Frequent dentals, is it fair?

Since my bunny lost his partner he started having dental troubles. He's in my sig, I've noticed him slowing down on his pellets today and know a dental will prob be needed tomorrow. Only thing is he was only in about 4 weeks ago and for the last year has had dental after dental. He's getting on for 9 and is completely blind and I'm just wondering if being knocked out for this every 4-8 weeks is fair on him.

He gets loads of hay which he's always munching so not sure what else I can do to wear these teeth down, what do you think?

How does he cope when he has the procedure? I think it all depends on how he manages to recover after.

what i find myself asking is 'frequent dentals, are they necessary?'. it seems to me that vets have caught on to the idea that rabbit owners will cough up £60+ every few weeks and think its a nice little earner. a vet put it to me recently that one of mine needed a dental - so I asked her to show me the spurs and suprise surprise he'd be 'alright for now...'.

I agree with Kermit that a lot depends on how he's coping with the procedure and how quickly he picks up afterwards.

If he's eating plenty of hay it sounds like the problems are age-related and the teeth are no longer meeting up as well as they used to. You could try him with some wild forage (hawthorn etc) and fresh grass in addition to the hay to try to encourage the teeth to wear down a little more but that may or may not help.

He does quite well afterwards I pick him up late afternoon and he always has a nice long drink and then much later in the evening he is eating a little veg and is back onto pellets/hay by morning.

Just with him being blind now I feel abit guilty that he is left at the vets so often.

happybun said:

what i find myself asking is 'frequent dentals, are they necessary?'. it seems to me that vets have caught on to the idea that rabbit owners will cough up £60+ every few weeks and think its a nice little earner. a vet put it to me recently that one of mine needed a dental - so I asked her to show me the spurs and suprise surprise he'd be 'alright for now...'.

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If I didn't take him I'm sure he would stave to death as he stops eating when a spur makes his tongue sore. I'm not too worried about the money I just want him to be having a quality of life just not in pain or having Ga all the time.

I've quite a few dentals bun's and they all have dental check up's every so many months and spurs removed. The trouble is dental spurs grow so quick before you know it they are causing problems. We took on a rabbit that was not eating and when we had her checked out at the vet she had a dental spur that had grown across her tongue and so she couldnt eat it had actually worn a groove in her tongue she was actually starving to death had it not been for my Hubby syringe feeding her every two hours the vet said she would have died.

I think as they get older that's the time to worry, we have just lost a 9 year old bunny who had a heart attack after a dental and it's a difficult decision as they are more at risk and sadly you try to do what you think is best and sometimes it doesn't always work out that way.

Kermit said:

How does he cope when he has the procedure? I think it all depends on how he manages to recover after.

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Totally agree with this.

My Herbie had to have frequent dentals for 6 years. He started with problems at around 18 months old. His dentals started off 6 weeks apart, but when he got to 3 years old the frequency increased to 3 weeks apart. Herbie coped really well with the anaesthetic and bounced back very quickly. My vet knew his mouth extremely well and could get the job done quickly so he only needed a short GA. It was his ability to cope that enabled us to continue with his treatment for so long.

If your bunny is coping well with the procedure, recovering well and is a happy lad the rest of the time, then I would be inclined to continue with treatment.

Bumbling said:

If I didn't take him I'm sure he would stave to death as he stops eating when a spur makes his tongue sore. I'm not too worried about the money I just want him to be having a quality of life just not in pain or having Ga all the time.

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but when he stops eating, you have evidence that he needs a dental. if buns hadn't stopped eating... suddenly, everybun needs a dental. i'm finding it suspicious. but it needn't be the case with yours.

Bumbling said:

He does quite well afterwards I pick him up late afternoon and he always has a nice long drink and then much later in the evening he is eating a little veg and is back onto pellets/hay by morning.

Just with him being blind now I feel abit guilty that he is left at the vets so often.

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I might be wrong but i thought going more frequently will help with him being blind as he will get used to the routine. If he only had to go once or twice a year then it would be more scary as he won't know what's happening. At least with frequent visits he will get to know the nurses etc.

We had a 10 year old that had dentals every 3 to 6 weeks. He also had cancer but always bounced back for two years. So i agree if he recovers well and doesn't seem overly stressed i would keep doing them

happybun said:

but when he stops eating, you have evidence that he needs a dental. if buns hadn't stopped eating... suddenly, everybun needs a dental. i'm finding it suspicious. but it needn't be the case with yours.

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Herman never stopped eating even when spurs had grown into his tongue! Not every bun stops eating, elderly buns can be rather determined. Tbh i would rather get a dental done before a bunny stops eating as less damage to the mouth and a much quicker recovery. Which is especially important for older buns

I agree it depends on the bun. Scarlet was going every 8 to 10 weeks when we first got her. She's also blind in one eye and can't see much out of the other. She copes really well and I actually think it's more stressful for us than her.

Thankyou everyone.

Well he's booked in to see vet at 9.30 in the morning and then on with the dental if needs be (which I think he will) just eaten some apple but defiantly not right. It has been exactly 5 weeks since his last one.

My bunny Alfie has frequent dentals, started from when he was about a year old, he's now 3. He did have a dental maybe every 4 months but the gaps are getting bigger now. However, it's always difficult to know when he needs them- he carries on eating every single time, shows no symptoms other than a bit of weird mouth movement and licking his lips a lot. Every single time our vets are astounded that he is still eating as the spurs are digging into his gum or cutting into his tongue. Our vets are fantastic with him though, the nurses know him well and always take amazing care of him. He always recovers well, so I think for me, if a bun recovers well and you have enough trust in your vets to take good care of him, then carry on with the dentals.

Hope your bun feels better soon!

My bridge buny was a dental bun and had his every 5 weeks or so. As others have said, if he recoveres quite well after them and he is happy I would continue with them.

Well dental done, turns out it was a spur on the left side causing ulceration to the tongue poor boy. The vet said it is the same side every time as he looked it up.

Hopefully he will be ok for a few more weeks now

Glad he got through his dental ok. I hope he makes another quick recovery and it is a bit longer before the next one x

Glad he is OK. My dental bun had a specific problem tooth too (left and side) :roll:

I'm glad bunny made it through the dental OK.

Eleanor has dreadful teeth, to the point where when I adopted her there was talk of her requiring a massive operation to remove all of her back teeth, both sides, to stop the problems. We haven't resorted to that as of yet as I fear it would do more harm than good, but Ellie has regular appointments to check on her progress and in the future will need increasing numbers of dental operations. As it stands so far I've had her nearly a year and she's only required two, but those two were within 6 weeks of each other. I do wonder sometimes if I'm doing more harm than good for her, especially considering her long term jaw infection caused by her teeth which has required months of sub-cut antibiotics and painkillers, and is still active now, I just don't know. I caught her tooth problems before she stopped eating as she was comfortable enough with me to display signs of pain; the vet initially didn't see the point in me bringing her in until she saw her teeth and told me they needed doing, but from that first dental she's had problem after problem requiring long term treatment. I'm concerned about her bony abscess, concerned about the lymph node infection and subsequent abscess which she has suffered from - a lot of things.

I know she's happy, she demands head rubs, she's boisterous and confident, and when she's not being a big meanie and bullying Stephen they have a really lovely bond. But am I keeping her alive because I want to? Because I love her? Does she really have the best quality of life? I'd hope so.