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Shouldn't a rabbit who doesn't eat hay have dental issues?

A

Ambience

Warren Veteran
Paws has never eaten hay- he eats pellets and veg, but just sits on his hay. If i put it in a rack- he grabs it out and sits on it.

Everytime i take him to a vet- they say his teeth are fine.

If this is the case- what factors do you think effect teeth.

I have always fed a high pellet diet- of around 100grams per bunny daily+ and a handful or two of hay and a handful of veggies every few days, prior to changing their diet.

Recently i began feeding a diet of unlimited hay, a handful of veg and 10grams of pellets. This doesn't seem to have worked for my buns. I don't know if it's just because my buns have been so used to pellets and not hay that they are not that fussed about hay.

My rabbits have been fine several years without dental issues.

How long does it take dental issues to occur?

Do you know of any rabbits who don't eat hay and don't have dental issues- like paws ?

Thanks alot for your help on this. xx

p.s Ares hardly eats any hay and his teeth are fine. So does this mean the grinding action of pellets is helping teeth wear- it would make sense to me logically.
 
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Most severe teeth problems are caused by 2 things IMO...

1. Badly aligned or deformed teeth due to genetics or injury

2. Incorrect diet...usually lack of calcium from being fed 'junk food' musli or similar.

IMO a rabbit with good genetics and a decent pelleted food, or preferably access to grazing is unlikely to suffer with severe dental problems. Chances are you might get molar spurs, but not necessarily anything too bad.
 
abbymarysmokey said:
Most severe teeth problems are caused by 2 things IMO...

1. Badly aligned or deformed teeth due to genetics or injury

2. Incorrect diet...usually lack of calcium from being fed 'junk food' musli or similar.

IMO a rabbit with good genetics and a decent pelleted food, or preferably access to grazing is unlikely to suffer with severe dental problems. Chances are you might get molar spurs, but not necessarily anything too bad.
Click to expand...

Oh okay i never feed treats ever- except veggies. No muesli for my buns :) What would you consider a decent pelleted food- i know this varies alot. I think science selective are pretty good. I used to feed pets at home own brand and i've fed wagg and burgess excel(which they are on now), i tried allen and page but they hated it and i tried another brand- but i wasn't sure of the quality so stopped that- that was from wild food for birds- but it was lower fibre. To mention a few. I think science selective are my favorite :) xx
 
Out of my 4 bunnies, two eat loads of hay C&C, - and M&M eat virtually none!
I've bought them different sorts to try but they just dont touch it

No dental problems :D
 
I use Allen and Page Natural Pellets, Science Selective, and Excel. All mine have a mix of these 3 in different quantities.

I've heard that Wagg Optimum are good too, but I've never used them.
 
Lops said:
Out of my 4 bunnies, two eat loads of hay C&C, - and M&M eat virtually none!
I've bought them different sorts to try but they just dont touch it

No dental problems :D
Click to expand...

Thanks- how many pellets do you feed out of interest and how much veggies? xx
 
Lops said:
A handfull of pellets each twice a day and veggies about 2-3 times a week
Click to expand...

Thanks that's really helpful. I think for me 20kg's of pellets a month would be best+ veggies 2/3times weekly and unlimited hay. I know the 40kg that i used to feed was too much, so half that. I think 10grams is too little for my lot,even with increased veggies.

xx
 
All chewing action wears teeth including eating veg, pellets, hay, straw, and knawing wood. Some foods cause more wear than others and some give more calories per chew that others.

For example, pellets are softer and take less chewing. But if you feed enough you'd still get enough teeth wear. The trouble is because pellets are also higher in calories, to feed enough to wear the teeth you'd be over supplying calories. In many rabbits that would lead to obesity. You could mitigate that by providing enough exercise to burn off the extra calories. Which is why not every bun that doesn't eat hay gets overgrown teeth.

However whilst it's technically possible it doesn't make it the best option. There are plenty of draw backs.

Hay also supplies roughage (undigestible fibre) which is essential to keep the gut moving. Rabbits that don't eat it are more likely to have digestive problems.

