No dental needed?

As some of you may know my dental bun Benji normally has to have his back teeth burred down normally around every 11 weeksm sometimes a bit longer.

Last week he was his normal self, except he started his usual trick of biting the hay in half without eating it, and I gathered it was dental time, as this is one of the signs he gives me when his teeth are causing him trouble.

However, when we got to the vets and she had a look at his teeth, she turned round and said they were fine! They were long, which is how his normally are, but definately no spikes! He has also gained weight, 4/5 weeks ago when he last went for a teeth check he weighed in at 1.95 kg's, and this time he was 2.1 kgs

I explained to her the signs he has been giving me are his normal dental ones, and she has been doing his dentals since I had him. She then checked his teeth AGAIN to make sure, and again said everything was fine in there.

Ben has never been a big fan of hay, when he was younger getting him to eat any was an achievement! But now he does eat some, but I go into the nearby fields and pick him lots of grass to eat to make up for the lack of hay. He shows no signs of discomfort or pain when eating grass, herbs, veggies, or his pellets, but tends to play about with his hay a lot. The vet says this could be because he is used to having grass, and not liking hay much anyway is making him ratty, therefore he is scratching in the hay and tossing it aside and biting it ect.

His general mood is as normal, and there are no other signs of dental pain.

He has plenty of fresh grass every day, fresh hay and water, and the occasional treat

Can cutting him grass daily to eat really make such a difference regarding dentals? He has gone an extra 6 weeks this time to what he normally does.


Is this me being paranoid? His last dental was March 1st, which was roughly 17 weeks ago.

Any thoughts/advice or anything would be very appreciated! :thumb:

Scarlet "plays" with hay when she can no longer eat it because of her "norty teef" but we don't usually have her teeth done straight away. However, there are things a vet can't see properly without giving a GA and fully opening the rabbits mouth. Scarlet had some horrendous problems at the back when FHB first did some extractions that weren't apparent to either her, or our regular vet, from looking with an oteoscope. Scarlet also tends not to lose weight because she'll eat more pellets or more readigrass when her teeth are getting bad. We always try to postpone the dental until her teeth look bad, but I know hay eating is the first thing to stop. Scarlet never ever really shows any sign of dental pain either.
I would keep an eye on him, and keep getting his teeth checked and keep an eye on his weight.
It's a nightmare!!

RedFraggle said:

Scarlet "plays" with hay when she can no longer eat it because of her "norty teef" but we don't usually have her teeth done straight away. However, there are things a vet can't see properly without giving a GA and fully opening the rabbits mouth. Scarlet had some horrendous problems at the back when FHB first did some extractions that weren't apparent to either her, or our regular vet, from looking with an oteoscope. Scarlet also tends not to lose weight because she'll eat more pellets or more readigrass when her teeth are getting bad. We always try to postpone the dental until her teeth look bad, but I know hay eating is the first thing to stop. Scarlet never ever really shows any sign of dental pain either.
I would keep an eye on him, and keep getting his teeth checked and keep an eye on his weight.
It's a nightmare!!

Click to expand...

Im so glad someone else has this trouble with their buns as well! Today he has been eating hay just fine..typical! He can be quite inconsistent!

Ahh I see, I gathered the oteoscope showed the vet all the teeth in their mouth But she did check back at her notes, and the place in his mouth where they were sharp and spiky last time he was in for a dental were fine this time, but as you pointed out the problems could be further back in the mouth

When Scarlet shows these signs how often do you get her teeth checked? And how long usually before a dental? I am watching Ben very closely, but his behaviour has been fine today, and no more teeth symptoms are showing up!

I just feel useless at the moment

I so know how you feel. Scarlet is quite faddy with hay sometimes too and we are always on "is she ok?" alert. We have her teeth checked every month while they are ok, then when they start to get worse we might go every 2 weeks. She's had several molars out now, so we have our vet check, and when he's not happy we got back to Harcourt-Browns to see Francis. Scarlet had a tooth at the back growing along her gum which you couldn't see prior to GA and I think the same goes for spurs if they are right at the back. It's a trade off as to when you risk another GA and I tend to think if there is nothing obvious then waiting and watching is best. FHB can't believe Scarlet continues to eat when her teeth are bad, but she does, but her problem is that they grow at an angle into her cheeck rather than spurs. We also feed her readigrass, she will eat that when she won't eat hay.
It's a constant stress, but we love her!