• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Is there a particular type of hay that's better for wearing down teeth?

~ILoveMyBunny~

Alpha Buck
Just curious if there's a particular type of hay that's best for wearing down teeth? I know Tamsin has an absolutely brilliant page types of hays and their nutritional qualities etc and in another article she mentions that the meadow, orchard and timothy hay she (or rather Scamp) sampled seemed rougher. I know that I've noticed in the past that some types feel smoother while others feel more barbed.
My buns teeth all seem good for the moment, except Cody who apparently is developing minor vertical spurs. I'm hoping it might be correctable with more hay and would like to include something a bit rougher if it exists but he already eats a lot so I suspect he may need them seeing to soon (vet is monitoring so will see how things go..). But I was just wondering if one type is better for teeth over other types or if it makes no difference?
 
I have always assumed that timothy hay is best for teeth as it seems so thick and stalky but I dont know.
 
It's the silica content that is abrasive but I have no idea which type has more of that. I just feed whatever hay they'll eat - it's all good if they eat it! Mine have timothy from timothyhay.co.uk.
 
Mine mostly have meadow hay but I use some timothy hay too. They're all brilliant hay eaters, they love the meadow hay and the timothy and a small amount of readi-grass but I've never tried them on anything else. I was just wondering if anything was better from a teeth point of view. Realistically probably won't make any difference to Cody, he eats hay well already. It's probably genetic or something, he's a lop. I know they're not the best when it comes to teeth. I'll see if I can do some more research. Thanks :D
 
Just curious if there's a particular type of hay that's best for wearing down teeth? I know Tamsin has an absolutely brilliant page types of hays and their nutritional qualities etc and in another article she mentions that the meadow, orchard and timothy hay she (or rather Scamp) sampled seemed rougher. I know that I've noticed in the past that some types feel smoother while others feel more barbed.
My buns teeth all seem good for the moment, except Cody who apparently is developing minor vertical spurs. I'm hoping it might be correctable with more hay and would like to include something a bit rougher if it exists but he already eats a lot so I suspect he may need them seeing to soon (vet is monitoring so will see how things go..). But I was just wondering if one type is better for teeth over other types or if it makes no difference?


In my experience it hasn't made any difference. Readigrass is just as good :)
 
It's the rough surface (like microscopic little hooks) that causes the wear, which is usually more on the leaves than stalks. It definitely varies between types of grass - you can feel by running a piece between your fingers and seeing how much it catches. It doesn't need to be dry/spiky hay - some soft bendy leaves can have very rough surfaces.

Some teeth issues are to do with alignment though - you want a neat sandwich of top teeth, grass/hay, and then bottom teeth so that the pressure of the opposite set of teeth push the grass surface against the one above/below. If the teeth don't line up so the edges are offset, then the edge of the tooth won't have the pressure of the other to help rub the grass against it so it won't be as effective.

So rough grass/hay can help, but there are also limits if their teeth aren't aligned right. It varies a lot from bunny to bunny - it might be his high hay diet is already mitigating the problem and it would be a lot worse if you didn't already have him on it. Some bunnies also seem to go through life with tiny spurs that don't need further treatment as are managed just by good diet. Those are the lucky bunnies with good owners as they would probably be in the terrible teeth category if they weren't getting high hay diets.
 
Thanks Tamsin, that makes a lot of sense :D
Yeah, you can feel the difference between them. I was just wondering if there was a type that was known to be rougher but I guess it's best to just go with whatever they'll eat. I'm really fortunate that mine all love their hay and don't seem to care what type it is. I do want to try some of the other types to just give them some variety.
When we got Mishka she had spurs starting (she was 6 months at the time) but they wore down quickly once we got her onto a lot of hay. So far she's had no further trouble and all the others seem to have good teeth at the moment. Have to see how Cody goes, hopefully it might correct itself, if not I'll get them seen to. He's going back to the vet for a weight check soon and vaccination is also due so I'll get them to check him again then.
Thank you all for all your help :D
 
You're welcome, fingers crossed it will. I had one bun that always had tiny spurs - not enough to need any treatment but just needed keeping at eye on. So it might be they'll just always be a note on his check ups but not develop any further.
 
I swear by Oxbow orchard grass hay. I pay £70 a bale and found out after much research and recommendation that it has a high silica content to grind down teeth. I buy it for my dental bun Mr B who was needing dentals every six weeks. After feeding him orchard grass hay only, no other hay, his dentals went down to once a year. He has had three this year but at one time he had seven in a year.
 
Back
Top