Can anyone help me understand this, as I can't work it out 
My current foster bun arrived just before Christmas straight from his previous home where he was removed from by our RSPCA inspector. He had very overgrown claws when he arrived, which has made me assume that he hadn't seen a vet for a long while, and other things that the Inspector told me about the home/situation would make me think that it was unlikely he had ever been seen by a vet in his life. He is 3 years old, according to the previous owner.
When he arrived he had spurs on his teeth, but no ulceration, no problems with eating, dribbling etc, however during his neuter the vet did burr down the spurs as she obviously decided they were serious enough that this was best. This was 3 weeks ago.
We have been going back for weekly checks with the nurse both to check his neuter stitches and wound, and for dental checks. Over the past 3 weeks the spurs have regrown, though again not so as to cause him discomfort or ulceration. The nurse said it is likely that he will need future dentals, so we need to keep monitoring and checking to see how frequent these will need to be.
What I don't understand is that if he is 3 years old and most likely hasn't ever had a dental before he came to me, why would the spurs now be a problem? I'm not disputing the fact that they have regrown, but can it be the case where spurs can be present but reach a certain level then stop growing? I can't see how this can happen, but I just can't understand it otherwise! I am very inexperienced with dental issues, but I would naively assume that if he had been in his previous home for 3 years with dental problems (ie spurs that can reappear in 3 weeks), that he would have been in immense pain without treatment and the spurs would have been out of control, however that wasn't the case at all.
He has loads of fresh hay, small amount of pellets and greens. I don't know too much about his previous diet except that he had muesli.
My current foster bun arrived just before Christmas straight from his previous home where he was removed from by our RSPCA inspector. He had very overgrown claws when he arrived, which has made me assume that he hadn't seen a vet for a long while, and other things that the Inspector told me about the home/situation would make me think that it was unlikely he had ever been seen by a vet in his life. He is 3 years old, according to the previous owner.
When he arrived he had spurs on his teeth, but no ulceration, no problems with eating, dribbling etc, however during his neuter the vet did burr down the spurs as she obviously decided they were serious enough that this was best. This was 3 weeks ago.
We have been going back for weekly checks with the nurse both to check his neuter stitches and wound, and for dental checks. Over the past 3 weeks the spurs have regrown, though again not so as to cause him discomfort or ulceration. The nurse said it is likely that he will need future dentals, so we need to keep monitoring and checking to see how frequent these will need to be.
What I don't understand is that if he is 3 years old and most likely hasn't ever had a dental before he came to me, why would the spurs now be a problem? I'm not disputing the fact that they have regrown, but can it be the case where spurs can be present but reach a certain level then stop growing? I can't see how this can happen, but I just can't understand it otherwise! I am very inexperienced with dental issues, but I would naively assume that if he had been in his previous home for 3 years with dental problems (ie spurs that can reappear in 3 weeks), that he would have been in immense pain without treatment and the spurs would have been out of control, however that wasn't the case at all.
He has loads of fresh hay, small amount of pellets and greens. I don't know too much about his previous diet except that he had muesli.