Hay also provides enrichment, a rabbit would usually spend hours feeding but pellets are quick to eat and fill up a bun leaving loads of spare time for getting bored. Rabbits without hay are ore likely to display behaviour problems.

Getting the right balence of wear and calories is much harder with pellets and less easy to sustain. As a rabbit gets older, they become less active so need less calories, however reducing their pellets means reducing the teeth wear and at that point they are set in their ways so introducing hay is harder which means they are more likely to suffer either obesity (and all its complications) or teeth problems in later life.

My advice would be to encourage hay eating and restrict pellets. Whilst it might not be the only possible diet it is the best option for maintaining mental/physical health.
 
Tamsin said:
All chewing action wears teeth including eating veg, pellets, hay, straw, and knawing wood. Some foods cause more wear than others and some give more calories per chew that others.

For example, pellets are softer and take less chewing. But if you feed enough you'd still get enough teeth wear. The trouble is because pellets are also higher in calories, to feed enough to wear the teeth you'd be over supplying calories. In many rabbits that would lead to obesity. You could mitigate that by providing enough exercise to burn off the extra calories. Which is why not every bun that doesn't eat hay gets overgrown teeth.

However whilst it's technically possible it doesn't make it the best option. There are plenty of draw backs.

Hay also supplies roughage (undigestible fibre) which is essential to keep the gut moving. Rabbits that don't eat it are more likely to have digestive problems.

Hay also provides enrichment, a rabbit would usually spend hours feeding but pellets are quick to eat and fill up a bun leaving loads of spare time for getting bored. Rabbits without hay are ore likely to display behaviour problems.

Getting the right balence of wear and calories is much harder with pellets and less easy to sustain. As a rabbit gets older, they become less active so need less calories, however reducing their pellets means reducing the teeth wear and at that point they are set in their ways so introducing hay is harder which means they are more likely to suffer either obesity (and all its complications) or teeth problems in later life.

My advice would be to encourage hay eating and restrict pellets. Whilst it might not be the only possible diet it is the best option for maintaining mental/physical health.
Click to expand...

Thanks- what you say makes sense. What would you say about my vets- free feed everything advice? Would 3-5 year olds be stuck in there ways yet? xx
 
Does he have access to, and eat, grass? That's a hay alternative which may be providing him with some wear on his teeth too.

Xxx
 
I haven't read every respond.. So I might just be repeating what others said..

But I think dental issues don't just come from not eating hay. Surely it won't help, but in most cases there already is something wrong with the teeth.

My Indy never ate any hay. He got molar spurs when he was almost six. I changed his diet (limited amount of pellets, Science Selective Mature, and lots of veggies) and the molar spurs never came back. Unfortunately other problems did... So he died only a year later.

One of the vets we saw during that last year, was surprised Indy was almost seven. He didn't believe a rabbit would get that "old" while not eating hay. But then again.. Indy had so much healthproblems, including stasis on a regular basis. So can't really say it did him any good.
 
I'm in general agreement with AMS that most dental issues are genetics & dietary components.
There is current research that too much carbohydrate (sugary treats) causes a local increased blood supply to the tooth roots = increased growth. We still have to wait for the results.

Safe tree/shrub leaves & bark help gut function & tooth wear a lot.
I use hawthorn in spring - mid Autumn & home dried blackberry leaves from about now through winter. It's hard work to collect them, but we were stuck!
 
I know of a couple of rabbits who are given very little hay, and appear to have no dental issues. I'd like to see my rabbit eat a higher percentage of hay in his diet, but am wary of reducing his pellets as he is quite a large rabbit but is not carrying excess weight. He will only eat hay off the floor of his hutch, so it's difficult to monitor how much he actually consumes.
 
In this situation I would add the shrub leaves gradually & see how he takes to them. If the leaves are green when dried, there's some nutrient in them. I wouldn't cut back on anything in this situation until you've got the alternative well established. You'd be amazed how buns go for leaves. It's part of a wildie's natural diet.
 
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