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Teeth extraction

marchi1990

marchi1990

Mama Doe
I would love to hear from people who have experience with rabbit tooth extraction.

Woody suffers very badly from dental disease and requires a GA every month for dental surgery- molar spurs.

I don't care about the cost but last time he found the GA more difficult to recover from I sensed.

I visit a brilliant vet in Bristol (exotic specialist). I asked her about tooth extraction and she explained that right now she believed our best option was to continue shaving the molars down to the gum line to remove the spurs that Woody suffers from.

I would love a more long-term solution for my boy, so, is tooth extraction an option? Is it a long and hard recovery? All experience welcome.
 
My bridge bunny Roger had terrible teeth, and was a severely disabled bunny following a stroke and was left paralysed on his right side. Because of this it simply wasn't an option to keep having dentals under GA, and then when he developed a really bad abscess, the decision was made to remove the troublesome teeth, as my vet felt that abscesses in the mouth have a very poor prognosis, if the tooth is not removed. To be fair it was a very high risk op for Roger because of his disabilities, but at the time he was doing really well and eating well, and so it seemed the best time to do it, as if he had been left and had then gone really downhill, I don't think the surgery would have been an option only to pts. My vet only sees rabbits and is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced and I have so much faith in him, and he is a dental specialist, so for me there was no one better to do Roger's surgery.

Roger made an excellent recovery. He stayed in for a couple of days to be closely monitored, but I personally think it was the best thing ever for him to have had done. I know lots of people say it is an horrendous op and the bunnies are on pain relief for the rest of their lives and other things, but that wasn't the case for Roger. He had antibiotics and pain relief for about a month afterwards, and was seen each week, but the abscess never returned and Roger continued to do really well, with just a few changes having to be made to his diet. Basically he had to go on to a soft food diet, and his pellets were softened with warm water, he enjoyed crated carrot and apple things like that. Banana was ok because that is soft anyway and he still had all his herby stuff, so it wasn't a lot of work involved with managing his diet.

I think, and in view of Woody not coping so well with his last GA, that it may well be a viable option for you, but if he is in really good condition now, this would be the best time to go ahead with it, because he will recover quicker and be stronger to cope with it. I know some things you can wait and see kind of thing, but this is a massive op and really needs to be done when the bun is as strong as possible.

Please let us know what you decide to do and how he gets on. Wishing you both all the best.
 
Hi
one of my bunnies suffered with his teeth he had the front ones removed and coped very well with just his back teeth eating and check ups now and again :d
 
rogerrabbit999 said:
my bridge bunny roger had terrible teeth, and was a severely disabled bunny following a stroke and was left paralysed on his right side. Because of this it simply wasn't an option to keep having dentals under ga, and then when he developed a really bad abscess, the decision was made to remove the troublesome teeth, as my vet felt that abscesses in the mouth have a very poor prognosis, if the tooth is not removed. To be fair it was a very high risk op for roger because of his disabilities, but at the time he was doing really well and eating well, and so it seemed the best time to do it, as if he had been left and had then gone really downhill, i don't think the surgery would have been an option only to pts. My vet only sees rabbits and is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced and i have so much faith in him, and he is a dental specialist, so for me there was no one better to do roger's surgery.

Roger made an excellent recovery. He stayed in for a couple of days to be closely monitored, but i personally think it was the best thing ever for him to have had done. I know lots of people say it is an horrendous op and the bunnies are on pain relief for the rest of their lives and other things, but that wasn't the case for roger. He had antibiotics and pain relief for about a month afterwards, and was seen each week, but the abscess never returned and roger continued to do really well, with just a few changes having to be made to his diet. Basically he had to go on to a soft food diet, and his pellets were softened with warm water, he enjoyed crated carrot and apple things like that. Banana was ok because that is soft anyway and he still had all his herby stuff, so it wasn't a lot of work involved with managing his diet.

I think, and in view of woody not coping so well with his last ga, that it may well be a viable option for you, but if he is in really good condition now, this would be the best time to go ahead with it, because he will recover quicker and be stronger to cope with it. I know some things you can wait and see kind of thing, but this is a massive op and really needs to be done when the bun is as strong as possible.

Please let us know what you decide to do and how he gets on. Wishing you both all the best.
Click to expand...

not all abcessess are curable they can turn to other problems
 
RogerRabbit999 said:
My bridge bunny Roger had terrible teeth, and was a severely disabled bunny following a stroke and was left paralysed on his right side. Because of this it simply wasn't an option to keep having dentals under GA, and then when he developed a really bad abscess, the decision was made to remove the troublesome teeth, as my vet felt that abscesses in the mouth have a very poor prognosis, if the tooth is not removed. To be fair it was a very high risk op for Roger because of his disabilities, but at the time he was doing really well and eating well, and so it seemed the best time to do it, as if he had been left and had then gone really downhill, I don't think the surgery would have been an option only to pts. My vet only sees rabbits and is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced and I have so much faith in him, and he is a dental specialist, so for me there was no one better to do Roger's surgery.

