what should i do with my rabbit?

Question

my rabbit has really bad teeth. it's because of 2things.
1) he is a fussy eater and will only eat russell rabbit dried food and then he picks at it.
2) he's my first rabbit and i didn't know they need regular dentals.
i know it's my own fault and i feel so bad. my vet says he can only have 2 anastetics, he has had 1 already so after his 2nd they say he will have to be put to sleep as it will be cruel to let him live.
because his teeth will continualy over grow he will eventualy not be able to eat and will starve to death.
there must be an alternative??
his teeth will overgrow in as little as 6 weeks. i cant get him to chew blocks or even eat fresh food, he won't eat carrots, lettuce, anything, i've tried all kinds of dried foods. he wont touch them.
what should i do?

brushin wont make a difference, i'm stupid?
rabbits teeth grow rapidly but blocks and food grind them down.
mine is a fussy eater and therefore they wont grind down

the longest i've left him with a different food is 3days he must have been hungry but not touched it

Answer 1

There is indeed an alternative - malocclusion, the technical name for the condition where rabbits' teeth grow crooked, and so do not wear down, is very common, and a really good rabbit vet will perform surgery and completely remove the teeth. Rabbits actually thrive and live very well after their teeth have been removed in this way, better than with crooked teeth which give them pain and can cause abscesses. You should contact a rabbit-savvy vet, and consult them about completely removing your bunn's teeth under surgery.

I've collected lists of reputed rabbit-savvy vets from the 'net at
http://au.geocities.com/leaswebsite/links.html#bunnyvets
I don't know where you're located, but check out these pages - just click on your state/country -
http://www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/PB_vets.html
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoasun/RabbitVetsMain.htm
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoasun/AustralianRabbitVets.htm
http://www.3bunnies.org/vets.htm
I recommend telephoning and asking them lots of questions -
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html

Very very best of luck!

Answer 2

I know exactly how you feel, i had to have my rabbit put to sleep in Feb last year after a long run of dental probs. His problems were due to the fact i rescued him from this awful house and they were all inbred.

When i first took him to the vets it was because his teeth were deformed, his top set grew into his cheek and his bottom set grew over his tongue. He had his first dental op and basically had his teeth filed down to his gums. He was then put on a strict diet to try and stop it happeneing again. Things like carrot and lettuce are useless. becasue they are too soft and too sweet and just cause more harm.
I was told he needed a food that that had no little grains because it didn't encourage him to chew. He should also be allowed Celery and Parsley and Dandelion leaves and the skins of green apples, no other parts. These are tough and stringy so the rabbit has to chew.
Also make sure he has lots and lots of hay as this also encourages chewing.

As to the fact the rabbit can only be anethatised twice is rubbish. There is no limit but obviously the more it happens the bigger the risk he won't wake up, I was informed by my vet from the word go that they could do it as many times as was necessary but the risk because rabbits are only small anmals was big, he had about 5 ops and made it through everyone. I also had a guinea pig that made it through his op for cancer and he was even smaller!!

He had to have the ops every 6-8 weeks.
Eventually he developed an abcess and had to have injections every 2 days. I was devestated when i had to have him put to sleep, the abcess was getting bigger and distorting his jaw. Rabbits are like horses they can't have their jaws distorted in anyway because of the way they eat, they grind the food on the back teeth and if they can't do that they starve!!!

I know exactly what your going through and the descisions you'll have to make in the future, if you'd like to talk or want anymore advice give me an email, i have a sypathetic ear.

If the ops are a success, he'll have to remain on a strict diet for the rest of his life, but my little boy used to love his diet!!

Answer 3

All the rabbits that I helped do the teeth on that were overgrown responded well to having the teeth clipped but had to be done on a weekly basis . We advised the people that had a severe problem to file the teeth a little each day until they had reached a more normal length and then use a carrot every day after that. We never had to sedate a bunny, just always held them wrapped in a towel and took off little by little. You might try a different vet, (one that maybe does large animals) or one that will just mask it down instead of using an injectible like Rompum or Ketamine. I have even seen bunnies with teeth so long they crossed but they were usually very old.

Answer 4

I'm incredibly sorry that this has happened to your rabbit, I breed rabbits and I'm faced with dilemmas just as yours quite often. The rabbits are kept in a large barn or stable, one of them had got alot of his droppings stuck to his butt, so my mother and I decided to let him roam around, to clean himself up. He didn't end up cleaning himself up but whenever we would accidentally drop a bucket of horse feed (sweet grain) he would rather eat that then regular rabbit food, the grain is not as tough as a chewing block but soft enough to eat, if you do take my suggestion then don't feed him a very large amount he could get a stomach ache. Also, if you have a pen that you could place in a grassy area and keep a close watch on him then he'd eat the grass and that may help his teeth some. I hope he gets better good-luck!

Answer 5

your vet should be able to clip your rabbits teeth without an anaesthetic. What rubbish advice he gave you! get a better vet me thinks. You may need to try him with a new food for longer but a dried food should be doing a good enough job. Have you tried giving him logs like from apple trees to chew on? sometimes these are alot more appealing than carrot!
We used to have to get our guinea-pigs teeth clipped because they wouldn't wear down. I hope you get this sorted

Answer 6

whoever sold you the rabbit should not have because rabbits with bad teeth are born like that and alot of breeders sell these rabbits for meat they should not be sold as pets,so don't feel bad its not your fault,the vet has given you very bad advice i suggest you seek an alternative vet they will file the rabbits teeth you will need this done for the rest of the rabbits life,alternatively you could get the rabbit put to sleep as he will be in so much pain at the moment and its not fair for him.

Answer 7

take him to the vet and has his teeth TRIMMED no surgery required if he wont chew on blocks give him some bark or even plastic there is bound to be something he will chew on. I have two rabbits myself and they hate the chew blocks so I experimented alittle, mine like wood, plastic and cardboard they have these wood ball thingy's that have a treat in the middle so the rabbits are forced to chew in order to get the treat. If trimming his teeth dont work and none of my ideas dont work its best you put him down, You dont want him miserable do ya?

Answer 8

I know this will sound harsh, but if the rabbit won't chew and the vet cannot help him, then it might be more cruel to keep him alive. It's either euthanize him or let him starve to death.

Answer 9

all you can do is give it something hard to chew to grind its teeth down, but if it will only eat russell rabbit, it will have to have russell rabbit otherwise it will starve to death, my rabbit is the same, she will only eat russell rabbit, but not all of it so the rest ends up scatterd round her cage and it smells lol.

Answer 10

When i was little my mom used to cut my rabbits teeth with a nail clipper whenever they overgrown. You can also use a wire cutter or pliers. My rabbit was fine, no harm done.