Bunny Drooling

First I want to say I know it isn't a medical condition because twitch had a vet trip recently and I mentioned it to him so he checked her teeth and mouth to see if that was causing it and he said it wasn't and that it wasn't medical and that I shouldn't worry about it but I want my bun happy and healthy and even with a vet that specializes in buns, it still worries me.

Twitch is a rescued bun that had a horrible previous owner and even though she recovered physically a long time ago, she is finally starting to recover mentally. The only difference I have noticed with her is that she seems more comfortable and confident about herself and her surroundings since I've been slowly helping her trust humans again. Everything else has been the same. When she comes out to explore and bounce around she never has drool on her chin before or after. When we curl up together she never starts off with drool on her chin but after about a hour she has a wet chin. When we are curled up she likes to be covered up completely from head to tail in her favorite blanket. I thought it could have been because she was completely covered up and that she doesn't move at all when curled up, so I tried curling up with her just with her face uncovered but she still has a wet chin after about a hour. I checked lower then her chin even though its difficult since she is ticklish on her chin and belly and I love how she reacts when I tickle her so that happens often, but lower then her chin is always dry.

I'm trying to find out other things that could be causing it because I want to her to a happy little bun. I'm not sure if it could be because she is happy or not.

Any ideas are welcome.
Thank you

My first thought is dental issues. I seriously wouldn't trust a vet that says her teeth are definitely not the problem when she has had no xrays or had her teeth examined under a general anaesthetic. Drooling is not normal. A vet can't see all the teeth of a conscious bunny, there could also be tiny, tiny spurs that are causing problems. Some rabbits are more sensitive than others. Fiver was eating perfectly ok and seemed fine in himself but I noticed he had a wet chin. My vets said his teeth looked ok but he had a few small spurs and because he was drooling they wanted to do a dental sooner rather than later. When they put him under the GA and performed the dental they found he had an ulcer in his mouth ansd this was why he was drooling.
The only other thing I could think of if it definitely isn't her teeth is that she could be to warm. All my buns get wet noses when they are too hot so maybe it's similar to that?

Hi,

I know you've said that your vet has checked her teeth, but vets cannot see every part of a rabbit's mouth whilst they are conscious. It screams 'dental' at me, her symptoms, as drooling is one of the main signs of dental problems. If I were you, I'd be going back and getting a more thorough investigation done.

How are Twitch's eating habits? Are they normal? How's her output - are they a normal size/consistency?

she eats a lot of hay, I don't know a amount she has a ball that is on the side of her cage full that gets filled back up twice a day so that she always has enough. She gets about a cup of dried veggies a day and a couple pieces of fresh veggies a day. She gets about 1/2 cup of pellets a day. Her output is normal but a couple weeks ago and back she would have a mild case of sticky butt a day for a couple of hours and then go back to normal. I figured out that the sticky butt was being caused because of her not getting enough veggies because I was putting veggies under the pellets and thought she would eat the pellets to get to the veggies but she would just dig some out so she wasn't getting the correct amount of pellets or dried veggies because she didn't want to dig out the veggies, so I started to put just pellets in her cage for about a third of the day and then take them out and put in the dry veggies and at night she gets her fresh veggies since if she gets to much fresh she also gets sticky butt because she drinks a lot of water compared to my other two did and needs the dry to absorb some of the water.

I noticed that when she is under the blanket her ears get warmer and I will uncover her until her ears cool down and the drool would go away. Under her nose is kind of damp, I thought that was because they will get the warm water out of their system to cool down sometimes threw their noses. Her nose down to her chin is what gets damp and drooly, but seems to stop once she starts cooling down. Could it be coming just out of her nose and just working its way down her chin?

I just want the best for my bun and don't know what to do. I'm going to look for another vet to take her to

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Not feeding veg won't be why a rabbit has a dirty bum. This is usually caused by eating veggies since veg isn't actually natural for a rabbit to eat. Watering veg like some lettuce and cucumber etc can cause it or if they are introduced to a new food too quickly. Some buns are more prone to dirty bums than others but if it happens again you want to be cutting out the veg and feeding just pellets and hay, if this doesn't resolve the problem then cut down the pellets so she eats more hay. After this you can slowly introduce the veggies into her diet again but personally I'd cut them out completely and just fed dried forage (fresh forage in Summer) but that's only because I prefer forage for my buns than veg.

It sounds like she is getting too hot. I don't fully understand what you mean about the hot water? :? Rabbits regulate their temperature via their ears; they don't sweat. Fiver will get a wet nose when he gets warm when snuggling up with me, I just lift the duvet cover off him and give him the choice to to hop down but quite often he chooses to sit there so he can't be getting too uncomfortable.

Ever since I started giving her dry veggies instead of fresh ones it has stopped. I give her one piece of cilantro a night and she hasn't had sticky butt since we went to this diet. The vet said he cant be positive but thinks she can get it easier, her sister also got it often. Her sister passed away unfortunately so I cant compare the nose run/drool thing to hers.

She likes to hide from the light. I use her ears as a thermometer. I was reading something in a book and then also online that they're noses run to help cool them down if they have enough water in their body to do it because the water in them are warmer then they should be .

Since she is laying away from me she isn't having the issue so it looks like it might be because she is to hot.
I'll give it a couple days while I research new vets for her to visit, and keep the blanket away from her and try to keep her cooler and see what that does for her.

Thank you so much for your speedy response.
I'll let you know how she is in a couple of days

Well I made her very angry not letting her have her blanket but ever since I stopped letting her have it the drool has stopped. Hurray!!! She is still adjusting to not being able to have her blanket when she wants it but its for her health and I'll take the fits over her drooling or whatever it was.