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Tooth root elongation-longterm care

AnjaSanja

AnjaSanja

Warren Scout
Hello everybunny.

So far we have managed to be mostly off pain meds but that seems to stop.
What to feed? Paliative care for dental bun. I worry about fiber and GI stasis. I can not get Fibafirst shipped to EU.
At this point he eats pellets and CC. He might eat some dry dandelion and hazelnut leaves, sage and other herbs, he eats papaya treat.
I can get Fiberplex

No hay or almost zero hay.
 
I have had a few ‘Dental Rabbits’ who could not eat hay. They did all cope with just a high fibre pellet and dried herbs diet. Some did occasionally get a mucky bum, but none ever had issues with gut stasis.

Can your Bunny eat fresh grass ? Some Dental Rabbits who cannot eat hay do manage to eat fresh grass.
 
He used to be fond of fresh grass. Now he is picky. We have snow blanked outside so it will be some time before I can get him fresh dandelion, bramble leaves. Only dried leaves and herbs for now. But I can give him aragoula, cornsalad.
Have you ever reached the point where withouth pain meds they could not manage?
 
All my dental bunnies have been different. Managing the tooth length can to some extent manage the root elongation. There are several levels of pain reief available if needed. Mine managed OK for pain relief for dental issues. Jaw infections and gut stasis were more of an issue for different rabbits who had dental issues as well. Most of the time, it was just managing their diet and monitoring their weight to make sure they were eating enough. I've had rabbits eating just mushed pellets ot Critical Care type food.

Diet - will he eat grass or hay if you cut it up into very short lengths (5mm or less) and mix it in with eg CC or mushy pellets on a saucer?
 
Just an idea, but what about food processing grass, readigrass or hay (or all of them) to make either soft food with a bit of water added, or to syringe feed? won't help much with the chewing but it might encourage more chewing than just offering it normally, and it would get the fibre in at least.
 
dollyanna said:
Just an idea, but what about food processing grass, readigrass or hay (or all of them) to make either soft food with a bit of water added, or to syringe feed? won't help much with the chewing but it might encourage more chewing than just offering it normally, and it would get the fibre in at least.
Click to expand...

Not sure I would feed fresh grass after putting it in a food processor. Would that not carry the same risks as feeding Rabbits grass cuttings from a lawn mower :? ie the grass rapidly ferments causing bloat if eaten by Rabbits
 
InspectorMorse said:
Not sure I would feed fresh grass after putting it in a food processor. Would that not carry the same risks as feeding Rabbits grass cuttings from a lawn mower :? ie the grass rapidly ferments causing bloat if eaten by Rabbits
Click to expand...

Fair point, was tired last night, shouldn't post when tired! Although - the problem with feeding cut grass is that it ferments, if it was processed and fed immediately it would be no different to any other smoothie? I've always felt the lawnmower issue was not so much the cutting method but just that you get very chopped dense grass that would be fed lie in pilesand likely in summer or at least warm seasons, hence the fermentation issue - if you fed it immediately in a single layer then it wouldn't be fermenting. Hypothetical question, don't try it!
 
The easiest way to chop up grass is to get a handful, line it up and use kitchen scissors to cut it into short lengths - a bit like a bunch of chives. It would keep safely in the fridge for a couple of days in tupperware. Food processors probably won't cope with grass very well and it could wreck the blade as well as the motor. It's pretty tough stuff. We used a specialist grinder in the lab to prepare dried grass samples for analysis.
 
Hello! No, he does not eat choped up hay. He does get hazelnut leaves, dandelion, apple leaves, psilium, basil, mint, sage. And some fresh leafy veggies. Right now he is at the vets for his dental work. I'm waiting for their call to see how it went if any new problems have come up. I'm also waiting for Austria and Czech, Italy to answer if they shipp to Slovenia. In that case I will star feeding him Fibafirst and my fiber content worry will go away.

At this point I see two good option Selective Grainfree (22% fiber) or Selective adult (25%).
 
If bun eats some herbs, veggies. How much pellet am I supposed to give? Lets take 1kg / 2.2 lbs bunny. Is 40g enough or too much?
 
AnjaSanja said:
If bun eats some herbs, veggies. How much pellet am I supposed to give? Lets take 1kg / 2.2 lbs bunny. Is 40g enough or too much?
Click to expand...

Well I think the advice is to feed one eggcupful per day. That advice is not adjusted for different size of rabbit. Eggcups also come in slightly different sizes :)

Our eggcups hold about 14g of Science Selective. I actually feed that twice a day, so 28g per bunny per day. My rabbits also are two different sizes, around 4.5kg and 3kg. They are hand-fed and get the same amount, although where there is a choice, the larger one is given full-size pellets and the smaller the others. However, each bunny gets one, rarely two Fibafirst sticks per day, which weigh 13g each.

So it appears that the bunnies here get very close to your 40g per day :)

Sorry, didn't take into account the lack of hay, which both my two eat a lot of. That being the case and if they will eat Fibafirst, I would feed maybe a couple of sticks a day in addition to the 40g of pellets.
 
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