Teeth Trimming Issue

[Aimee]

Hello Binky Bunny peeps this is my first post but I’ve been following this website ever since I got a rabbit. Okay long story here we go. About 8 months ago my rabbit got his teeth stuck in a ball that had a hole for treats to come out of. They had to sedate him and pull the ball off, then they trimmed his teeth. Everything was fine I gave him antibiotics, he healed he ate and drank properly till about this week. I noticed he wasn’t eating as much, and eventually started drinking less as well. I took him to the vet and pretty much was told his top teeth were too long and they were cutting into the bottom of his mouth because after the incident with the ball tey were no longer aligned. I felt terrible that I didn’t notice this, and he stayed overnight to have his teeth trimmed. When I grabbed him the next morning (aka today) the vet assistants didn’t tell me anything, in fact they forgot to give me the antibiotics that I paid for the day before. I went back and got them, but honestly I feel so uninformed. The only reason I knew that there was damage to his mouth was because one of the girl up front showed me a picture of it on her phone. I’ve been carefully watching him all day and fortunately he drank some water and took his antibiotics no problem but I haven’t seen him eat which is really concerning. I’m afraid he’s not going to eat because he still thinks he can’t. The vet also never mentioned if I should go back maybe every month or something to get his teeth clipped again because of the missalignment, it’s hard for me to look at his mouth because he hates when anyone goes near his face. I’m scared he’s going to starve, I have all his favourites out. Lots of different veggies, broccoli, carrots, pellets, hay, even some alfalfa as a treat but it’s been 12 hours and he hasn’t eaten anything to my knowledge. I’ll try giving him softer veggies in the morning maybe like spinach. Should I consider puréeing some veggies and syringe feeding? He seemed to lap up the antibiotics no problem. The vet will be calling me in the morning tomorrow to see how he is doing and I will bring this up with them. Does anyone have any ideas??

[jerseygirl]

That’s a real shame you weren’t given more help when you picked him up.

For now, I would try soaking his pellets in hot water so they swell up and break up completely then give him that in a dish when it’s cooled down. You could mix some canned pumpkin or other veg puree to mix with it. He may eat it straight out a bowl. If not, you might have to syringe feed. If so, I’d try get some Oxbow critical care from the clinic if possible.

If the alignment cannot be corrected after some trims, it might be better in the long run to have all his incisors removed. Rabbits manage really well without them, because they chew with the molars anyway. With misaligned incisors, the molars will not wear properly so then they need to be trimmed also and it’s a bit more involved.

That he got his teeth stuck in the 1st place makes me wonder if he had some overgrowth happening even back then.

[ThorBunny]

I’m sorry to hear about your rabbit’s tooth troubles! I agree that mashing up pellets could help encourage him to eat.

I recently adopted a bun who had his incisors removed for this same problem. You honestly can’t tell there is anything wrong with him and he pigs out like normal I cut his salads up a bit smaller and he gets carrot treats in strips that I peel off, everything else is the same as normal buns.

[Aimee]

Thank you for the replies!! After the vet contacted me we made an appointment for this evening after I mentioned that I hadn’t seen him eat anything. Hopefully I can get more sorted out then. I’ll mention the idea of removing his incisors. Does that mean everything he gets will have to be pre cut into pieces he can easily get in his mouth without having to bite off?

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