Roger made an excellent recovery. He stayed in for a couple of days to be closely monitored, but I personally think it was the best thing ever for him to have had done. I know lots of people say it is an horrendous op and the bunnies are on pain relief for the rest of their lives and other things, but that wasn't the case for Roger. He had antibiotics and pain relief for about a month afterwards, and was seen each week, but the abscess never returned and Roger continued to do really well, with just a few changes having to be made to his diet. Basically he had to go on to a soft food diet, and his pellets were softened with warm water, he enjoyed crated carrot and apple things like that. Banana was ok because that is soft anyway and he still had all his herby stuff, so it wasn't a lot of work involved with managing his diet.

I think, and in view of Woody not coping so well with his last GA, that it may well be a viable option for you, but if he is in really good condition now, this would be the best time to go ahead with it, because he will recover quicker and be stronger to cope with it. I know some things you can wait and see kind of thing, but this is a massive op and really needs to be done when the bun is as strong as possible.

Please let us know what you decide to do and how he gets on. Wishing you both all the best.
Click to expand...

Hi Roger Rabbit, thank you so much for providing me with your experience and for replying.

The vet did explain that it is a tricky and often very painful procedure but perhaps it is an option. I'm glad Roger recovered well from it - that us encouraging.

I will chat and research a little more into it before any decisions are made.
 
My first rabbit Muffin had to have her front teeth taken out. She recovered quite quickly from the surgery considering she had been going through getting her rear leg off and going through treatment for a stomach problem. Overall she had no problems eating whatsoever. The vet said it was for the best, rather than to file them.
 
NatalieOFarrell07 said:
My first rabbit Muffin had to have her front teeth taken out. She recovered quite quickly from the surgery considering she had been going through getting her rear leg off and going through treatment for a stomach problem. Overall she had no problems eating whatsoever. The vet said it was for the best, rather than to file them.
Click to expand...

Well that's good. But, the vet explained that removing the back teeth was trickier than removing the front ones. I have managed to hide basil in grass and he is slightly tempted by that today - hopefully he will keep it up!!
 
Our dental rabbit Scarlet had several of her back teeth out. Our vet initially tried taking them back to the gumline, that didn't work so we went to Francis Harcourt Brown on his advice and she removed several of Scarlet's back teeth in two separate procedures. She has just gone 10 months without a dental after previously needing them every 10 to 12 weeks. I would advocate removal based on my experience but ONLY if the removal can be done by a vet experienced in the procedure. Our vet is of the opinion that this isn't something that should be attempted by your average vet and is a specialist procedure.
Francis also advised me that taking them down the gumline usually doesn't help and she only takes off what needs to come off.
 
Charlie had successful extraction of all his cheek teeth down his left side.

amazingly he was eating almost as soon as he came round. Aside from soaking his pellets for him he was eating normally within 36 hours (i.e. as soon as the vetergesic wore off!)

Unfortunately for us part of the reason Charlie's teeth were removed was that there was a lot of infection beneath them... we're now battling abscesses but this is unrelated to the fact he had teeth extracted.
 
RedFraggle said:
Our dental rabbit Scarlet had several of her back teeth out. Our vet initially tried taking them back to the gumline, that didn't work so we went to Francis Harcourt Brown on his advice and she removed several of Scarlet's back teeth in two separate procedures. She has just gone 10 months without a dental after previously needing them every 10 to 12 weeks. I would advocate removal based on my experience but ONLY if the removal can be done by a vet experienced in the procedure. Our vet is of the opinion that this isn't something that should be attempted by your average vet and is a specialist procedure.
Francis also advised me that taking them down the gumline usually doesn't help and she only takes off what needs to come off.
Click to expand...

I have heard very good things about Francis - where is she based? That seems amazing that the maount of dentals required was so dramatically reduced - that's exactly what Woody needs.

natandfluffs said:
Charlie had successful extraction of all his cheek teeth down his left side.

amazingly he was eating almost as soon as he came round. Aside from soaking his pellets for him he was eating normally within 36 hours (i.e. as soon as the vetergesic wore off!)

Unfortunately for us part of the reason Charlie's teeth were removed was that there was a lot of infection beneath them... we're now battling abscesses but this is unrelated to the fact he had teeth extracted.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about Charlie's problems now but it is encouraging that he seemed to recover so fast. I will continue the research and chat it over more with my vet.
 
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