BAD TEETH

hi

as too many bouts of anaesthetic are bad for a bunny's liver, is it best to have overgrowing incisors removed completely rather than trimmed or burred?

Re: hi

elve said:

as too many bouts of anaesthetic are bad for a bunny's liver, is it best to have overgrowing incisors removed completely rather than trimmed or burred?

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Both my buns had their teeth burred down while awake. My vet was saying that some buns really start to hate it though, and this is when they'd need an anaesthetic I guess. I had Mary's out as I didn't want him to get to that stage, and we were up at the vet every week to ten days with him. Squishy only had his burred down the one time while we waited for his tum to settle before having his op, but the vet did say they were very badly aligned, and after seeing how well Mary's been since his teeth were removed, I was all for it with Squishy too.

My friends rabbit is at the vet today having her front teeth removed. She came from Pets at home in Nottingham. She also had a problem with her eye last year. It had a cream coloured spot in the middle and was red round the outside. Can't remember the name of it now but she had eye drops and antibiotics. She hasn't contacted the pet shop about it. Do you think she should?

Both of my vets said that the majority of bunny teeth problems can be put down to diet but I'm not sure I totally agree. I got Charlie and Fern from the same pet shop 6 months apart. Charlie was from a 'breeder' and was apparently the healthiest of the litter but unwanted cos he's male. Touch wood, fingers crossed etc etc he's never had any teeth problems and he is a real round head flat faced lop. I don't know how Fern ended up at the pet shop but I got her cos she had poorly eyes and I saw her in the pet shop 3 weekends in a row and just couldn't leave her there any longer. They've always been fed on supa rabbit, lots of hay, v few bits of veg cos of Charlies sensitive tum/bottom. At the age of 2 Fern started having teeth problems - her front teeth were out of line, the back ones went wobbly in their sockets, molars growing through the bottom of her jaw etc etc. The specialist vet told me it was my fault for giving her the wrong diet (not enough calcium) and not letting her go out in the sun - whatever vitamin it is we get from the sun helps bone development and without it bones are spongy which is why her teeth went wobbly. How true this is I don't know, but her and Charlie led the exact same lives - they shared a cage, shared the lounge, shared the same food bowl and were rarely apart. My conclusion is that she was born like it, it has to be genetic, otherwise Charlie would have it to.

Sorry, I waffled a fair bit there, I suppose this is something close to my heart. Fern was PTS in my arms 6 months ago cos there was nothing else we could do for her, I still wonder if it is anything to do with being an indoor bunny. I'd be interested to know the difference in the prevalence of any teeth probs in indoor buns vs outdoor buns.

Re: hi

elve said:

as too many bouts of anaesthetic are bad for a bunny's liver, is it best to have overgrowing incisors removed completely rather than trimmed or burred?

Click to expand...

If I could go back and do it again I'd have had Ferns burred a few times, made sure her diet was 'perfect' and then see, if they constantly grew wrongly then I'd have then removed.

My vets didn't suggest removing them, i was told it was cruel and shouldn't be done, it wasn't until I found this forum that I found out it was quite common place and that buns are fine afterwards.

BevBunny said:

The specialist vet told me it was my fault for giving her the wrong diet (not enough calcium) and not letting her go out in the sun - whatever vitamin it is we get from the sun helps bone development and without it bones are spongy which is why her teeth went wobbly. How true this is I don't know, .

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Interesting point that I need to investigate further.... Totti is a REW and although I let him out, I don't do so in the sun and pull the shade down over the hutch when it is sunny. I'm sure I'd read/ heard somewhere that white animals are prone to skin cancer so need protection... I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If this is true, should I be supplementing his diet with Vit D?

Bev... please don't beat yourself up with the "what ifs" - this is a constant learning process for all of us :thumb:

I found an article about sunlight helping to prevent molar root growth and mentioned it in my tooth article.

My vet recommended that Zeus spent time outside as even on overcast days vit D is processed.

I did wonder as Zeus was a house rabbit and didn't get to go out much while we were working (until we got the runs) whether that contributed to his teeth problems. He was fed the correct diet and I have no idea whether genetics were also a problem as I haven't been in contact with the breeder about his brother.

He certainly is a lot better for going out on the grass every day at the moment.

Caz