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BAD TEETH

taylor v 109

Mama Doe
Idont know about u lot but i am getting very worried by the numbers of rabbits with bad teeth, i have today again taken in a rabbit with horrendus front teeth,Im sure that the problem would not be traced back to breeders that show like myself because u cannot show an animal with bad teeth and therefore i and they would never breed off a rabbit that had bad teeth as it would be worthless.Whot i would like to know from the forum members that have a rabbit with teeth problems is were they aquired there rabbit. Plus when they found out about the teeth did they complain about it to the person or shop that they got it from.It would be helpfull if everyone made a fuss about this to the person or shop as if enough people complained they would change were they got there rabbits from,or if a person would cause embarisment,and i think athough u would not part with ur rabbit ask for your money back.[of course providing it was caused by genetics and not food related]. As u know if a rabbit does not get the right diet or does not eat hay after a while even a few yrs down the line the teeth may well go. val
 
I was quite mortified a few months ago as Totti had to have spurs on his teeth done. I had been feeling smug as I felt his diet was perfect i.e. lots of hay etc. etc. so could it be genetic? he's 3 1/2 years old and was from a pet shop in a DIY store.... sold off cheap as they thought he was blind :cry: but lucky me... he is the love of my life but sorry, I digress.

So minor teeth problems yes... but at the age of over 3 when they appeared.

Good luck with your research Val.

Jill
 
My first bun was from a petshop, though not their usual "stock". A so-called rabbit breeder was stopping breeding, and had to get rid of her breeding rabbits and litters. She sold a litter of black Netherland Dwarves to the manager of the petshop I worked in, Mary turned out to be a bit nasty and bit everyone at work but me, so he came home with me! When his tooth problems showed up, I did check all the girls and their teeth were in perfect condition, but I have heard that Dwarf breeds are more prone to malloclussion. I let the manager know, because obviously if it was genetic then there was a chance the sisters would get it too, but as it wasn't directly her fault, and they weren't the usual place we got buns from, plus I didn't actually pay for him, I didn't make a fuss.
My new bun with teeth problems is from the petshop I work at now. I DID pay for him, knowing about his teeth problems, but due to certain company policies we were unable to take him to the petshop's vet to have his teeth worn down, and I was just unable to leave him in that state and bought him for half the normal price. I shouldn't really have paid for him, and once I'm back at work I'm taking in my receipt, the £115 worth of vet bills I've paid for this bun so far, and talking with my boss about getting my money back, as his teeth were such a state the vet said that if we attempted to sell a bunny in that state there would be such an uproar.
However, I know we won't be getting bunnies in from his "breeder" - we got 4 in, all got ill and sadly two died, my one's had on/off diarreah for 2 months, and then his teeth problems, though I think the diarreah recently may have been due to lack of fibre in his diet as he could only manage to eat pellets, not hay, with his teeth overgrown.
 
My brother's rabbit Bear (who I take most of the responsibility for) has a horrid malocclusion. I don't know where he got it though. One of my bunnies (Aspen) is his mother and the father is Charliesangel's old bunny Charlie (Rest in Peace Charlie, binky free). They both have perfect teeth as well as the rest of the litter. He developed his tooth problem somewhere around the age of 6 months. I thought that was strange since he had a diet with lots of hay, clean living conditions, and no trauma to is face (or the rest of his body for that matter).
 
Squidgy was abandoned in a garden by his previous owners, rescued by a friend of mine and she brought him straight to me (knowing i was a soft touch!). He arrived with the most horribly overgrown teeth. I think that may be why he was abandoned, because they couldn't be bothered to get him sorted out. The best thing in his case was to remove his front teeth, which only cost £50 at my vets, so I don't know why his previous owners found it difficult to care for this.
I was told that this was fairly common in smaller rabbit because they are bred for cuteness, ie a flatter nose (see Squidgy's pic :D ).
 
ive had 4 bunnies and both mini lops have had maloclussion one form 4years onwards the other since he was a baby

lisa
 
Hi i have 2 lionhead bunnies daisy and maisy. Maisy has bad teeth but daisy doesn't they are sisters. i got my 2 off kathy at nottingham small petrescue cause she won't rehome any bunnies with bad teeth and as i only live over the road she can keep an eye on maisy :D
 
The majority of pet bunnies come from backyard breeders orginally whether through petshops or eventually rescues. Petshops seem to care very little at most they offer to swop it for a different one :roll:

Unless they are really bad they don't tend to show up until the buns been in the home a couple of months and by then the petshop probably can't track back where that particular bun came from.

The vet as mentioned Alfie (lionhead) having tiny spurs for the last couple of years when he gets his jabs done. He - touch wood - has never needed them treating though. He has always been good at eating his hay though which I'm sure helps.

Tam
 
Would just like to say as it has come up more than once, that u can have teeth problems in i rabbit and not a sibling because one or the other of the parents would have had teeth problems in there parents. it is carried in the genes. This has happened to me in the past i have got in a new rabbit from a breeder and it had good teeth and put it to my buck and the resulting babys had teeth problems. So the doe i got must be carriing the gene for bad teeth. needless to say the doe was not used again. val
 
That shows how important keeping track is. The trouble with pet bunnies is often the whole litter ends up in the petshop at 6-8 weeks so the 'breeder' never finds out the parents were carrying a bad gene as the babies are long gone when the problem shows :(

Tam
 
teeth.

