Teeth Surgery

[lucygoosey]

My bunny Lucy (6 months old) is having her teeth removed Thursday because they are severely crooked. I was wondering if anyone else has had their bun go through this kind of procedure? She’s also getting spayed at the same time and I haven’t been able to stop worrying about her! I stocked up on baby food (I made sure the sugar levels were low), pure canned pumpkin and I even bought a mini blender to blend veggies in case she won’t eat the other two.

Can anyone give me advice on what to expect after the surgery?

 

[BinkyBunny]

I know at the rabbit rescue, I have seen them using Oxbow Critical Care.  That is pellet based, vitamin powder that is mixed with water to make a soft mushy meal to syringe feed. 

Here is an article that includes some post care advice:  http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-6/tusks.html You just have to scroll down to "AFTER THE OPERATION"

[Scarlet_Rose]

Just a note that with the Critical Care, your vet will have to prescribe or have it in-house to buy.

Make sure your vet keeps your bunny at least until she wakes up and is alert, some will keep them longer for observation. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but I have had instances where bunny owners were sent home with a bunny still heavily under and it is worrisome. I have a few things to add for after-care like keeping an eye on your bun, maybe put a hot water bottle under a towel for her to lay on, make sure the incision stays clean and no jumping up and down shelves, stairs etc. for a while as your bun may risk breaking it open. I would make sure there are some acidophilus tablets on hand to crush & add to food or yogurt. I found that some nice, relaxing music helps with the process as well. I posted this recipe on your other thread, but I will re-post again, I got it from the manager at my local HRS.

ANGEL’S MUSH

4 cups timothy pellets (i.e., high-fiber)
1 cup of either oat or barley flour
   Mix together, add 5 cups water, and let stand an
   hour or so, until the pellets have dissolved.
Add:
1 8-oz. can vanilla Ensure (or it’s equivalent)
1 12-oz. can V-8 juice
1 28-or 32-oz can pumpkin (not pie mix!)

Mix together, store small amounts in baggies, and freeze.  Thaw as needed.

Add additional water if needed.  We keep it fairly dry for bunns eating it on their own, and fairly soft for syringe feeding

I wish your bun a speedy recovery.

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Look at the upside of this too: She won’t be pulling up any carpet or destroying anything important now!

[bugsy]

I really feel for you at this time, about four weeks ago my eldest bugsy was taken ill he wasnt eating and we took him to the vets, they finally found out that his teeth have spurs coming out of the side of his teeth and digging into his tongue, which they cut away but also his back teeth were stepped so they were not closing properly.  he was ill for around 4 days and it was very worrying, he was taken into surgery to have his teeth filed and thankfully he is all better now.  if your bun has the run of the house if i was you i would put him somewhere where you can keep an eye on him, ie that he is going to the toliet, drinking and eating, if like me you have two bunnies it is difficult to know if they have gone to the toliet!

Good luck i am sure everything will go fine x

[Spacehopper]

your toes being one!!

[Lucy]

i highly recommend oxbow’s critical care. Fujoe would RIP the syringe from our hands when we were feeding him- that and it smells really good.

[poopy]

Don’t worry too much, I am sure he will be fine! It’s a fairy common problem/surgery among buns from what I’ve heard.

[MooBunnay]

Hi! I’m not to familiar with this kind of surgery..is it her front teeth? Just make sure that after the surgery you give her a couple days in a smaller area before letting her really move around too much, just to make sure she doesn’t hurt her spay scar. Also, after surgery I always give the bunny the bottom of a carrier in place of a litter box because its got one side without a wall so they can get in without jumping over the side.

[Faye Perry]

our prevous bunny Missy, had real bad dental problems, we first found out that her teeth were not aligned properly, so they were not being ground down when she ate, so she had to keep having them reduced at the vets, she ate well after each surgery, but it was distressing for her to go in.

After quite a few trips for surgery out vet suggested removing the front incisors, and at first i rejected the idea, i thought she wouldn’t be able to eat or live a normal life, but our vet told us that she would cope fine without the front teeth and the only adjustment would be that we needed to cut food up for her. she had stopped eating as much hay by this time anyway.

We agreed because we felt that in the end it would be less stressful, than returning to the vets every couple of months to have them ground down.  After surgery they kept her in for a while and when she came home she was fine  i just had to cut her carrots and things up into smaller chunks, but that was it, she was still a greedy piggy!  So in my experience it can be better in the long run for the bun.

BUT i would talk to the vet about keeping an eye on how things go..

Missy got a couple of abcess’s which we treated with antibiotics and we had a long period where everything was fine, but she developed an abcess that was near her eye, and on examining the x-ray they said that the root of the tooth was pressing on the eye and growing up, and if they took the tooth out she could loose they eye , i gave them the go ahead to do whatever they had to to get her out of pain, but when she went in for surgery her abcess had drained and her eye was better. 

They didn’t want her to go through surgery for no reason so she came home.  Our vet said that this root was going to be difficult to remove because of its position, i think he knew then that it was only a matter of time.  he gave us the choice of putting her to sleep, but we couldn’t comprehend this while she seemed to be doing ok.  (i realise now that he was telling us that anything we did would be pallative)

She didn’t get any other symptoms, but one day about 5 months later she came into the lounge and i gave her some satuma which she loved, and she sat with us for a while. Then she ran into the kitchen, and we heard scratching,  my husband went in and just cried not to go in.  I heard her scream and went in, she was having a fit. 

Our emergency trip to the vet was bizarre, she’d managed to get herself sitting up but looked dazed and confused.  He gave her something (i can’t remember what) and said that she could recover from this, but when we got her in the car, she had another fit and we could tell that she was gone   RIP Moomin x

I just wanted to say that in my experience removing incisors can be the right descision and bunnies can have just as healthy and happy lives without their front teeth, so long as they have loving owners that help them along the way.

 On a seperate note i was horrified when our vet even suggested putting Missy to sleep, but maybe he was thinking about the best thing for her…….

[poopy]

There is a pretty detailed article about dental surgery here Long Beach Hospital.

If it is just the FRONT INCISORS and your vet is experienced, I would not worry, it’s pretty easy. It does, however, get more complicated with molar problems. People at rescue get the fronts removed all the time if they can’t be rememedied through trimming.

[Author]

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