teeth questions

[bunnytowne]

While trimming little Cotton buns nails I checked his teeth.  The front ones are straight but the bottom look to be long to me. Can teeth overgrow without getting twisted and crooked?

HE will be going to the vet to see about his teeth in a few weeks here too. HE is still eating good. I just want to be sure he is ok. If he needs a trim then he can get them trimmed.

I can see him now on the exam table.  Cotton continously jumping into my arms.    He tends to do that when I put him down. Such a cutie boy he is.

[osprey]

A bunny’s teeth can get too long, even without being twisted.  My understanding is that the top and bottom teeth must align right over each other so that they keep each other shortened and sharpened.  A misalignment in either direction can cause the teeth to overgrow.  Is he drooling at all?  Appear to chew gingerly?

 

[bunnytowne]

No he isn’t drooling and eats like crazy. As fast as he can get to it.  I will take him in anyways to be sure whether or not he needs a trim.

I think he does cause they don’t seem to meet the bottom seem longer. So time for his appmnt.  The beginning of Sept. IN he goes.

[Tami]

We just took one of our Jersey Wooly’s…….Chester…….to the vets yesterday because of his teeth.  Poor thing has what the vet called a “Malacclusion” (sp?), which in layman’s terms, is an underbite.  Dr. Vena said it could be a genetic disorder or maybe from an accident he had…..we’ll never know, but his top teeth were curling under and would’ve soon grown into the roof of his mouth and the bottom teeth were already making his top gum on his left side, bleed.  She trimmed them with simple wire cutters and showed us how to do it because it’s something that will need done the rest of his life unless we find him something he likes to gnaw on to keep his front teeth ground down to where they should be.

He had a really bad weepy eye on his left side also, which was most likely caused by the teeth issue and she gave us an antibiotic to give to him twice a day for 7 days.  He’s already acting more like hisself, which I am just tickled to death about !

He also has a spot on his back that Jersey’s get…….kinda like a “hot spot” that dogs get…….and Dr. Vena checked it for mites and/or ring worm.  Both were negative, so we were ecstatic !  We have some anti-microbial spray that came from a vet that the lady we originally got Chester from (he was one of her retired Grand Champion show bunnies that she couldn’t use anymore, so she gave him to us along with two other Grand Champion Wooly’s) uses.  It’s called Melasorb, I think.  Anyway, we’ve been spraying that on his spot twice a day and he’s doing so much better ! 

The vet was able to use some kind of an instrument, instead of aenesthetizing him, to see if there was any problems with his other teeth further back in his mouth and she said that they’re not too bad…….but we have to constantly monitor his front teeth.

I told Jenn (the original owner of Chester) about Chester’s teeth and she said, “WHAT ???  I never had a problem with him whatsoever !  Do you give him corn ?”.  I said I didn’t because it’s not good for rabbits and she said, “I’ve been giving my rabbits corn on the cob for 13 yrs. and have never once had a problem !  It keeps their teeth ground down in the front and also keeps them occupied.  They love gnawing the corn off the cobs and the little bit that they ingest won’t hurt them.”  So now she wants to give us some of the corn she uses for her rabbits.  At this point, I think I’ll try it because I’ve made him all sorts of toys and given him all different kinds of hay (we’ve had him since Jan. of this year) and since he was a show bunny, I’ve never observed him playing or eating any hay.  We even tried breaking up hay cubes from BB and putting them in with his pellets but he just eats around them.

If you could’ve seen how pitiful he looked when he was having trouble with his teeth *sniffle*…..well, I’ll try anything to keep that from happening again.  His teeth seemed to get out of control over night and he’s always been a bit skiddish so we try not to stress him too much, but in light of this new situation we will have to be more diligent with checking him more thoroughly, more often.

All in all, he has grown to really love & trust us and actually comes over to us when we call his name.  He loves being petted and will actually shove his head under our hand for pets when we are putting fresh food in his dish.  When he first came to live with us, he was so scared.  I don’t think Jenn messed with him much, even though I know she loves her animals but just not the same way we do.

Anyway, Chester is one of the loves of our lives and we just adore him !  He didn’t even cop an attitude with us for taking him to the vet……in fact, I believe he feels closer to us because he knows we did it so he could feel better :o))

I guess we’ll see how we fair with the teeth trimming when the time comes.  I can’t help but feel nervous about it.  If worse comes to worse, we’ll just take him back to Dr. Vena and have her do it.  She only charges $18 for an office visit.  Can’t beat that !

Here’s a coupla pics of our little boy, Chester.  He’ll be 4 yrs. old in December:

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[Sarita]

Oh he’s cute.  I’m not sure about the corn thing – I would ask your vet about that.

Maloclussion is a misalignment so I’m not certain there is anything that you can do about that.  Some rabbits end up getting their incisors removed and live quite easily and happily without their front teeth if there teeth are very badly misaligned.