I have to agree with that..I have taken in rabbits from breeders that have developed tooth problems & have informed the breeder of this only to find that they are still using the same buck & doe....when I pointed out that they shouldn,t be breeding from either bunny & also offered to home them as I do not breed, just have pets I was turned down...so there was nothing more i could do. That meant that other bunny owners would be buying these offspring which would probably develop tooth defects.
 
Tamsin agree totaly there, but most of the pet shops here will take the details of the people they get rabbits from as they will ring them when they need more rabbits. Plus they are supposed to do thisas they need the infor for their books to prove theve paid out for stock. Rabshan was the person u had dealings with a member of the british rabbit council, cos u can report them if they are and they can be kicked out?. Iwould hope it would not be as they would never have good stock to show as u need younger rabbits coming up to replace older show stock.Athough saying that i know there are show people all be it a few who are not resposable ,but they are few and far between. val
 
teeth.

Hi val...not sure about that :shock: :shock: :shock: , I know that they used to advertise in "fur & feather" & show their bunnies but are just breeders now :( :( :( :( :( I take it that you cannot show a rabbit with bad teeth :?: :?: :?: :wink:
 
Tooth problems are the thing I am at the vets most with. I had 24 dentals to pay for in 2 months this summer. Some were repeats to the same bunnies. As all mine are unwanted pets that end up here I know most would originaly have come from pet shops. This is becoming an all too common problem. I can't imagine their various previous owners paying out for repeat dentals throughout the year, it costs me a small fortune :shock: :? . The other problem I am finding more and more is gut problems despite best food care etc. Of course that could be because the bunnies were started on bad diets by their previous owners and that could also be the cause of so many tooth problems by the time they get to rescue.
 
Most breeders don't keep the bunnies long enough to know whether the rabbits they breed will get teeth problems... as I said in a previous thread, I have 2 sables from a breeder (I will not name names) who is very reputable... they're related and both have molar problems... BUT because they're over 2, they're no use to him anymore. Most are culled in some way, so the breeder doesn't know if they have problems later. All sub-standard ones are culled too, so how do they know what they've bred into their litters?!
With Curly, my sable, we didn't know for months after we got him that he had tooth problems, then suddenly he stopped eating and had a runny chin. He'd have been culled if a breeder had him... and so would any kits that'd been bred from him incase they had it... :?
 
rabshan, no u cannot show with bad teeth they would be dissquilified and the owner would be told, show rabbits have to be in the best of heath and would not get past the judge if they were otherwise.If u are showing u would soon find out if u had teeth problems because u are keeping some of a litter to show so it would show up. Dorethy,there are 2 reasons for bad teeth one is they are born with them and it would show early on in the rabbits life,or its caused by diet, this is not enough hay in the diet, hay is the most important part of your rabbits diet.Without it eventualy the rabbit will develope teeth problems if hes not eating enough.This has 2 causes as well, if the rabbits mother never was a good eater of hay the babys dont learn to eat it ,the other is the owner not giving it. If a rabbit is reared without it it is very hard to get a rabbit to change.I go so far as to never breed from a rabbit that does not eat hay because u know u are heading for trouble with the babys.
 
My little Pippin, born in a rescue has bad teeth although his mum and brother are fine. Pips was on a diet of hay, carrot and Excel so I guess he inherited the problem. Now I'm introducing new foods too but those mentioned remain his main diet.

He's already had his curly teeth clipped by the vet but the vet said constant trimming might make them split, which is really worrying. When he goes for castration in 5 weeks time if they have grown he will have them diamond cut while under anethetic, which the vet said was better.

Rabswood
 
Dorothy said:
The other problem I am finding more and more is gut problems despite best food care etc. Of course that could be because the bunnies were started on bad diets by their previous owners and that could also be the cause of so many tooth problems by the time they get to rescue.

Hiya Dorothy - I think there is still such a long way to go in Educating new owners regarding bunny diet. I've been working with my local Veterinary Practice and the things you hear about rabbit diets are just incredable.
My current Vet advocates for a healthy bunny, very little Pellet food, very small amount of Veggies and then fresh Hay, Hay and more Hay - Oh and absolutely nooooooooo treats of any kind other than Fresh Apple sticks -

Buffs was a Pet shop bunster (bought before my passion for Rescue Bunns) and she's always been more prone to illness than Zac and Cagney - and although she can still have the occassional mild Statis flare - gotta say she's 100% better on the above diet.

I just wish it was possible somehow to get the message across to folks - as the Lovely Bunnyhugger once said which always makes me giggle - "THEY ARE BUNNIES - NOT DUSTBINS" :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I have had 3 netherland dwarfs who were brought into our surgery by one breeder (who also show) to be put to sleep as they had really bad incisors. One died after a few weeks at 12 weeks old, but he also had a deformed leg and was generally a bit odd, but very sweet and the other 2 are my Fred and Fred Junior. They were brought in together to be PTS Fred was 8 months and couldn't really open his mouth as his teeth were growing into the other side of his mouth and Fred junior was 8 weeks and already had overgrown teeth. Fred junior is going to have his incisors removed next week. But this is not unusual for this breeder. I have to say about 50% of what she brings in has bad teeth.
 
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