Dental costs

following on from my other thread ..


how much is the average dental, .. now if I am getting this bun, I am guessing he will need GA to have back teeth checked & done if needed, so I will probs get him neutered & get this done at the same time .. but if his teeth are as bad as I fear how much is it on average to have them done, front and/or back



another question .. he is only 4 months old .. now this can't be good .. dental probs so young, can it ?



ETA: I have NEVER had a dental bun so I am TOTALLY clueless on how to go about things with one, I know he will need loads of hay

Heather is my dental bunny

She needs her molars burring every 10-12weeks, under GA. This costs £50 ish, sorry I can't remember the exact amount. I believ from what I have heard this is cheap though!

I feed her as much hay as she will eat, although thats not as much as I would like *sigh* She does eat a reasonable amount though so I am expecting her dental probs are down to genetics not lack of hay :? Hmm

Anyway Heather spends all day at the vets when she has her dental (my dad drops her off on his way to work, 8.30 ish and picks her up on his way home 6ish) Once she is home she act completly normal eats fine and the usual gusto never had any problems with her showing signs of pain or anything although I have heard alto of cases where the rabbit has had to have pain relief for 24-48hrs afterwards, Heather has never needed it so I assume every rabbit is different in how painful they find it

I hoped that helped, thats probably more than you wanted, sorry!

Heather&Bart-MyLittleBuns said:

Heather is my dental bunny

She needs her molars burring every 10-12weeks, under GA. This costs £50 ish, sorry I can't remember the exact amount. I believ from what I have heard this is cheap though!

I feed her as much hay as she will eat, although thats not as much as I would like *sigh* She does eat a reasonable amount though so I am expecting her dental probs are down to genetics not lack of hay :? Hmm

Anyway Heather spends all day at the vets when she has her dental (my dad drops her off on his way to work, 8.30 ish and picks her up on his way home 6ish) Once she is home she act completly normal eats fine and the usual gusto never had any problems with her showing signs of pain or anything although I have heard alto of cases where the rabbit has had to have pain relief for 24-48hrs afterwards, Heather has never needed it so I assume every rabbit is different in how painful they find it

I hoped that helped, thats probably more than you wanted, sorry!

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thank you , no its nott to much, I am needing as much info as poss

well I know the GA alone is more than £50 from what I remember when Spike had to get GA to have his lip fixed

WeeBarraxO said:

thank you , no its nott to much, I am needing as much info as poss

well I know the GA alone is more than £50 from what I remember when Spike had to get GA to have his lip fixed

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Hmm I think the best thing to do is contact your vet for the price then, vet prices are so different in different areas!

I was paying more towards the top end of the range for Blackie's dentals - £150+ each time, every 10 weeks.

eric's last one cost me £101 but that's with a 10% discount (or is it 20%? can't remember!).

he needed them from a very young age too. he will always need them. we average 3 or 4 per year

Blackberry & Co said:

I was paying more towards the top end of the range for Blackie's dentals - £150+ each time, every 10 weeks.

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oh jings,



I'm trying to work out costs & if I would be able to afford to take this little guy on, I know I can afford all my lot, but to add another, that can cost me £150+ extra every couple of months



my friend has just told me she gets her buns teeth burred at my vet for £7.50 :shock:, but I am guessing that can't be getting back teeth done to can it, that will just be the front ?

I have had 2 dental buns. Price for molar spurs under GA over the last few years has been £90-£110. This included gut stimulant and injected metacam whilst at the vet. Metacam to take home is extra if needed, and possibly antibiotic cover.

This week I had incisors listed separately at £8, which was part of a full dental including molar spurs and jaw abscess flush under GA for £100. I've not had incisors done separately so can't comment on whether there would be extra charges as GA has always been needed for spurs.

Recovery has always been good, no matter the age or condition of the bun, as long as you can get food into them before and shortly after the procedure and make sure they continue to eat.

The time between dentals has varied considerably - 6 weeks to 6 months.

On Wed Nibbles had front teeth burred straight, spur removed on one side and 5 molars fell out on the other side where the abscess is. He was eating by himself within an hour and I've not had to syringe feed him. He is on metacam and depocillin for the abscess.

I pay normaly £70-£80 per dental. I have many dental bunnies here and they need treatment at varying intervals.

