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Rabbits and Anaesthetic?

L

lilgems91

Mama Doe
Can anybody tell me generally how well rabbits cope with anaesthetic, especially dental bunnies?

My dog is nearly 15 and she has been put under a G.A many times for various reasons, and it is considered fairly safe, but what about with buns?

Has anyone here ever lost a healthy rabbit under G.A for a dental?

Having a dilemma with my dental bun Ben at the moment, he is displaying signs of needing a dental but when the vet checks everything looks fine, but he is finding it hard to eat at times, then other days he is back to normal.

Obviously I dont want to leave it and pretend he's acting normal, but I also do not want to put him through the stress of a G.A unless necessary :(
 
Rabbits who go under GA and pass away may have an underlying health problem that you can't see and it's a terrible shame :(

If the vet is competent with rabbits then GA shouldn't be a problem. I had my 4 year old (now 5) rabbit Poppy spayed in December and she was fine, she has also had a dental. All 4 of them have been under GA, Leo 3 times now. I trust our vet so I have no problem in them going under GA :)

If it needs to be done then putting it off longer can only make it worse. I didn't see Poppy get bad until the last minute and her mouth was completely tore up from the spurs she had :cry: she's okay now luckily :)
 
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
Rabbits who go under GA and pass away may have an underlying health problem that you can't see and it's a terrible shame :(

If the vet is competent with rabbits then GA shouldn't be a problem. I had my 4 year old (now 5) rabbit Poppy spayed in December and she was fine, she has also had a dental. All 4 of them have been under GA, Leo 3 times now. I trust our vet so I have no problem in them going under GA :)

If it needs to be done then putting it off longer can only make it worse. I didn't see Poppy get bad until the last minute and her mouth was completely tore up from the spurs she had :cry: she's okay now luckily :)
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You've been a star for all the replies to my posts, thank you :love:

Im glad to hear you caught Poppy's teeth in time. My vet is very good, rabbit savvy and she loves my Benji.

He has been fine under G.A before, and his last one was at the start of March, although she did say it took him longer to come round than normal.

Im scared of leaving it incase the problem gets worse, but would feel awful for putting him through it if she turns round and says his teeth are fine!

Could snuffles be classed as an underlying health problem? He occasionally has to be given medication for it, but fingers crossed it doesnt appear to be too bad at the moment!

Can gas be used in this instance?
 
lilgems91 said:
You've been a star for all the replies to my posts, thank you :love:

Im glad to hear you caught Poppy's teeth in time. My vet is very good, rabbit savvy and she loves my Benji.

He has been fine under G.A before, and his last one was at the start of March, although she did say it took him longer to come round than normal.

Im scared of leaving it incase the problem gets worse, but would feel awful for putting him through it if she turns round and says his teeth are fine!

Could snuffles be classed as an underlying health problem? He occasionally has to be given medication for it, but fingers crossed it doesnt appear to be too bad at the moment!

Can gas be used in this instance?
Click to expand...

No problem :lol: :)

I don't think snuffles can, I think it's more internal things eg. heart problems or something like that. Poppy sneezes a fair bit but it's because her teeth are so messed up that her roots agitate her, she also has an over active tear duct so has a runny eye too. She has been fine under GA even with these problems.

Can you take him for another check up and see if he needs one? Or just do what I do and watch really carefully for changes in eating, Poppy can't eat hay because of her teeth so is on a pellet diet, she is eating a good amount to keep her teeth down, so much so it's been over a year since her dental I usually count out her food but haven't needed to for ages now. Excessive monitoring :lol:

Not sure about gas though.
 
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One of my buns had regular dentals (6-8 weeks) and as he was 9 the vet gave him gas as she could control it more she said due to his age. I don't really know the pros and cons of either way to be honest but Homer did always come through them OK. It is of course always a worry no matter what method is used.
 
I think snuffles would constitute an additional risk, if it's pasteurella it's a bacterial infection and an addtional strain on the rabbits system in general. Your vet can advise you what is best.

Scarlet has had repeated dentals and always be fine but we leave it as late as we can but catch it before there is soft tissue damage.
 
Hi,

We have never lost a healthy or unhealthy rabbit under anesthetic and we have had alot of buns go under for neutering and also for regular monthly dentals.

Our vets are fantastic with bunnies. As it was pointed out earlier- there is likely to be an underlying unseen health issue when a bunny passes away under general anesthetic.

