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Sharp spurs

shelley

Mama Doe
Hi all,

I have a question, well a few actually :oops:

I took Buster to the vet's today to have his HVD and his teeth checked. The vet checked the back ones with an endoscope (i think it was called that :oops:) and said that on one side of his mouth he had 2 sharp spurs that needed to be checked again when he goes for his next myxi in 6 months time. Im really confused as his diet is literally 90% timothy/meadow hay with 5% excel junior/dwarf pellets 5% veg (rocket, broccili, carrot, parsnip etc) i thought his teeth would be fine with the right diet? I was a bit shocked when she said it actually. What is the best type of veg i can give him. I buy 2 packs of veg for the buns a week, both wild rocket then i feed they any peelings etc i have left over. Should i change this to help keep his back teeth down? Is he likely to become a 'dental' bun or can i stop it from getting worse?
 
Don't panic.

Some bunnies are geneticially predisposed to having dental issues or spurs. That said, most bunnies will have spurs of some sort. It's only if they trouble them that there is a problem. I also believe I saw thumps mention something about a bacteria in the mouth can be a cause of spurs too.

So it's definitely not just diet related; diet is just one cause.

I had a couple who had spurs identified two summers ago, but only needed a dental well into this year.

Management and awareness is key and hopefully you can keep it under control.
 
Ah ok, thats made me feel better! I was wondering if i was feeding him wrong but he always has unlimited hay and he eats it like a horse so im sure there's not much else i can do. He isnt even one yet though so thats why i was a bit worried. She is going to check them again next time and re-acess. It was horrible though because he was really frightened and kicked and threw him self about in a panic. I couldnt hold him still so the nurse had to hold him. Not something i would like to have to do regularly poor boy
 
I found really, really minimal pellets has controlled mine much better than when I was feeding more. I'm lucky that my bunnies stay in good condition on such a high hay diet, but that's how we have cut down on our dentals, that, and giving fresh hay at least twice a day.

I'm sorry it was traumatic for you both. Hopefully next times it will be easier.
 
I have recently cut down Busters pellets as i thought he was starting to look a bit plump. I just cover the bottom of a small bowl with pellets then put rocket on top and thats it. He has hay for the rest of the day then another handful of rocket in the evening. I hope he gets better at the vets as he was a bit frantic today and it took quite a while to get a look at his teeth.
 
Aww bless him, our two dont like having their teeth checked either and chew on the endoscope thing. :lol:
It sounds like you are doing the best you can really, just keep going with lots of good quality stalky hay to help keep the spurs down.
 
Thanks :)

Yeh all i could hear was chomp chomp chomp when it was in his mouth, he wasnt keen to say the least! I think i will just stick with the timothy hay as the meadow hay isnt stalky enough, its too soft i think.
 
We use a variety of hays for our two.

In their 'Hay Box' we put the expensive hays- Oxbow Timothy hay, Oxbow Oat hay, Oxbow Orchard Grass and Oxbow Botanical hay.

Then they have two understorage boxes which are used as potties so in there we put- Naturals Luxuary Litter, Meadow Hay from the Garden Centre and A timothy hay mix from Onlynaturalpetsupplies.

They all seem to go down well :)
 
We use a variety of hays for our two.

In their 'Hay Box' we put the expensive hays- Oxbow Timothy hay, Oxbow Oat hay, Oxbow Orchard Grass and Oxbow Botanical hay.

Then they have two understorage boxes which are used as potties so in there we put- Naturals Luxuary Litter, Meadow Hay from the Garden Centre and A timothy hay mix from Onlynaturalpetsupplies.

They all seem to go down well :)

Thanks alot for that info! I just went on their site and they do free samples and free delivery so i asked for a sample of each! A bit cheeky :lol: but if you dont ask you dont get! Hopefully they will send them all and i can choose the stalkiest/roughest type. I normally buy timothy hay but recently its been really hit and miss with the quality. One week it was brown and dusty and totally horrid so i ended up using it for the litter trays and had to buy another bag
 
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