Gandalf’s teeth journal

[Bianca]

I thought I would share Gandalf’s journey – it’s a great way of passing the time while I stay up with him tonight, and it might be of use/interest to other bunny owners going through similar things – or perhaps it might just be interesting? 

I’ll start by introducing Gandalf. Gandalf is my foster to adopt once medically cleared. He is a possibly 8 year old white mini lop. He came in as a stray at the shelter I volunteer at so late in the day they didn’t have time for a proper vet check that day. But I checked his teeth and rushed him to the shelter vets and got permission to take him home for foster so I could get critical care into him.

Gandalf’s teeth were so overgrown that they had forced his jaw to mis-align. His top teeth were to the left of his bottom teeth, and his jaw was jutting out slightly. I kept him over the weekend and discovered he could eat mashed pellets and critical care, and tried to eat leafy greens. He didn’t know what hay was. The next week I brought him back in and he was neutered, and had his teeth filed back down so his jaw sat normally and his teeth were a better length. It was during the neuter they guessed at his age because they did a confirmed 8 year old the same day, and said he had similar “old and saggy” boy bits. 

I took him back home foster and encouraged him to eat hay by getting a bit of nice quality lucerne to tempt him. As soon as he ate a bit I started mixing meadow hay through so within a couple of days he was happy with the meadow hay. Unfortunately within 1 and a half weeks his teeth were growing back too much. His top teeth were already touching his tongue, forcing his jaw out and his bottom teeth were sticking out awkwardly. His top teeth started to twist slightly in his mouth, so the right tooth was further back.

So back to the shelter vets, who clipped his top teeth. That was a Friday. By Monday his top teeth were touching his tongue and twisting quite badly, and his bottom teeth were sticking out his mouth and growing. Back to the vets, who used power tools on his teeth and got them as short as they dared risking. They managed to book him in for teeth removal surgery for the following Monday (today). I’ll do a separate post to share the tooth removal story. But I will just add here that the power tool trim lasted him 4-5 days before his top teeth were twisting and back on his tongue. He was able to eat soft food, hay, and some solid pellets though, so I let it be to avoid the extra car trip.

[Bianca]

Today (26/3/18) Gandalf went in for his surgery. I was so nervous, especially him being an older rabbit. But he went through it like a champ, the vet said he was able to get a tube in him rather than a gas mask, which really helped.

He said because of the angle the top teeth had twisted at, the right tooth was already loose and came out easy. Left wasn’t too bad either. Bottom teeth came out fairly easily, but he is concerned a small amount of root may still be in there. He thinks he got it all out when it didn’t come out with the tooth, but he has warned me to be safe.

The peg teeth were a bit more interesting. He said he has never seen a peg tooth so bent as the right one – which would have been caused by the twisting of the incisors. The left peg tooth was cracked and damaged. The vet said it was difficult to remove. He believes he got it all, but we will find out in a couple of weeks if anything grows back.

I actually have the teeth, except the damaged left peg tooth which was in too many pieces to save. I will take a photo if anyone is interested – the bent peg tooth was crazy!

The vet said Gandalf has some stitches in his gum – ouch! He has been prescribed pain meds starting tomorrow for 5 days.

Gandalf is now at home. He has sniffed his food but has not eaten yet, but let me give him some critical care. He has been grooming himself a fair bit, and seems a little more relaxed and comfortable than when he first got home. He came out of the anesthetic very fast – even the vets were surprised. I’m told it takes 24 hours to fully leave his system though.

He did a wee in the car in his cage on the way home, but not much in the wee or poo department since getting home. It’s been 5-6 hours though and still waking up and he has taken critical care, so I’m not stressing too much yet. I am staying up with him tonight though.

As I am typing this I heard him move around a little and when I peeped he was fiddling with his food, then fiddling with his mouth and chewing a bit – I’m sure his mouth is very sore and would feel weird with the stitches in his gums, so I can’t blame him there. It looks like he is wanting to eat but needs to work out how and OH MY GOSH HE IS EATING AS I TYPE THIS!!!

Or at least he tried to a bit. He is at his kale, I don’t know if he can get much in his mouth but seeing him try is really, really good.

The vet has told me to offer him pretty much everything except solid treats like carrot. He said he doesn’t even care about some extra sugary fruit like strawberries or strawberry juice squeezed onto his food – whatever gets him eating. So he has hay, solid pellets, mashed pellets, strawberry, and kale to choose from. He LOVES kale, so I have given him a large piece like he usually eats, and also broken some up into tiny pieces to make life easier. He is currently at the big piece though.

Tomorrow when I am less tired I will share a few photos of Gandalf. If anyone is on instagram there is a photo of him asleep in my arms @bunniesofchaos

I will try to shrink the photo down to a suitable size for this forum tomorrow. I also have photos of his teeth as they grew like crazy, if anyone would like to see those out of interest?

I will continue to update with his progress. He isn’t entirely out of the woods yet, but he has survived the big challenge – the surgery. So fingers crossed! The vet said the teeth have probably been an ongoing issue for a long time, going by the twisting and condition of the peg teeth.

[Bianca]

Okay I couldn’t resist, here is a photo of Gandalf asleep in my arms. He gets very sleepy if I give him back rubs, and once he is asleep it takes a lot to wake him up! 

[Bianca]

Update again:

He is eating hay!

I offered him some pineapple pieces to see if that would tempt him. He immediately stuck his nose up at the pineapple, rushed over to his solid pellets, ate one of those, ran through his tunnel a few times, came back, and is now gobbling up hay. I think he has worked out how to do it with a probably funny feeling mouth. Hooray! I plan to stay up until I see some poos though, which will hopefully happen now that he is eating on his own. He is amazing with his litter tray so they won’t even be hard to find. Go Gandalf!

[Bianca]

[BB8]

Wow I’m so glad Gandalf is doing better! I love his name by the way. He’s such a cute bunny too
I’m so glad he met you! He already is doing so much better than when he first came into the shelter.
I’m interested in seeing his teeth!
Sending Gandalf a lot of healing vibes!! <3

[Bianca]

Thank you! I named him Gandalf because of his colour. I never originally planned to adopt him, but he is such a fighter and just refuses to give up, despite how bad his teeth were.

I got him to eat again after more napping. I have a new trick – feed some critical care. This upsets him. Because he is upset he will move around more. As he moves he decides he wants to eat. He just spent 10 minutes eating his pellets. He did a wee in his litter tray. I’m still waiting for poos but he is asleep again now – he did a sploot half on his pellet bowl! I’m happy with his progress, I did some reading on other forums of people whose rabbits have had their teeth removed and they have taken 2-3 days to start eating.

Here are a couple more photos I have dug off my phone.

This one is from a few days ago. I brought Gandalf into the bedroom. He ran around the bed for a bit, introduced himself to a very confused elderly cat who has never seen a rabbit that close, then squished up next to me and fell asleep with his paw on my hand.

Then this one is of his teeth two days after they were clipped the second time. It’s not the best shot, but you can see the top teeth touching his tongue, and the twist starting to happen. The bottom teeth are starting to just out a lot too, which was forcing his jaw out more than this photo shows.

Tomorrow I will take a photo of his teeth. I’ll make sure to include the bent pin tooth – the vet in question has done many teeth extractions including on rabbits, and he said it was the first time he had seen one like that!

[Bianca]

WE HAVE POO!!

Something all rabbit owners will understand the excitement of!

It’s 1.30am and he just hopped into his litter tray and did a nice big pile of perfectly healthy poos. Not runny, not small, not different at all to normal.

WAHOO!

Now he is eating some more.

In theory I could finally go to sleep, but I might have had a bit of energy drink to help keep me awake so I’m not sure I can quite yet.

[Deleted User]

What a journey! Also, what crazy teeth! Poor little guy.

[Bianca]

Update:

Sorry, will take tooth photos tomorrow, I keep forgetting!

Gandalf is recovering very well. He easily eats pellets and chopped or grated soft veggies. I chopped up some hay last night to make his life a bit easier, and he ate some of that but I ran out of his favourite hay so it was the hay my other rabbits happily eat, which wasn’t good enough for Mr. Snobby. I suspect he will eat even more when I grab more of the hay he loves tomorrow.

He also goes back for his first check up tomorrow. I feel like the vet will be happy with how he is doing.

Right now Gandalf is napping because that’s just what you do after eating. Usually he does a big sploot near his food. He is a bit cross with me because he didn’t want his pain meds, but it had to happen – sorry Gandalf!

Overall he is close to being back to his normal self, but I think he will remain moody until he is off his pain meds. He still rushes up for treats and food, eats and poops close to normal (just minus the large bits of hay and solid treats like carrot), is hydrated, and even still runs around and does tiny zoomies sometimes. He is definitely a bit quieter still, but that’s not surprising – he had his teeth pulled and has stitches in his gums.

I’ll make sure I take a photo of his teeth as soon as I get a chance.

[ThorBunny]

Bianca, what an amazing story! Its wonderful he’s doing better and is so trusting despite all he’s been through

Go Gandalf!

[Gordo and Janice]

Wow…just wow…you sound like a pro! Go Gandalf…and so appropriate that name is. I hope the new owners keep it. But I think you should keep him. You are his true savior. You do seem like a bunny whisperer the way he trusts you and is doing so well.

I would bring my bunny across the world for you to babysit while we go on vacation. Such a wonderful story. Thanks for the detail and the pics!

[Bianca]

Don’t worry I definitely plan on adopting Gandalf as soon as he is cleared for adoption – there is no way I could let him go somewhere else after all we have been through! It will be at least 2 weeks before that happens though – the vet wants to make sure that left peg tooth doesn’t grow back.

And thanks guys, the compliments mean a lot. I’m so happy he is doing as well as he is – he ate a little of the chopped up hay last night as well as his pellets and leafy greens. Hopefully he will eat even more hay when I buy his favourite stuff. I might have to sneak him a bit of lucerne – I know adults shouldn’t really have it but if it gets him eating more hay again then a little bit won’t be a bad thing. I had to use it to teach him to eat hay when I first got him – he didn’t know what it was. 😮

[Gordo and Janice]

Awesome!!! Another match made in heaven!!! Yay!!!

[Bianca]

The vet was very happy with Gandalf yesterday – his gums are healing up well. But his nose was a little bit runny so he has been given 5 days of antibiotics to be safe.

He also now has a temporary (maybe permanent) friend! I fostered three young rabbits a while ago. They went back for desexing and were put up for adoption. But ever since being split from her brothers, Ginny has been a different rabbit. Very quiet and withdrawn. She was still eating at the shelter, but losing weight while her brothers have doubled in size. So I have brought her back into foster with me, and popped her into a playpen next to Gandalf. She is already a different rabbit again – way happier. And he seems to be loving having a rabbit nearby too. Ginny has been bringing her food up to eat as close to him as she can. He is pretending like he doesn’t know she is there, until she turns for more food, and then he looks at her.

[Gordo and Janice]

Love it! The Whisperer…

[ThorBunny]

So your total rabbit count is up to 6 now?

[Bianca]

Haha yes my total rabbit count will probably go up to 6. I don’t want to say they are mine yet because obviously I can’t adopt them until they are vet cleared.

Gandalf is doing well. His nose has cleared up, and he is eating and drinking really well. I think it helps having Ginny next to him because he wants to eat because she is eating. As for them getting along, it’s going great!

Day 1 they mostly ignored each other. Day 2 Ginny decided to be seriously passive aggressive. So much over the top binkying, zooming, and dead bunny flopping. She was pretty exhausted by day 3 and settled down a little. She still spends a lot of time digging in her little cat bed thing, while he naps. Gandalf’s naps have moved closer and closer so now he naps right up at the fence next to her. Sometimes she naps next to him, or at least nearby. But being a young rabbit her energy levels are much higher so she spends a lot of time playing too.

Gandalf’s playpen/living quarters are behind the couch (which is in the middle of the room) and so whenever she gets over the top playing he just runs up to the fence next to me and begs me for attention. That will tell her Gandalf! I do see a potential bonding here, which the shelter isn’t against.

[Bianca]

Update: Gandalf and Ginny are totally in love! I can do “dates” where I sit them on the couch and pat them both and they fall asleep, but I am not letting them have actual play dates yet because their hormones are still settling down from desexing. But when they are in their pens they nap next to each other and share their food between the bars. As in, Gandalf brings his hay to Ginny and she eats that as well as her own.

Gandalf should be getting his (hopefully) final vet check this week too – fingers crossed!

[Gordo and Janice]

Love hearing about them. So sweet.

[BB8]

That’s great news! I’m glad they’re getting along Also glad to hear that Gandalf has his last vet visit soon!

[Bianca]

I have been a bit sick (well, concussed) this week, so last vet check should be next week.

Gandalf is doing super though – the only things he can’t eat now are large pieces of more solid food such as carrot, which isn’t surprising. I don’t feed him much sugary stuff though, so when I do he just gets a few tiny bite size pieces.

I am going to create a thread in the bonding section for him and Ginny – they just moved in together.

[Author]

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