Excess saliva

Hi,

Just wondering anyone has this experience on having this problem on your rabbits?

My neutered 9 years old male rabbit has excess saliva, both sides of his mouth and chin are wet starting two weeks ago. He wasn't eating nuggets, eats less hay and feces very small, so I bought him to see vet and did the investigation under anaesthetic, also blood test and x-ray. Vet could not find any overgrown teeth, no problem with kidney or chest. However, vet suspects there might be swollen thing at the very back of his mouth, the area is hard to reach.

At the moment, he is taking painkiller twice a day and I have to syringe feed him the dual care nugget. He is generally better, eats soft hay/ readigrass, all veggies and fruits, feces size is normal small.

However, more saliva and spread to left face and left eye half opens, see pictures. Right eye is fine and bright. The colour of the saliva was light yellowish before, but today it's light pink colour.

Anyone has this experience? What did you do to help your rabbit and how you clean up the sailva? I am concerned about his skin and at the moment, I only wet the cotton pad and wipe him twice a day, but not really helpful.

Any comment is appreciated

Thank you.

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Have you had any head x-rays done?
I suspect tooth roots may be causing a problem.

Shimmer said:

Have you had any head x-rays done?
I suspect tooth roots may be causing a problem.

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Ditto x

hmm.. but the vet has already done the x-ray. I will double check with the vet tomorrow. In the meantime, any suggestion how to clean the saliva on his mouth and chin?

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It may be worth asking for a second opinion from a rabbit specialist vet.

Gosh - difficult to know what to suggest as he's not had anything thrown up by his diagnostics. Is the vet thinking the lumpis responsible? I'm sorry I can't help but sending the fella lots of well wishes

Rabbit teeth grow continually - the top visible parts get worn down by eating tough fibrous material (grass / hay). The roots also grow, and sometimes press against other structures such as tear ducts. It is also possible for other things to go wrong, such as abscesses forming in the jawline. The symptoms your rabbit has are typical of some kind of tooth involvement.

You may need additional xrays from different views, or someone with more experience to assess them. Keeping the damp area clean and dry, and topping up his feeds will help to keep him more comfortable, but pain relief on its own isn't likely to resolve this and he needs further assessment and treatment by a rabbit savvy vet.

Hi all, thank you. He has been seeing the same vet for the past 8 years and the vet is a rabbit savvy vet, so she knows my rabbit very well. I will double check with the vet to see if she has checked about the tear duct and jawline when he was x-rayed.

About the cleaning, seems hard to keep it dry .. unless to use hair dryer may be, which I never done this to him before, may scare him from the noise and wind..

Could he have trouble swallowing his saliva and foods?
You mention vet saw something and saliva pinkish so I wonder if it is a sore,ulcer,or growth. Could vet test saliva for traces of blood?

Sending vibes.
Your bunny reminds me of my bridge bunnies,amigo and bonita-netherland dwarf sable points.

Found something like ulcer on his left tongue this morning when I syringe feed him. Could be why he has yellowish saliva coming out... I am bringing him to see vet soon.

Apart from this and the wet on his chin and eye, he is actually better eating hay, few nuggets and veggies compare to last week. Poos back to normal, although is small.

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Nicole Mok said:

Found something like ulcer on his left tongue this morning when I syringe feed him. Could be why he has yellowish saliva coming out... I am bringing him to see vet soon.

Apart from this and the wet on his chin and eye, he is actually better eating hay, few nuggets and veggies compare to last week. Poos back to normal, although is small.

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I am glad that he seems to be doing a bit better now. Good luck at the Vets x