I have Wish, who showed her problems at 16 weeks and her mouth is a mess. She is by far my worst dental bunny. As a result, she lives on daily Metacam. when the vet first saw her mouth he advised me that she was going to need to be PTS and it wouldn't be fair to try and sort it. I argued with him and told him whilst she wanted to fight, I would fight with her, but if she had had enough, then we would let her go. Yesterday, she was 1, is very bright, kept me up all night tearing newspaper until I let her out roll, is a healthy weight, looks luscious and is generally very happy. As she has grown her mouth has sorted itself out somewhat and before she was having dentals every 10 weeks, but she hasn't had one for four months now, which is brilliant.

That would be the hope for yours, that as he grows, his mouth will grow and accommodate his teeth easier.

Wish has a shorter life expectancy, but whatever life she has, it will be happy, and it will be longer than what my vet felt was right when he first saw her teeth.

Sorrel's dentals used to be around £90, I can't remember if that included meds afterwards though.

To be honest vet prices vary so much you'd be best off just phoning your vet and saying, I'm thinking of taking on a dental bunny, how much do you charge for a molar burr (or incisor extraction of whatever it is he needs.)

Prices for us have increased recently from around £75-£80 to nearer £100 each time

Mischief's just had a back teeth dental done, £66, I'm hoping he wont have to go again but I'm not sure. He goes every month for his front teeth burring though and that's £10.50

Our vets are great WeebarraxO, you know if you phone them they'll tell you over the phone, especially if you ask Henry. I hope it's not too much though. Remember they are open 11-2 tomorrow if you are desperate for an answer.

Thanks everyone

aliduncan1 said:

Our vets are great WeebarraxO, you know if you phone them they'll tell you over the phone, especially if you ask Henry. I hope it's not too much though. Remember they are open 11-2 tomorrow if you are desperate for an answer.

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yeah & I know they will let me pay it up of its alot too, yeah I think I will give them a call to see how much it is :wave:

I know its great they are open everyday now

It is great because it avoids all but true emergency visits to out of hours. Last Sunday I had a red swollen gunky eye on one bun and a swollen red spot on a hock which had burst on another. It was great getting the antibiotics and eye drops for £23 each instead of £110 then £23 on top of that!!

I know you said his front teeth were bad so they might need removing. If he's that young it's likely to be a genetic thing but he'll cope fine at such a young age. It's likely his back teeth are bad now as I bet he can't eat hay, but the sooner his front ones are out the sooner you can get him eating it. At that age I think you could get him on a very normal rabbit diet. His back teeth may never be perfect but you might only be looking at one dental a year. If you're lucky of course.

I'm just going off experience with the bun I rescued, Dexter. He was similar and has cost about £300 so far. He needed his front teeth out and they regrew a couple of times. He was neutered and had one dental while his teeth were taken out and one more about 6 months later.

My vets charge £50 for GA then £20 -£80 for the dental work depending on the severity and time it takes to do the work. Usually it costs about £90 but the last one was £170 but that was with extensive work, a bottle of antibiotics, gut sitimulant and other drugs to take home. Dont know if that will be a one off or if that's much it will always be now but sooty problems are quite severe so I would assume a check up would be needed to determine how much it would cost.

ETA if X-rays are needed they cost £55 at my vets

It was £95 for a dental until change of ownership when it went up to £116.
Thumper now needs them every 3 weeks.

thumps_ said:

It was £95 for a dental until change of ownership when it went up to £116.
Thumper now needs them every 3 weeks.

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How do their teeth grow that quickly? :shock:

Jenova said:

How do their teeth grow that quickly? :shock:

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It's a bit of a long story! There's a THEORY that if they're fed a diet high in carbohydrate when they are young kits, abnormal caecal bacteria release compounds which encourage the overgrowth of blood vessels entering the teeth. So the teeth get more nourishment than they should, & grow faster.
(It's like laminitis in horses - idea)
Thumper's dental XR shows increased dark areas at the tooth roots = soft tissue which is presumed to be increased blood supply.
It's thought that the hay diet works by bringing the bacteria under control & reduces the carbohydrate intake, rather than abrasiveness.

Thumper's teeth are taken back to gum level every 3 weeks, & they've regrown spikes in that short time.:shock:
I think he has such big problems because with his tummy issues he has to eat a heck of a lot of fiber to keep it going, & low grade nutrients cos he doesn't absorb too well. If his tummy weren't so bad he'd probably last out 5-6 weeks.

The trouble with these caecal bacteria is that they hook onto the wall of the gut & are only shed into the faeces intermittantly, so very little work has been done in this area. In Thumper's case the lack of movement in the caecum makes it even more difficult to keep the caecal microrganisms balanced.