how quickly do buns teeth grow???!!! - vets update

Half way through October, Travis had to be put under GA to have a spur filed down on one of his back teeth.

I originaly thought he had a problem with his teeth cos he was sneezing when he was eating (at no other time, and when he was eating veg, so it couldn't be dust or snuffles). The vets checked and couldn't see anything wrong. Then a few weeks later, he lost his appetite, so I took him back, and they said he had a spur on his back tooth that needed filing down.

The problem is, he's started sneezing again when he's eating, I'm worried that it's either grown back or he's got another one, what are the chances of him dveloping one so soon? it's only been about 6 weeks? He's been eating a lot more hay recently too...

Any help would be gretly appreciated.

I think it would depend on how badly misaligned the teeth are and on the diet.
When Mary first had problems with spurs, he was at the very every 2-3 months having them filed down. Then I changed to a low pellet diet, with lots of hay (timothy, meadow hay, Readigrass, JustGrass, timothy chop and the Combomix from chinchillas2shop!), and gave him lots of green leafy veg like kale, cabbage, carrot tops, etc. Since then he went about 8 months before his appetite decreased a bit (only noticed because I monitor him carefully and he is such a pig!), rather than stopping eating like the previous times, and the vet could trim it without putting him under aneasthetic. He went back Sunday and the vet said his teeth look fine, a little long but nothing serious. This is about 9 months on from his last op so he's doing very well on the new diet.
My other bun Squishy had his teeth checked Sunday too, and although they're not quite perfect it's nothing serious, and he's never had any work done on them - he's about 9 months old now.

ETA: Not to worry you, but I think sneezing could be a sign of root problems, if the roots have grown up into his nasal passage? Are his incisors OK? Might be worth chatting to the vet and even perhaps having an x-ray done to see the condition of his teeth and roots

Well they have 22ml of pellets each each day (just for their vitamins), meadow hay (Sainsbury's Bob Martin MEadow Hay is the only stuff Travis'll touch!! :roll: ) And then in the evenings, they get a selection of spring greens, broccoli, parsley, celery, and carrot tops (I thought kale was like spinach and not too good in large quantities?). So i don't think it's their diet, and If it was a misalignment with his teeth would they have noticed a potential problem before? They said he'd only need it checking when he has his jabs. I just don't know if I'm worrying over nothing.

I'm afraid it could have grown back in 6 weeks. Some rabbits need dental work every 4-6 weeks if their teeth are bad. Tilly may require this.

I would actually cut down on the veggies you are giving because they are not fibrous enough to provide a good grinding action for the hind teeth. Feed a few veggies at mealtimes and then your bunny will hopefully fill himself up on hay - meadow hay is exactly what my vet recommended. Timothy hay is also good but expensive - you can get it online. Wet grass is best because it forms a paste in the mouth and this is more abrasive than feeding dry hay. So if you can get your bun out onto the lawn for a couple of hours a day, that would help.

Re sneezing etc, I'm not sure how this would be caused by the teeth but it is possible that it's something to do with the roots and nasal passage. Basically the teeth can overgrow at both ends (this is why Tilly has a bad eye - a tooth root has crushed her tear duct). The only way you will be able to tell what's going on properly in the mouth like Karly says is to have x-rays done. Your vet can then check exactly what is growing where and how misaligned his teeth are. However, these tend to be expensive (I just had 3 sets done for Tilly and Humphrey) but I think it's worth doing at least once a year so your vet can get a real idea of what's going on inside his mouth. It also helps them when they are filing the teeth down - rather like a plan to work to.

One thing I would say is that it is very dangerous to file a rabbit's back teeth without anaesthetic and I would be concerned if a vet was suggesting this. I know it has been done in the past but I think it's generally accepted now that's it's not a good idea, even with a fairly placid bun.

I hope your bun is ok. I am having the same problems at the moment but with 2 rescue bunnies. It's very expensive to treat and filing is a very short-term fix. Basically once you start having it done, you are likely to have to have it done on a fairly regular basis, but how regular this is you will have to discuss with your vet. Best of luck, b-m

PS Tilly has had 2 filings so far, one month apart. But she does have quite a bad prognosis and the first op was really to try and flush her tear duct, but also to find out what the 'root' of her eye problem was (sorry that was not meant to be a joke).

My girl needs her back teeth filled down every 4 weeks. She wont' touch hay. I limit her food so that she would start eating hay, but she only lost a lot of weight and the vet said not to do that. She is now eating a lot of veg with very little pellets. I don't think there is anything else that can be done if they dont eat hay. Good luck, and start saving money, it gets really expensive!

The only hay treacle will eat is nice green timmy hay which is really expensive, and he doesn't eat much of that either and consequently has tooth problems but he does love to graze on the grass and will eat more grass than any of the other rabbits!

:? If it was a problem to do with the roots, is there anything they can do about it? A lot of things I've read about have resulted in euthanasia....

KerinTravis said:

:? If it was a problem to do with the roots, is there anything they can do about it? A lot of things I've read about have resulted in euthanasia....

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Only to keep filing and cutting at the chewing end to stop them from overgrowing any further. If you have x-rays taken, your vet will be able to see very clearly how overgrown the roots are and whether anything is at a bad angle. b-m

P.S. My bunnies had their first taste of Timothy Hay this week. After a slow start they realised they love it! It's definitely the 'caviar' of the bunny world.

He's off to the vets!!

Just a quick update for you all, Travis is off to the vets tonight, where I'm going to try to see if I can possibly get some x-rays done. He is still sneezing when he eats - regardless of what he eats, and "he's not himself" in one of those ways that only their mummy would know!!

He's still eating OK, and I've got him eating hay each day, not masses, but it's a start!! :roll: The bit that's telling me he's not right is the fact that he keeps letting me scoop him up and cuddle him without so much as a wrigle!! Usually we have to ply "catch me if you can" first, promptly started by a wag of the tail and a binky through my legs!!! :roll: - it's bizzare the things that make you know theyr'e not as they should be aint it?!

Anyways, I'm going to point out to the vet that Travis stopped sneezing after his tooth was burred but that it has started again, which leads me to believe it's a tooth problem, and ask if he thinks it could be his roots. Is there anything else I should be mentioning or suggesting that we check? obviously the vet will check his breathing etc, but I'm convinced its not snuffles or anything like that.

Any help would be great thanks!!!

Well, we went to the vets, Travis has got two more spikes/spurs formed again already in less than a month :? One sticking into his cheek and one into his tongue

He's back in tomorrow to get them burred down, the vet was really good, she even got the nurse in to hold him so that she could show me the spurs herself, I never realised how tiny their teeth are!!! :shock:

So another day of worry for me tomorrow, Treacle will be spending the day there again to be with him. :roll:

The vet said that they will check him on a fornightly basis as they're growing so quickly, and that becase it's the same teeth, if it happens again, they will be able to remove them. They cant take all of them out, but they can remove alternating one's apparently cos they can still grind down on the ones opposite this way. I was impressed with how much she was able to tell me actually, I learnt a lot!!!

So there you have it, he's been eating his hay, but they've still grown back extremely quickly, goes to show how important it is to check them reguarly!!

He's a brave little man though having to go through this all over again, and has been good as gold, so I hope he gets better real soon. :bunny:

hope it all goes well
Angie

One thing I've heard done with chinchillas and other animals with molar spur problems is to have a dental specialist 'shape' the teeth, to promote maximum wear. If you think, spurs often occur because the molars are misaligned, so fixing this will stop or slow down the growth of new spurs. May be worth speaking about with your vet before resorting to removal?