Advice please for caring for Poppy after a dental

Hello all *waves*

So Poppy had her second bout of not eating yesterday in just over a month - happy to report she is currently sat with her face buried in her hay box :thumb:

Vet is recommending I take her in for a dental as she has visible but not massive spurs - I was just after some advice really as this will be her first ever dental at the ripe age of 7 - will I need to syringe feed her for a day or so? Is there anything inparticular that I can give to her apart from loads of hay which would stop them forming again/so quickly in the future?

Also, I'm pretty worried about her going under general anaesthetic given her age, my poor little girl.

Hi. My Pebbles has just come back from his 4th molar dental. He has ongoing malloclusion as well as molar spurs. he stopped eating this morning, and my vets were great and took him straight in for a dental. He had the procedure at 3 and was home at 4, bouncing around.

I was worried as last time he was slow to come round from anaesthetic, was groggy and didn't want to eat. This time they did something different (not sure what, but will ask tomorrow when I take him back for more pain relief). I was prepared and got him some favourite baby food (organix or Ella's kitchen ..as long as it is only vegatable/fruit) and herbs, carrot tops, apple, strawberry tops..all his favourite. he had one teaspoon of baby food, but quickly moved on to the strawbery tops and carrot tops. then he ate a little carrot and tried half a fenugreek crunchy. Within an hour and a half he was attempting ss pellets!

But all buns are different, so just make sure have a supply of Poppy's favourite foods. If you are lucky, you probably won't need to syringe food. Pebbles would never take food from a syringe, but will eat baby food from a spoon!

Pebs has never eaten hay ( and I've tried every type) but will now eat a little Oat, Wheat & Barley hay. Reducing down Pebbles pellets actually made his teeth worse, and he went into stasis, so I increased his pellets up and monitored his weight regularly. Sometimes buns look like they are eating hay, when actually they aren't...so other things to try are things like apple/pear/hawthorn branches (and leaves when there are some), grass and rough weeds like oxtongue.

We have managed to go 9 months since last dental ...and I put that down to a larger amount of high fibre science selective pellets...but it's difficult to say if that would work for Poppy.

Many thanks for the reply! I'll have to stockpile her favourite herbs! Would redigrass count as 'grass'?

I think so...I guess it has the same amount of fibre as grass. Though I think some has added vitamin C. I think once molar problems start, there is a very good chance that they will continue. I'm not sure that there is actually a cure, though I know some people have had buns that only ever needed one dental.

My last rabbit had to have a few dentals from about the age of 3 and at first they were every 6 months but gradually the gap was longer until she didn't need them at all,because I managed to get her to eat more hay by cutting back her pellets until she was hardly having any, and once she started eating it she carried on even when the pellets were increased slightly. She never really ate much hay though. She always recovered well from the op, no problems there. She died of old age in December aged almost 9.

Thanks Zoobec I'll try and get her to eat more hay.

Sorry to hear about your little fluffer