be happy that his teeth are no longer causing him problems.

Good luck & let us know how he goes on :wave:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=124506&highlight=toothless

there are lots of front toothless bunnies about, most manage quite well and will eat most things although they will need things cut up. Above is a thread which was written a while ago but things have not really changed much since then. The important thing is to ensure that your rabbit does get a decent regime of analgesia post operatively.

If you do a search on 'toothless' you will discover lots of other threads which may be helpful to you, these include toys for front toothless bunnies.

My Herbie has had his front incisors removed. He was an abandoned bunster, when the rescue took him in his incisors were really overgrown and he had them removed.

Unfortunately his bottom one grew back in and he had to get it removed again just about a month ago.

His wee face looked rather swollen after the op, and he was very sleepy for over a day. I had to grate his veg down really thin for him to manage with a sore mouth.

Now that he is better he manages fine. He can't pick up balls etc, but he has fun pushing it about, and pushing his blanket about (like he is rearranging it!)

I have to cut his veg into small chunks or long thin strips. He manages Science Selective pellets fine, and he can eat any hay. He is funny with hay, kinda moves it to the end with his lips and then sooks it in

I would say to get pain relief, as this really helps them to get back eating well.

Good luck with the op.

K xx

My french lop had his front teeth removed a couple of months ago as they were needing to be burred every 3 weeks. He was absolutely fine after the op but they would not let him home the same night as he was not eating. I asked if I could take some of his food in and was really cross when I discovered all they were offering him was timothy hay a large cabbage leaf and half an apple. How he could of eaten any of that with no front teeth I don't know. I fed him coriander,parsley and strips of greens and he ate loads. Next day they said they wanted to keep him in until he passed poo and I said I wanted to collect him as he was an indoor bun that was only used to using his litter tray. I got him home and he ate and pooed loads. He has not looked back. So happier without those teeth. The only thing I have to watch is that he is clean underneath. He used to be spotless but a few times he has trouble with his night time poos. Good luck with your bun.X

Hi,

Our bun Blakey is a gummy bunny ... we had her front teeth removed as they were growing at right angles to her mouth.
She was very sleepy the day we brought her home after her op and she managed a little bit of Critical Care that evening but wasn't really fussed about it. We made sure we kept her kept and warm (after GA some buns have difficulty regulating their temps) and monitored her food input and poop output.
The next day we put her back in the hutch and she went straight to the nugget bowl and started munching but I think, from reading on here, that this was pretty quick.
Other than chopping up her veg and hay and being extra vigilant checking her bum as she's not as able to groom herself there she's been grand and actually put on weight because her teeth had been stopping her eating properly before. They learn how to pick stuff up with their lips pretty quickly.
Oh, and she does her night poops on the floor now and turns round to eat them because she can't puck them straight out from source now so sometimes she'll do one, get distracted and hop off and well, they don't like cold ones, so sometimes there's some to clear up but not too bad.

Lots of vibes for the vets tomorrow
X

I have a gummy bun. Daphne had her incisors out earlier in the year. One's grown back though so she'll need to go in again sometime soon.

Daphne was very subdued the day she had the op. It took me a while to get her to eat anything but I think that was more because she was in the house for the night and she is incredibly nervous. She perked straight back up when I put her back outside.

She manages her pellets well but veggies have to be cut up or grated. She gets broccolli more than any other veggies these days as I can pick the tops apart easily.

She also used to have trouble with spurs on her molars, but since having her front teeth out, she's had no trouble with the back ones again.

She unfortunately still has one sticky eye and she's long furred so i have to keep a really close eye on her bottom and groom her regulary but other than that, I don't treat her any different from my buns with teeth. :wave:

Good luck for today :wave: Lots of vibes for Buttons.
Let us know how it goes.

Adding our good luck wishes too. please let us know how it goes.

Good luck, hope it all goes smoothly x

Thanks everyone for your advise

took buttons this morning and we went into see the vet who will be preforming the teeth removal and she has decided that to put the teeth removal on hold as she thinks that they are starting to line up better since he had them cut in March and she said that since she saw us last month they dont seem to have grown much at all and there are no signs of any spurs on his back teeth. Fingers crossed that his teeth have sorted themselves out and wont need it done in the future. We just have to keep an eye on him and take him back in about a months time (or sooner if we notice anything) to check that they are still growing inline

That is excellent news! Fingers crossed they continiue to correct themselves!

stevey1983 said:

Thanks everyone for your advise

took buttons this morning and we went into see the vet who will be preforming the teeth removal and she has decided that to put the teeth removal on hold as she thinks that they are starting to line up better since he had them cut in March and she said that since she saw us last month they dont seem to have grown much at all and there are no signs of any spurs on his back teeth. Fingers crossed that his teeth have sorted themselves out and wont need it done in the future. We just have to keep an eye on him and take him back in about a months time (or sooner if we notice anything) to check that they are still growing inline

Click to expand...

Great news - fingers crossed it stays this way.

This is exactly what happened to my bun. He too was facing incisor extraction as needing burring every 4 weeks, and molar spurs were developing. However, we had a fab vet who tried different burring angles on the incisors and used a technique called putting on a 'bevelled edge' so a step behind the tooth to help it wear naturally. We had one more burr after this and this time he took the top teeth only back very low, but left the lower ones longer, it all depends on which teeth are not meeting properly and where the malocclusion is. Our bun has a twisted jaw, probably dropped as a baby, as he's a rescue bun. Anyway, with careful tweaking it worked and he has not had his teeth burred now for over 2-3 years? I think he was young enough that the muscles in his jaw adapted to the adjusted 'bite' that our vet managed to create and they are now self-wearing. As a result his molar spurs are also much much better and managed purely by diet.

I must stress for other readers that this sort of outcome is unusual, and only happens to the lucky few buns, but it is possible depending on the degree of malocclusion.
Stevey1983 one thing I will say is that taking our bun off pelleted feed altogether and feeding him a diet purely of lots of tough quality hay and veggies has also had a remarkable effect in helping him to maintain his incisors and molar spurs. We use this hay:
http://www.willowwarren.co.uk/ and we believe it has made all the difference to our bun. Both our buns love it and can't get enough of it, never get bored of it, so much natural variety of grasses, but best of all some really tough stems of timothy hay for ultimate dental wear.

Good luck with your bun's teeth for the future. :wave:

Excellent news
Really pleased for you. Will keep fingers crossed Button's teethy-pegs keep going in the right direction ... literally :lol:
Def keep us updated
X

I'm delighted for you, that is wonderful news indeed!
Eveything crossed that you'll be one of the lucky ones, where the molars wear down properly once the wear & alignment of the incisors improves.
Please keep us updated.