~Jane
 
RedFraggle said:
I think snuffles would constitute an additional risk, if it's pasteurella it's a bacterial infection and an addtional strain on the rabbits system in general. Your vet can advise you what is best.

Scarlet has had repeated dentals and always be fine but we leave it as late as we can but catch it before there is soft tissue damage.
Click to expand...

This is a silly question Redfraggle, but I know my Benji is similar to Scarlet with dental patterns..but how do you know when the time is right for a dental? And how do you know there has been mo soft tissue damage?

:wave:
 
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
No problem :lol: :)

I don't think snuffles can, I think it's more internal things eg. heart problems or something like that. Poppy sneezes a fair bit but it's because her teeth are so messed up that her roots agitate her, she also has an over active tear duct so has a runny eye too. She has been fine under GA even with these problems.

Can you take him for another check up and see if he needs one? Or just do what I do and watch really carefully for changes in eating, Poppy can't eat hay because of her teeth so is on a pellet diet, she is eating a good amount to keep her teeth down, so much so it's been over a year since her dental I usually count out her food but haven't needed to for ages now. Excessive monitoring :lol:

Not sure about gas though.
Click to expand...

Well thats the annoying thing, when the vet looks at his teeth she says they are fine, long but not spiky.

From his eating habits I know something is not right, and Im usually spot on for timings of his dental. He has gone nearly 6 weeks longer than he normally does for a dental.
 
lilgems91 said:
This is a silly question Redfraggle, but I know my Benji is similar to Scarlet with dental patterns..but how do you know when the time is right for a dental? And how do you know there has been mo soft tissue damage?

:wave:
Click to expand...

We watch her eating all the time. We know what her good eating speed is, and when her teeth are getting bad the way she eats changes (she'll get halfway along a piece of cabbage or hay and it'll break off, rather than her chomping through the whole piece) and the speed she'll eat at change. She'll also drink more whilst she's eating if they are getting bad (like she has to wash her nuggets down because she hasn't chewed them well enough) and she'll often stop eating hay. The vet can usually see soft tissue damage with the oteoscope but her problem is the angle the teeth grow at (out towards her cheek) not spurs so this is a bit more predictable in that he can see when they are getting close to her cheek. When her teeth are starting to get bad we have them checked every two weeks or even every week. We also weigh her and know she is usually about 1.9 to 2 kg.
It is alot of general guesswork and alot of watching her but the hutch and run are right outside our french doors so it is easy to keep a good eye on her eating. We also have the problem that she will continue to eat regardless of how bad her mouth is so it's about picking up on subtle changes in how she eats, what she eats and how fast she eats.

PS: I also worry if she goes past 3 months because 10 to 12 weeks is her standard interval and that's what we're used to. Though we are just extracting the teeth each time now rather than cutting them back.
 
RedFraggle said:
We watch her eating all the time. We know what her good eating speed is, and when her teeth are getting bad the way she eats changes (she'll get halfway along a piece of cabbage or hay and it'll break off, rather than her chomping through the whole piece) and the speed she'll eat at change. She'll also drink more whilst she's eating if they are getting bad (like she has to wash her nuggets down because she hasn't chewed them well enough) and she'll often stop eating hay. The vet can usually see soft tissue damage with the oteoscope but her problem is the angle the teeth grow at (out towards her cheek) not spurs so this is a bit more predictable in that he can see when they are getting close to her cheek. When her teeth are starting to get bad we have them checked every two weeks or even every week. We also weigh her and know she is usually about 1.9 to 2 kg.
It is alot of general guesswork and alot of watching her but the hutch and run are right outside our french doors so it is easy to keep a good eye on her eating. We also have the problem that she will continue to eat regardless of how bad her mouth is so it's about picking up on subtle changes in how she eats, what she eats and how fast she eats.

PS: I also worry if she goes past 3 months because 10 to 12 weeks is her standard interval and that's what we're used to. Though we are just extracting the teeth each time now rather than cutting them back.
Click to expand...

I took your advice about the little changes in his eating and booked him into the vets this morning. He refused his pellets this morning and I just know something isnt right with him.

Anyhow, the vet took him in for a dental, and when she managed to see the teeth under anasthetic, it turns out it was the back teeth all long that were causing problems, they were cutting into his tongue, and have caused ulcers all down the one side of his tongue and one is forming at the back :(
 
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