RedFraggle
Warren Veteran
I thought it might be useful to put this down as I don’t think I’ve told Scarlet’s full story and it might provide support for someone else with a dental bun.
Having lost our beloved rat Colin, DH and I went to the RSPCA to drop off the mountains of food we had for the ratties there. We didn’t want another rat but we did end up looking at the rabbits and decided we would home a pair. We went home to think about it and went back the next day to pick having made the decision. We picked Scarlet and her friend Boo because they had both been there ages, her 9 months, him 11, and he was a very cute lionhead cross. We asked about health and were told she’d had an abcess when she came in but was fine now. I didn’t know much about rabbits, I assumed she’d had an injury as she had been dumped.
Homecheck complete, we picked them up 10 days later and got an adoption pack including their veterinary records, which being medically minded I read. This is when I realised I had a dental bun. On arrival she had a pussy wound to her left cheek where an upper molar was growing through it a lower erupting root on that same side, spurs and an abcess on her right jaw. How they didn’t PTS her I don’t know, but the vet for whatever reason had decided to give her a chance. Her notes say “long term dental problems, may not do well”. She had 3 GAs in a month, 2 for dental work and 1 for a spay. They treated her for the abcess for 4 months before they got on top of it which was by then November. They were doing dentals every 12 to 16 weeks and actually did them again between us reserving her and taking her home (and didn’t say a word!).
Obviously her teeth continued to be a problem. Our vet decided to try taking them right back to the gumline. He did this 3 times, with Scarlet bouncing right back each time, and then with them still growing at all angles decided we needed some expert intervention so we went to FHB. FHB kept her in for a GA, X-rays and dental. She said that Scarlet’s mouth was a mess. Her LHS teeth were not at all normal. She took out the lower LHS one that grew towards her cheek, another lower RHS one that grew across her tongue and found (by chance because she lifted her tongue) a rogue tooth growing along the inside of her gum line which she also removed. Scarlet then had her first period of more than 16 weeks without a GA in about 2 years. When things got dodgy again, about 5 months later we went back to FHB who again took more teeth out. Scarlet had a lot of ulceration that time, way back where you can’t see without a GA but as always had continued to eat so we didn’t realise how bad things were (despite monthly tooth checks). More teeth came out, she has hardly any on her LHS now but the RHS had settled well. She then went 10 months without a dental until last month when she had a spur again and went in to have that taken off. She’s cost us about £2k in 2 years, and had we known I honestly can’t say whether we would have taken her on, but to see her happy (now with BARC bunny Orinoco, her 2nd husbun) I feel quite guilty admitting that. She is a 100% different rabbit to the shy little girl that came to us. She binkies, she comes for nose rubs, she begs for food at every opportunity and is completely fearless (including when next door's staffy got in the garden and she barely looked up from her nuggets) and eats loads and loads of hay now too.
No reason for this really, other than as a bit of inspiration for those struggling with dental buns. I have to say, to see the transformation in her I’d do it again in a heartbeat. She’s a very special little girl. We have no idea how old she is, what she’s been through or how much pain and fear she went through to get here, but she did it.
Having lost our beloved rat Colin, DH and I went to the RSPCA to drop off the mountains of food we had for the ratties there. We didn’t want another rat but we did end up looking at the rabbits and decided we would home a pair. We went home to think about it and went back the next day to pick having made the decision. We picked Scarlet and her friend Boo because they had both been there ages, her 9 months, him 11, and he was a very cute lionhead cross. We asked about health and were told she’d had an abcess when she came in but was fine now. I didn’t know much about rabbits, I assumed she’d had an injury as she had been dumped.
Homecheck complete, we picked them up 10 days later and got an adoption pack including their veterinary records, which being medically minded I read. This is when I realised I had a dental bun. On arrival she had a pussy wound to her left cheek where an upper molar was growing through it a lower erupting root on that same side, spurs and an abcess on her right jaw. How they didn’t PTS her I don’t know, but the vet for whatever reason had decided to give her a chance. Her notes say “long term dental problems, may not do well”. She had 3 GAs in a month, 2 for dental work and 1 for a spay. They treated her for the abcess for 4 months before they got on top of it which was by then November. They were doing dentals every 12 to 16 weeks and actually did them again between us reserving her and taking her home (and didn’t say a word!).
Obviously her teeth continued to be a problem. Our vet decided to try taking them right back to the gumline. He did this 3 times, with Scarlet bouncing right back each time, and then with them still growing at all angles decided we needed some expert intervention so we went to FHB. FHB kept her in for a GA, X-rays and dental. She said that Scarlet’s mouth was a mess. Her LHS teeth were not at all normal. She took out the lower LHS one that grew towards her cheek, another lower RHS one that grew across her tongue and found (by chance because she lifted her tongue) a rogue tooth growing along the inside of her gum line which she also removed. Scarlet then had her first period of more than 16 weeks without a GA in about 2 years. When things got dodgy again, about 5 months later we went back to FHB who again took more teeth out. Scarlet had a lot of ulceration that time, way back where you can’t see without a GA but as always had continued to eat so we didn’t realise how bad things were (despite monthly tooth checks). More teeth came out, she has hardly any on her LHS now but the RHS had settled well. She then went 10 months without a dental until last month when she had a spur again and went in to have that taken off. She’s cost us about £2k in 2 years, and had we known I honestly can’t say whether we would have taken her on, but to see her happy (now with BARC bunny Orinoco, her 2nd husbun) I feel quite guilty admitting that. She is a 100% different rabbit to the shy little girl that came to us. She binkies, she comes for nose rubs, she begs for food at every opportunity and is completely fearless (including when next door's staffy got in the garden and she barely looked up from her nuggets) and eats loads and loads of hay now too.
No reason for this really, other than as a bit of inspiration for those struggling with dental buns. I have to say, to see the transformation in her I’d do it again in a heartbeat. She’s a very special little girl. We have no idea how old she is, what she’s been through or how much pain and fear she went through to get here, but she did it.