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when to get a dental and when not to

Gus-ta-furry

Warren Scout
one of our bunnies seemed to be tooth grinding a little over the weekend (but only a few times a day) , doing a little bit of hunching and one or two rare occasions when she seemed to reposition herself when lying down (belly rubbing ?), but then doing a lot of happy flops (mixed in with hopping around normally)

shes been eating hay and pellets absoultely fine and doesn't seemed too fazed by anything

took her to the vets, tummy felt fine, she looked into her mouth and then the indecision started .....

the vet said her teeth were slightly misaligend and she could see some spurs but they didn't seem to be touching the cheeks/tongue

she then said they're not the worst teeth I've seen :roll: (thanks, that's a great help)

she seemed very indecisive on whether Little Chels needed the dental and seemed to want me to make the decision for her ! :shock:

evetually I pushed her into making a decision and she said she would recommend the dental

I think we are overly paranoid after waiting too long for Gus' (on the vet practices advice) and losing him to complications after an abscess and tooth removal

the vet said little Chelsea's heart seemed strong and healthy and therefore saw the GA as minimal risk (especially if the work was just burring)


Do RU'ers have any rules they set themslves around dentals ? obviously the teeth grinding could be caused by anything so there is a risk we could be outting her under GA/strain to the body for no reason
 
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The main thing I think is considering the overal health of the bun, you may not want to risk it with a bun with any severe health issues.

If a bun has no obvious underlying issues then I would have them have the op
 
Personally if I was in your situation I would get them done, if the vet can see the spurs without sedation I would think it likely they could well be causing a problem and this will need dealing with at somepoint, i would rather now whilst bun is eating and happy rather than waiting until bun is feeling poorly and less nourished (due to reduced eating) and therefore more suceptible to problems under GA.

I would also want to look at finding a more rabbit savvy vet who is confident in suggesting what is best, they dont have to make the final decision but with something as routine as a bunny dental I would expect them to be able to advise.
 
Personally if I was in your situation I would get them done, if the vet can see the spurs without sedation I would think it likely they could well be causing a problem and this will need dealing with at somepoint, i would rather now whilst bun is eating and happy rather than waiting until bun is feeling poorly and less nourished (due to reduced eating) and therefore more suceptible to problems under GA.

I would also want to look at finding a more rabbit savvy vet who is confident in suggesting what is best, they dont have to make the final decision but with something as routine as a bunny dental I would expect them to be able to advise.

:thumb: thank you , this is what we thought and she is already booked in (feel much more confident we have made the right decision now though, as she's had spurs for a good 6 months now and this is the 1st sign of them possibly troubling her)

to be honest our vet practice always has different vets that we see, but the majority are pretty rabbit savvy and this one is literally a 3 min drive and often does same day appointments (which has been a huge help when dealing with our rabbits)
so i would only look to change if we repeatedly started getting the same vet and she couldn't be more decisive
 
Personally if I was in your situation I would get them done, if the vet can see the spurs without sedation I would think it likely they could well be causing a problem and this will need dealing with at somepoint, i would rather now whilst bun is eating and happy rather than waiting until bun is feeling poorly and less nourished (due to reduced eating) and therefore more suceptible to problems under GA.

I would also want to look at finding a more rabbit savvy vet who is confident in suggesting what is best, they dont have to make the final decision but with something as routine as a bunny dental I would expect them to be able to advise.

Yes I agree with this, we have 9 dental bunnies and believe me if your vet can see a spur it needs a dental as they soon grow.

Good Luck for little Chelsea for her dental :thumb:

I've one of our's in for a dental tomorrow morning and he is 9 years old as well tomorrow so I'm a bit worried about the GA.
 
Although a lot of practices have multiple vets and you won't necessarily see the same one - they'll just book you the first available appointment, they are generally absolutely fine with you asking to see a specific vet(s) if you've got a favourite. If you don't know the name, you can get them to check in your notes who you saw before and ask to see them again.
 
Although a lot of practices have multiple vets and you won't necessarily see the same one - they'll just book you the first available appointment, they are generally absolutely fine with you asking to see a specific vet(s) if you've got a favourite. If you don't know the name, you can get them to check in your notes who you saw before and ask to see them again.

Yes I agree, my vet practice is huge & it is easy to get a different vet everytime, therefore I ask for the rabbit savvy vet when I book which means he knows the case and I know my buns are getting the best care possible.

Good to hear Chelsea is all booked in, im sure she will feel much more comfortable once the dental is done and you will be able to relax and stop worrying.
 
How bad they look isn't really relevant, bunnies have very different pain thresholds. Willow had the worse teeth my vet had ever seen yet she was still eating like a horse.

Three different rabbit vets couldn't see any spurs on Casper when he stopped eating. I insisted on a GA to explore further as none of the usual stasis treatment was working. They found a tinyiest spur ever and removed it. A few hours post op he was eating like a horse. I'd been syringe feeding him for a week and it was so scary putting a non eating bun through a GA.

Personally I think its better to correct them whilst they are still fit and eating than wait until they are poorly and the op is more risky.
 
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