Did she ever give her rabbits hay?   There’s no guarantee though if there teeth don’t line up that even hay will keep them “trimmed down”.

Here’s a good article that you may want to read about this:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-6/tusks.html

 

[bunnytowne]

what a lovely little Chester. OH gosh I bet you are so happy to have him. It sure sounds like it. They do seem to know when we are trying to help them.  I am glad he is happy in his new home and able to eat comfortably  once again. It may take him a while to try new foods. I find when they get older they are less likely to try a new food right away.  May you both have many good years together. I am now going to go read that article.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Awwww I’m glad the vets went so well.

I’ll ditto about asking the vet, corn isn’t good for rabbits so I wouldn’t try it-at least as long as the vet says not to!!

There’s a ‘disabled rabbits’ mailing list on yahoo I’m a part of and you might want to join, there are people on who have rabbits with all kinds of ailments, including malocclusions, so that might help!!

[skunklionshow]

My Leo is a lionhead and he has really bad teeth.  His front teeth, both upper & lower, are 2 different widths.  The ends are also jagged.  I have my vet check the molars b/c I really can’t tell on my own.  He also has a slight dent in the upper incisors, so they bend in towards his throat.  Warning signs of teeth drama for Leo are drool or even dried drooled fur on his chin, weepy eyes, decreased eating.  At this point, he usually goes in to the vet about every 3 months for a tooth check.  I have a diabetic cat and a kidney disease cat, so I tend to be at the vet frequently anyway.  I just bring my little Leo w/ me for a quick check.

The vet originally thought that Leo’s teeth were congenital, but now he thinks Leo has a misaligned jaw.  Unfortunately there isn’t much I can do for that, just try to be observant of my little man.  Initially, I usually only caught his teeth problems once it affected his eating, but I’ve gotten better w/ catching it all earlier rather than later.

[Tami]

Posted By Kokaneeandkahlua on 08/12/2008 10:17 PM
Awwww I’m glad the vets went so well.

I’ll ditto about asking the vet, corn isn’t good for rabbits so I wouldn’t try it-at least as long as the vet says not to!!

There’s a ‘disabled rabbits’ mailing list on yahoo I’m a part of and you might want to join, there are people on who have rabbits with all kinds of ailments, including malocclusions, so that might help!!

Thanks Kokaneeandkahula :o)  I’ve already joined the disabled rabbits group and there are some really heartbreaking stories on there that others are going thru with their beloved bunnes.  I’m learning so much already in just the short time I’ve been there, though !

I hope none of us ever have to go thru what some of these bunnies and their caretakers are going thru !  It’s just so sad.

As for the corn…….I know it’s not good for them, but what I don’t understand is how can someone give it to their rabbits for 13 yrs. and not ever have a problem ?  She has had rabbits that have lived well over 10 yrs. and they’ve all had corn on the cob to gnaw on !  I just don’t get it !  It makes no sense to me………and Chester was one of her rabbits that she gave corn on the cob to !  She told me she NEVER had any problems with Chester (kinda making it sound like we were doing something wrong and weren’t taking proper care of him, which really upset me because we would never do anything to hurt ANY of our pets) and asked if I had stuff in his cage to chew on.  I told her I have made toys for him and have tried different kinds of hay to perhaps intice him to eat it, but he won’t play with the toys nor will he even nibble any hay !  That’s when she told me about the corn on the cob.  *sigh*

I just figured the corn on the cob would be a last resort……..he might not even do anything with it anyway since he’s been here with us and is in a totally different environment…..ie. a house bunny instead of being housed outside being a show bunny.  So he might not want anything to do with it anyway.

I guess if worse comes to worse, we’ll just have to keep taking him to the vets every coupla months to have his teeth trimmed if we feel we can’t handle it ourselves :o(

 

[bunnytowne]

yeah this corn thing. I never understand that.  I see corn leave and stuff are toxic to them.  I don’t know if they mean the plant and not the actual corn we eat or the whole thing or what.   When I read the ingredients of their pellets I see soy oats wheat and corn are in the pellet. Most brands have it. So I really dont’ know.,  It is soooo confusing.

Hubby said in Egypt they fed them left over vegies and bread and fruit. Including corn. hmmm. Said they did good. I don’t feed mine like that tho. They do get rabbit appropriate vegies at my house.

[bunnytowne]

IN reviewing your pic of Chester…. I notice he has a head like Cotton. I also been checking around and he kind of has a netherland dwarf head. Hmm maybe he is mixed. Who knows. Doesn’t matter. I love him no matter what he is. My friend said the same when she came. The one who shows. His head doesn’t look like Ruby’s at all. Oh well who cares. heheeh.

[earthisours]

One of my bunnies’ jaws didn’t align, and so, the teeth grew way too big. They didn’t curl or anything, as we noticed the unusual length in time.

In the end, trimming the bunny’s teeth was too expensive, so we ended up just pulling the front teeth out.

[Author]

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