are these teeth ok?

[Deleted User]

I used to check Ophelia’s teeth like twice a week. I haven’t been checking so often because it kind of peevs her off and they were always fine when I checked them. It’s been probably two weeks since I’ve gotten a good look without her pulling away. I feel like her teeth used to be more flat, so what’s going on with the shape of those top tetth? Is that normal? I feel like they look strange. 

[Wick & Fable]

Those teeth are gorgeous compared to Wick’s crooked, slanted teeth. I forget the top teeth are supposed to go over the bottom. Honestly did a double take of your photo because it’s so different! Which is a good thing in this case.

The front teeth grind themselves to become even and straight, preventing the dual jagged bumps you see. It could be that Ophelia’s head size makes that the normalized length her incisors should be, thus they’ll never grind down to being flat again like they were when they were growing in originally. That’s an educated guess based on my dental discussions with Wick’s vet. Admittedly, my gut reaction is the front incisors seem a bit longer than standard. The best call would come from Ophelia’s vet obviously.

Again, Wick’s small and has teeth we purposely grind to be short, so I am quite uneducated in healthy teeth appearance. In short this response probably didn’t ease your worries at all…. Sorry.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Wick & Fable]

… I’ll look at Wick’s teeth when I get home and let you know if the jagged bumps are on his if no one more informed replies! I’ll take a pic if that helps for a weird, not correct comparison.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Deleted User]

I’m trying to get a better picture, because I feel like this one is at an angle and I’ve gotten a few more looks and they don’t seem to look as bad as this picture. She’s getting really testy with me though cause I keep grabbing her face! A few weeks ago she was getting only orchard grass, because I needed to finish that box off before it went bad since I had another 20lbs of Timothy sitting around that hadn’t been used yet. So I wonder if the softer orchard grass wasn’t helping to keep them in check like her normal Timothy is? Again, I’m trying to get a straight on picture, because the first was taken with my phone slanted on its side while I tried to hold her face and get the pic

[Deleted User]

I feel like the worst person ever when I have to check her mouth because it looks so uncomfortable. And I know how much I even hate going to the dentist and having them prod in my mouth! But I’m wondering if this is something I should just monitor and see if they get better or something that needs prompt attention, meaning I need to get off work and arrange seeing the vet on an asap basis?

[Wick & Fable]

It’s very apparent Ophelia loves you and you love her. If Wick forgives me after slathering his face in cream and alcohol for 15minutes twice a day, I think your relationship with Ophelia will be okay after a few scuffles for a tooth picture you’re a good bunny mommy! And rabbits are kind of babies and drama queens. You aren’t harming her doing it, so consider it a tough love requirement.

Monitoring is always a good approach. If they continue to grow longer and more jagged, they are not getting ground down properly and need to be ground down by a vet.

As for hay switching, I’ve asked this question to Oxbows vet. Rather than type of hay, it’s moreso the quantity that counts for grinding down teeth. The difference between timothy, oat, orchard, etc.. makes a slight difference, if any. All hay has jagged ridges to help grind teeth down!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Deleted User]

At first I also thought the top teeth were a little too long as well. Obviously not very overgrown but I think longer than previously. She eats a ton of hay though! So it’s weird that her teeth are looking different. I give her a heaping pile every morning in each litter box and when I come home she has always eaten most of it, then she gets her pellets and veggies after, then two more piles of fresh hay which she eats throughout the night and I refresh again in the morning. I always take pride in her cause she’s such a good hay eater and some buns aren’t. I feel bad though about these teeth, I haven’t been checking as diligently because they always looked great and these teeth don’t look great to me, but I don’t have much experience with teeth at all!

[Deleted User]

Anyone else care to weigh in on teeth? I’m worried

[Sirius&Luna]

I never look at any of my bunnies teeth specifically, just try and catch a glimpse when I’m feeding them a bit of lettuce or something, so I don’t have tons of experience on the matter. Maybe I should start checking :/

That said, these don’t look like photos of overgrown bunny teeth that I’ve seen. They’re still growing straight, just slightly uneven. Could you send the photo to your vet?

[GarfyTheLop]

Garf has had a few issues with his teeth, and I remember our vet saying it was ok for the top to slightly over lap like that
Personally, I wouldn’t worry. If she’s eating lots of hay that’ll help, maybe just keep an eye on them for the next week or so!

[Deleted User]

I’m going to try to email it to the vet to get an opinion. this photo is super close up, and when you look from a little further away they seem straight. But I think they really used to be more flat, now it’s like all the top teeth are a different length.

[pinknfwuffy]

I think you’re right about the shape. They don’t look “bad” in terms of malocclusion but they do look a little odd, at least compared to stock photos of rabbits that are more like a flat chisel. It’s possible they are unusual, but otherwise totally functional, but I do think a vet opinion would be best, via image or visit. As long as she is eating and drinking as normal I wouldn’t be too worried but it may be something you’ll be glad you caught now in case it gets worse down the road.

I changed up Olaf’s diet recently from unlimited orchard grass and a handful of oat hay to just unlimited orchard grass (for digestion purposes). I was worried, too, that it was too soft for proper dental care. But I don’t know for sure. If I can get a look at Olaf’s teeth tonight (pray for me!) I will let you know.

Good luck!

[Deleted User]

UGGGHHH!!!!!! So the two vets in my area that do rabbits just have staff that specializes in rabbits as well, they aren’t like dedicated just exotics vets. And it makes me so angry because they just could care less about bunnies because they aren’t the major clientele that they see.

So I sent a picture via email to both vets this morning and they just won’t answer me. So frustrating. I don’t want to bring her in person unnecessarily because she freaks out, so that’s why I want to know from the picture if they think she needs to go in. I mean I know they are busy, but it takes all of a few seconds to look at the photo.

[Bam]

They don’t look anything at all like the pix of overgrown teeth I’ve seen.

Orchard grass seem softish, but it’s actually rather abrasive. But the Timothy cut you normally have could be coarser of course.

It’s good if you ask your vet, because worrying is awful and energy consuming.

[Deleted User]

So one of the two vets got back to me and said it looks like they could use a trim.

So now I have the dilemma of what to do because I can GUARANTEE that she will be an absolute pain and not sit still at all.

She doesn’t chew on anything, which I thought was great but now I see how it could be a problem.

She will chew on apple orchard sticks from small pet select. Do you think I could order her some of those and see if she can get them back on shape without a trim? Or is there no way to reverse it once they’ve grown too much?

I just know that the vet is extremely stressful for her and I’m terrified that they will try to restrain her and she will just end up hurt

[pinknfwuffy]

I’ve never dealt with this so there may be others with better advice but I think you’d be okay trying with the hay and apple sticks. The hay is really what wears down the teeth so as long as she’s eating well then I think close monitoring may be best for now rather than the stress and discomfort of a trim. I’d suggest trying to get pictures once a week, if possible, for comparison to see if they are growing faster than normal.

[DanaNM]

Hmm, it’s a bit hard to tell in the photo… they don’t look too bad to me. I feel like the angle makes them look longer than they are.

If it’s just the incisors that procedure is very quick. It used to be common practice to trim front teeth at home with dog nail trimmers in cases of bad malocclusion. I’ve seen videos of it done, and the bunny never even flinches, so I don’t think it’s painful. This is of course NOT RECOMMENDED anymore, as it can cause the tooth to split or crack, but it wasn’t seen as inhumane.

Anyway, I guess this is a long winded way of saying don’t fret too much over the vet visit. If it’s an incisor trim it is very fast and not exceedingly painful, and if it’s a molar trim they will sedate her. If she doesn’t need a trim, then she’ll get a check up, and you will know her teeth are in good shape.

If she’s eating hay and everything else fine, then I think the suggestion to take weekly photos is fine if you want to make sure before rushing her off. The angle will be better if you can hold her in your lap almost vertically and have someone else snap the photo.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Deleted User]

Yeah, I do feel like the angle and it being so close up does kind of dramatize it.

I’m not worried about the actual clipping hurting, I’m just worried that she will just go absolutely nuts. Like when I brought her in for a nail clipping, she wouldn’t even let the techs grab her she just kicked and ran around the room and shed like half her fur all over the techs… so I’m just worried that they really won’t be able to handle her, and then of course worried about stasis from her being super stressed.

I ordered her some apple orchard sticks and willow sticks, so I think I’m going to offer her lots of those and try to get her chewing. Also, I thought of another thing today, I have been giving her larger piles of hay and she does eat really good, but I think that my giving her more is allowing her to just pick out the good parts (the “seed heads” or whatever) and she does eat the regular hay, but then when I get home I give her more fresh hay and I think she goes and picks out the good parts first. So maybe I need to give smaller portions so she can’t pick so many of those bits out and not eat as much of the rest.

Gonna monitor over the next week, if it doesn’t improve then I will bring her for a trim. Just trying to avoid putting her in a really stressful position.

[Wick & Fable]

If it’s any consolation, depending on how her front and back (molars) look, they may do the grinding for incisors and any needed molars while she’s under anesthesia. Wick’s bottom incisors are always a spike, but they don’t harm him, so his vet grinds them down along with his molar spurs each time we go in. I’m unsure if it’s typical to do incisor trimmings awake or not, but all of Wick’s have been during molar grindings. It takes 10-15minutes and Wick bounces back very quickly without medication.

Though as expressed above, if anything, I think they may just be slightly long. It doesn’t seem nearly dramatic enough to warrant super crazy intervention. Let us know what your vet ends up saying next time you go!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Deleted User]

Well crap!

I got a second opinion from another vet, and he said that based on the picture:

“looks like split front incisors or malocluded front and back upper incisors. We can grind the chisel edges flat to prevent malocclusion with the lower incisors”

So I guess we will be going to the vet! Trying to see if I can get an appointment tomorrow, since hubby is off so the car will be available. But it’s short notice so we’ll see.

I am less than thrilled about having to put her through the stress of it all, but I think it’s important to get it addressed before anything gets worse.

[Deleted User]

They don’t have any appointments at either vet for Saturday.. go figure. Now I’m freaking out because I don’t want her to get worse in the next week.

[Deleted User]

I feel like you’ll be fine if you wait. They do take time to grow, and as long as she’s munching on hay, her teeth are grinding down a little. She’s not going to end up like Hermoine after Draco used engorgio. Take a breather, and see when you can get her in within the next few weeks, on a weekend because I totally feel you that ain’t nobody got time for a week day vet trip. xD

[Wick & Fable]

It’s okay to wait, don’t worry. It’s not a length that is harmful to her at all, and her teeth have probably been like that for a while and she’s been okay! All calm and just get an appointment when you can. I hate to constantly bring up Wick as a comparison, but Wick’s bottom incisors are in front of the top ones, are crooked, and point in a weird direction, and he’s still fine. It takes an overgrown tooth out of a rabbit’s mouth or a tooth root growing into the jaw bone to actually be very painful and unforgiving of a few weeks of waiting.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Deleted User]

I got her an appointment for this afternoon and I’m going to leave work to make it happen. I have been watching her like a hawk for days, and while I think that she is still eating plenty of hay, I feel like she is eating less than is normal for her. Or maybe I’m just honestly being hyper aware. Either way, she’s due for a visit anyway and we are going to get her nails trimmed there as well so I don’t have to do it. My husband gets his schedules on a weekly basis (stupid inconsistent job) so it’s really hard for me to know when I can make an appointment and it seems they are always scheduled out on Saturdays.

SO, we no longer have two vets as an option. Ophelia was spayed at one and when I picked her up, they couldn’t tell me if she had eaten anything in the last 6 hours, and they charged me $55 for an “initial exam” but they didn’t have her weight or any other information on her “exam”… so naturally, I asked for a refund for the exam cost. That was in JUNE 2017, and I called that vet back today to make an appointment and they took my information and then said… well let me have the manager call you back. I was like ?? that’s weird. So then the manager called me and said that their vet isn’t comfortable seeing my rabbit because I was dissatisfied with the services during our last encounter. like what??? Because you didn’t have any information about an exam that you charged $55 for and I wanted my money back you are now refusing to care for my animal?

[Bam]

I’m sorry about the vet BunNoob, but they might not be so trustworthy anyway?

I have a very good vet now, but they’re an hour’s drive from here and only open during office hours on weekdays. It’s rather scary, for obvious reasons.

I hope Ophelia’s vet visit will be successful.

[Deleted User]

Wow you guys I’m a total dweeb.

My picture must have been seriously misleading. We get to the vet and she’s like “these teeth are great!”

…..overreaction: 1 mom: 0 ……..

I thought that the picture made it look worse than it was, but I couldn’t get a better one. I wanted to be “better safe than sorry” …. anyway we did a nail trim while there, she was not happy and kicked around a bit.

Now I just feel terrible for putting her though all this for nothing. But two vets said it needed trimming…. ugh! I’m such a “jump the gun” kinda person….

But glad that her teeth are normal. I think that we will have to cut back on any unscheduled snacks because I think she is starting to eat less hay when I’m around because she knows if she begs she will get something.

[Bam]

Haha! Great news! You didn’t put her through it for nothing, she needed the nail trim. And you did have reason to believe she needed a tooth trim. That’s not sth you want to wait too long to do because that could lead to more serious dental probs like molar spurs.

Both Bam and Effi (dog) tend to wait a little before they eat their food, in the hope that mummy will produce sth yummier. So I have to restrain myself, because I know I’ve spoilt them myself. If I leave the room they dig right in

[Azerane]

That is great news! I’m glad that a trim wasn’t needed after all. Really that’s why vets are there though, to diagnose problems or to tell us that there isn’t actually a problem like we thought there was Better to be safe than sorry.

[Deleted User]

Haha, thanks guys!

I feel bad for stressing her, but I’m glad to know that there was not malocclusion.

I opened the top of the carrier and pet her the whole way home, and she laid down in the carrier instead of sitting hunched in one corner. That made me feel a little better. And now I know how much she weighs-4lbs exactly

[Q8bunny]

They don’t look flat and even as they should, but they also are a far cry from a snaggletooth scenario.
I can’t imagine the evening to be terribly involved, and Ophelia will still love her mommy as much as she ever has. You might just get a bit of bunny butt first.

(((Ophelia)))

[Author]

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