Farewell Front Teeth....

My rabbit, Eddy, is five years old and has always had front teeth which needed clipping. For the last eighteen months we had a lovely vet who we would go to see and she really did a good job. Last week I took Eddy for her appointment and was a bit put out to hear that our regular vet had left and we had to see another one. I book my appointments weeks in advance so I thought they could have told me.

It was evident that the new vet wasn't very experienced with rabbits but she gave Eddy a check over, did the teeth and we left. A week later Eddy was off her food, first thing yesterday morning I checked her mouth and saw that the right front tooth looked like it had shattered and the left tooth was almost falling out! We went straight back to the vets- I requested a different one- only to be told that Eddy had a huge abscess which has burst and today she is having surgery to remove both her front teeth.

I can not understand how my rabbit has gone from being in excellent health with good teeth to having a pus filled face with broken teeth within the space of seven days. I am wondering if the inexperienced vet has taken too much of the tooth off exposing the pulp which has allowed bacteria to get in. I did question this with the vet but she said that although trimming could have triggered it, it was more than likely to be something in the teeth alignment. I am not convinced.

Has anybody else had a similar experience and if so what action did you take?

Has anyone now got a rabbit with no front teeth? :shock: Eddy's favourite thing was chewing and now I am really worried she will be bored.

She is currently kept outside, fed on Burgess pellets for 5+, has a lots of hay/ greens/ carrots, and is vaccinated against Myxomatosis and VHD.

Any advice would be really appreciated!

I don't know about the cause, but I hope the op goes well and she recovers quickly. I think we have a few gummy bunnies on here who cope fine with no front teeth. Sending lots of vibes for Eddy xx

Hi there,
Really sorry about your Eddy's sudden illness, what an awful thing to have happened
I just wanted to tell you about Blakey, our gummy girl. When we got her, her front teeth were sticking out at right angles and her owner had been trimming them herself with pliers - eep!
We took Blakey to the vets the day after we got her and within a couple of days she'd had her front teeth removed.
We were all prepared to have to mush up her pellets etc for the rest of her days but the day after her op (having done much the same thing as she had in the recent photos I posted, lol) she went straight to her husbun's bowl of food and started wolfing them down. She just uses her lips to pick them up instead of her teeth so she's quite happy. She refuses to eat hay at all (we think because of her front teeth problems and the fact her prev owner didn't know rabbits had molars so her teeth at the back were a mess she associates hay with pain so no matter what we buy she won't entertain it) but if you make sure the hay is shorter than normal your bun should,be ok. We cut up her veg and greens to make it easier for her ... but half the time she ignores this and just eats or sucks the big chunks we give Bingers :shock:
I see that you say Eddy's favourite thing is to chew and this may well be difficult for her, but Blakey loves paper bags she can burrow and if you give her a massive pile of hay she's in, under, round, on top having a ball. If you can get toys your bun can chuck around she'll be able to pick them up and fling them - it's,just finding them another form of entertainment which they'll enjoy. She'll soon let you know what she loves
Loads of vibes for her op
X

I have no experience but just wonder if you could take him to an exotic pet specialist for advice. Seems odd that after all these years he's been fine, I'd want advice from an experienced outside source.

My Herbie has no front teeth. He was abandoned and his teeth overgrew into his nose . He got them out at the rescue before I got him.....one tooth and some peg teeth grew back in......got them out again......peg tooth grew back in. Now he just gets his peg tooth burred as and when required.

The fact that your buns tooth is shattered sounds like the vet mayve clipped the teeth rather than burring, or was not experienced with the burring and hasn't done it properly.

Lots of Bunnies manage fine with no Incisors. Herbie manages his hay no trouble, he kinds moves it to the end with his lips then puts the end in his mouth . You will have to cut up your veg into small bite sized chunks or thin strips that can be eaten like spaghetti. Apart from that I think your bun will cope fine

If the teeth are not clipped properly they can split up to the gum then an abscess can form. Hope he recovers from his op quickly.

Aww poor little mite xxx

We had a gummy girly a few years ago and she was fine, it actually didn't stop her chewing things, it just stopped her destroying things :thumb: she could eat anything small enough for her to fit in her mouth, as long as it could reach her molars it was gone! It certainly never stopped her trying things, she was the greedy one so we used to put in larger chunks of veggies too so that our other bun could get a look in, she would polish off all of her chopped stuff then happily sit and suck on a bit of carrot :lol::roll:

I had a 10 year old bun who had to have his front teeth removed due to an abscess in the lower bottom tooth. He coped very well and still managed to eat hard small pellets (as they pick the pellets up with their lips). I chopped up his veg into bite-size pieces for him, so as they were easier to pick up and also chopped up his hay into smaller lengths. He died in September this year, due to EC, but he had done very well without this front teeth, bless him. I think he did miss biting his wood, which he could no longer do and did love doing, and I also think he felt a bit vulnerable at times, in not being able to defend himself if needed to by biting! All in all, he coped very well and I would do it again, if necessary.

Thank you so much everyone! It's really reassuring to hear all the tales of gummy bunnies and nice to have some positive things to read at the end of such a horrid day. Eddy came home this evening and has started her course of Baytril. I picked up some high concentrate food at the vets, which can be mixed to a comfortable consistency, and got her some nice low acidity fruit and veg for a grated breakfast salad tomorrow. My friend also found some "herb cutting scissors" so I'm going to try cutting her hay up with them in future.

Thank you for the tips on toys Bun-Mum-Tammy! I will try some experiments... Glad to hear that Blakey is doing so well without her teeth. Hele and ninny40 thank you for the reassurance! I wasn't sure if I'd done the right thing when I left her at the vets last night. I haven't met a rabbit without front teeth before. :shock: It's really good to hear that bunnies can do okay without them. ninny40, what did you give your bun to replace his wood?

Did anyone find the removal of the front teeth caused problems later with the molars?

Thank you all so much again for the advice and reassurance! :thumb: I feel much better about it, hopefully, in a few days, Eddy will too.

Kermit said:

The fact that your buns tooth is shattered sounds like the vet mayve clipped the teeth rather than burring, or was not experienced with the burring and hasn't done it properly.

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The practice I go to uses a burring machine for the teeth but sadly I think your right, the young vet wasn't very good at it. I felt a bit sorry for her in the end because the vets bill only came to £30, that included a Baytril shot, a five day course of Baytril, an overnight stay, the operation and the consultation fee. :? I think the older vet must have seen the younger ones mistake so I should imagine she's learnt her lesson. It's a shame she's learnt it on Eddy's face but hopefully it will make her wiser for next time!

tonibun said:

If the teeth are not clipped properly they can split up to the gum then an abscess can form. Hope he recovers from his op quickly.

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I did wonder if it was something like that. Thank you. :thumb: