RIDGED TEETH

Have just been to vets with Donut for a mucky eye. Vet is treating as an infection at the mo with drops and antibiotics before going down the flushing duct route. Whilst we were there vet gave Donut the 'once over' and mentioned he had slight ridging of the teeth. He advised upping his intake of grass and hay. Donut has plenty of hay and gets the run of the garden on alternate days with Bailey and obviously nibbles grass practically non-stop. Has anyone else come across this? Any advice will be greatly received.

Horizontal ridges on the upper Incisors are one of he first signs of aquired Dental Disease ie dental problems due to a diet deficient in calcium and fibre. If you feed your Bun a cereal mix (aswell as 24/7 hay) then I'd advise changing to a Pellet feed as this will ensure your Bun does not 'selective feed' leaving the less tastey, but calcium rich, parts of the cereal mix.

Janex

was does ridging look like?

Our vet says that Willow has ridges too. He has quite bad teeth due to previous neglect anyway so it's not something I'm too worried about at the moment.

I don't really have any advice on how to improve it - just plenty of hay and a good diet.

Have you got a picture of the ridging cos i've not heard of it before sounds right though that more hay is good though .

Hi there, thanks for your replies and advice. Donut was a rescue rabbit so I wonder whether his bad start in life could have contributed to his teeth. Thanks Suzanne, I had not thought of that.

Donut has a pellet food, plenty of hay, a mixture of veg and can graze grass every other day.

All I can think to do is cut down his pellets and veg and hope he eats more hay.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks again.

Even if you give a rabbit access to unlimited hay, it does not mean they eat enough. You are right to cut down their pelleted food. They should get one egg cup full per rabbit per day and a good handful of fresh veg per rabbit per day. This way they do not fill up on the veg and pellets so eat more hay. Rabbits do not necessary eat what is good for them first, they eat what they like and most rabbits would rather fill themselves up on pellets given the choice then not be hungry enough to eat their hay.

If the incisors are ridged and the eye is tearing I would say a tooth root infection! The tooth roots of the upper incisors grow into the tear ducts and cause an infection, this causes the teeth to emerge slightly yellow and vertically ridged. Due to inflammation and partial blockage of the duct by the roots you get tearing - a tear duct flush may help temporarily but it will soon block up again.

This is what my Zeus had and was diagnosed through x-rays of the upper jaw and head - the tooth roots could be seen elongated through the top of the jaw and pushing on the tear ducts. Fuzzing was then present on the x-ray around these roots indicating infection.

Treatments - well you have a couple of choices depending on how far the roots have overgrown - if they are just pushing on the tear duct with a mild inflammation try Septrin first but you will probably need a better antibiotic for deep infections like injectable penicillin (NOT ORAL) as baytril just can't touch a deep infection + metacam to reduce the inflammation and open up the tear ducts.

If this doesn't work you are looking at incisor removal and packing the holes with antibiotic impregnated gel or beads to clear the infection.

This is caused by a poor diet and also linked to a calcium deficiency possibly attributed to lack of direct sunlight (more common in house rabbits). A change in diet (which you sound like you are doing) is important along with treatment to help fix the problem.

Is your vet a rabbit specialist - has he taken some x-rays to check out the tooth roots at all? John Chitty (based in Andover) is good with this, David Crossley (Manchester) or Francis Harcourt-Brown (London) also there is a rabbit clinic in Bristol!

Edited to add: I don't have a pic of Zeus' teeth but do of his eyes (reference section under TEETH).

Caz

Once again, thanks for the advice. The only dietry change I have made is to reduce pellets and veg slightly to encourage more hay eating. Mind you, it never ceases to amaze me that even after a day grazing on fresh grass, both Bailey and Donut pounce on their dinner as though they have been starved all day.

Joe (son) and myself have just checked Donuts eye and given him more drops. It seems much better already. So long as it continues to improve, the vet said to go back next Wed for a check up. Obviously if there is any change for the worse, I will whisk him back to the vets.

I will bear in mind his teeth and mention it to the vet when I am next there.

Thanks again folks.

Just a word of caution - Zeus' eye problem was originally treated with drops (tiacil and fucithalmic) and baytril when he first showed symptoms and it went away for a month, then it came back, so we tried again. After three reoccurances the x-ray was taken which discovered the tooth root issue - by then of course the roots had grown even further into his tear ducts.

If it comes back - don't put an x-ray off as I am sure if it had been diagnosed sooner Zeus would never have got so bad - his eye went from a mild weeping to major sores where the continued moisture caused hairloss and discomfort (see pic in reference section). We also never managed to clear the root infection as I put off incisor removal until he became too ill to do it as he had lost so much weight .

Caz