Back again with my bunny and her awful teeth :'(

Hiya all I'm back again.

My beloved bunny is booked in for her third dental for spurs on her cheek teeth

After her last dental I took advice from a lot of you guys and altered her diet massively. I cut down her pellets (I was feeding her far to much and I didn't realise!) pellets don't grind the teeth down enough.

So I bought some herbs and all sorts of goodies off of hay experts and it seems as though maybe ... Maybe I managed to keep those pesky teeth down longer then 4 weeks. It's costing me 165 a go - she's worth every penny. But every 4 weeks was insane. And the implications of anesthetic on her little body.

I'm here again though. The last time she had a dental was probably a couple of days before Christmas ... I don't have a specialist nearby that deals with rabbits and their complex dental needs. I have one located about 20 miles away and she really really doesn't travel well is have to take her there and bring her back and obviously not forgetting the trauma she will have to go through. It's just not wise, is it?

My vets are great with her. They've told me
Her teeth are terribly out of line and all they can do is continue to do is file them down. I've considered her having molar extraction ... But my vets won't and it is such a major operation, I don't think I could put her through that.

What am I to do with Candy. She is 2 this July and otherwise a very healthy rabbit.

My main worry is anaesthetic.... How resilient are these little creatures to such frequent anesthesia .... I fear I'll take her in tomorrow and not see her alive again
My vets have every time commented and told me she is very alert very quick after the operations and comes to fast.

Is it fair to keep putting her through this??
I mentioned before my mum told me I'm pitting off the inevitible and I should have her put to sleep .... I don't want to and I can't part with her. Why should I just because she has bad teeth??

I would appreciate some advise, even if maybe it's not what I want to hear. But my main concern is how she would cope with these constant dental treatments.

I don't have any advice on the teeth front, but just wanted to say that I wouldn't give up on her just yet. She's still fairly young, and hopefully the monthly dentals won't last forever! I can see how it wouldn't be fair on her though, if it was going to be a lifelong thing.

Have you asked on here in case there is a specialist anywhere nearer you? Whereabouts are you?

I have two dental bunnies, one is a once a year dental bunny but my boy Mr Bennett had 6 or 7 last year, it was getting down to every 7 weeks between dentals. Did have insurance but the excess was about £90 and then it ran out so had to pay for the last one.

Anyway I did so much research and what has really helped is Orchard Grass hay by Oxbow from The Hays Expert. Its expensive, £30 for 4 kilos but you can buy bigger more economical bags up to a bale. It took several weeks for it to help and in that time Mr B needed another dental, but that was almost 5 months ago and he hasn't had a dental. He has a dog crate full and no other hay and costs me £30 a month but much cheaper than a dental. I don't know if it will work for every rabbit but it is course sharp hay and the woman at The Hays Expert recommended it for dental buns.

I live in essex cm9. Nearest one I believe is Brentwood. I called them and spoke to them they advised to book her in and the specialist but it's traveling she hates the car

Barn Yard Bunnies said:

I have two dental bunnies, one is a once a year dental bunny but my boy Mr Bennett had 6 or 7 last year, it was getting down to every 7 weeks between dentals. Did have insurance but the excess was about £90 and then it ran out so had to pay for the last one.

Anyway I did so much research and what has really helped is Orchard Grass hay by Oxbow from The Hays Expert. Its expensive, £30 for 4 kilos but you can buy bigger more economical bags up to a bale. It took several weeks for it to help and in that time Mr B needed another dental, but that was almost 5 months ago and he hasn't had a dental. He has a dog crate full and no other hay and costs me £30 a month but much cheaper than a dental. I don't know if it will work for every rabbit but it is course sharp hay and the woman at The Hays Expert recommended it for dental buns.

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Ah perfect. That's worth a try for me definitely thank you I will invest.

Kim_perkins said:

Ah perfect. That's worth a try for me definitely thank you I will invest.

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Even if it doesn't seem to work keep going. I thought it wouldn't help but eventually it did. I was also told fresh long grass helps grind teeth down but it hard to get hold of this time of year, unless you have a private garden with good grass.

Hope it helps.

Barn Yard Bunnies said:

Even if it doesn't seem to work keep going. I thought it wouldn't help but eventually it did. I was also told fresh long grass helps grind teeth down but it hard to get hold of this time of year, unless you have a private garden with good grass.

Hope it helps.

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This is really useful for me too, I may get some for marbles - thank you!

OP - the rabbit specialist I recently took marbles to (for other things) told me that the average length of time between dentals for a dental bun is 10-12 weeks, so they do need them quite often. It's far from ideal but I really wouldn't even consider putting a bunny down just because they need regular dentals. They can still have a good quality of life.

When Candy has her dentals, does the vet take the teeth back right to the gumline, as that can help prolong the time between dentals.

It's promising that she's managed to go much longer without needing a dental this time and a good diet will help extend the time between them (so keep encouraging her to eat as much hay as possible) but, even with the best diet in the world, she's still going to have problems if her teeth don't line up properly. It's not ideal for a rabbit to be having regular anaesthetics because there's always a risk but many members on here have got dental bunnies that need regular ops and most cope with it very well.

You've probably been recommended to see William Lewis? If so, we've been taking our foster bunny to see him and I would 100% recommend him too. It's about the same length journey for us but Taz isn't too phased by the trip, luckily, so stress isn't something I've had to factor in to my decision. I guess I would say it depends just how stressed Candy gets on the journey & weigh that up against the benefits of getting her seen by a rabbit savvy vet and (hopefully) extending the time between dentals even further.

Why bother :roll:

KarenM said:

When Candy has her dentals, does the vet take the teeth back right to the gumline, as that can help prolong the time between dentals.

It's promising that she's managed to go much longer without needing a dental this time and a good diet will help extend the time between them (so keep encouraging her to eat as much hay as possible) but, even with the best diet in the world, she's still going to have problems if her teeth don't line up properly. It's not ideal for a rabbit to be having regular anaesthetics because there's always a risk but many members on here have got dental bunnies that need regular ops and most cope with it very well.

You've probably been recommended to see William Lewis? If so, we've been taking our foster bunny to see him and I would 100% recommend him too. It's about the same length journey for us but Taz isn't too phased by the trip, luckily, so stress isn't something I've had to factor in to my decision. I guess I would say it depends just how stressed Candy gets on the journey & weigh that up against the benefits of getting her seen by a rabbit savvy vet and (hopefully) extending the time between dentals even further.

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Yes that was who I have been recommended to see.
I'll give it some more thought.

Well she came back from her dental, hated me for about half an hour and then I put some greens in and she munched her way through all if then straight away. The vet even said she recovers a quicker each time. She came round and had a drink and planted her nose in some food.

The benefits straight away on their mouth must be such a relief and Candy sure does love her food

The wait begins again .... See how long she lasts this time and then I will book her to the specialist, I have to to explore all the options.

bisc is a dental bun and for a while was having dentals quite frequently. over time, they have become less frequent and this time we are way ahead of what we thought! actually worrying me waiting for it, but so far he's ok. :thumb: