Young rabbit has malocclusion, any advice?

[Kay Elle]

Ten days ago, I adopted a male, 11-wk old Holland Lop from a breeder. The breeder didn’t realize until I went to pick him up that the rabbit had developed malocclusion in his front 2 teeth (incisors). Instead of the top teeth overlapping the bottom, the bottom are in front of the top. I decided to adopt the rabbit anyway, for no cost.

The breeder demonstrated how easy it is to trim the teeth with a simple cutter tool. It took about 1 minute and the rabbit didn’t struggle (so, assuming he didn’t feel any pain). The breeder said he would only need this done once every 6 weeks or so, and could easily be done at home in conjunction with trimming his nails. She assured me it was no big deal. After some online research, I know people warn against cutting the teeth yourself, but I cannot afford to go to the vet every month to have them trimmed (I live in a very expensive area) – so if I am unable to trim them myself I will have to give the rabbit back to the breeder so she can rehome him.

There’s a lot of conflicting information out there about rabbit malocclusion. I’m wondering if any of you have any personal experience you’d like to share. Have you had a rabbit with malocclusion? Did you trim the teeth yourself? Did it get better or worse with time? Did you find anything that helped the bunny (particular chew toys, or food)? Did you find that the malocclusion affected his behavior or temperament? Have any of you had the rabbits’ incisors removed to make it easier on the bun?

I’ve had the rabbit for 10 days, and his teeth are already growing back pretty quickly so I need to figure out what to do. I just want him to be safe and happy, and if I really really shouldn’t attempt to trim them myself, I need to return him to the breeder. Thank you all!

[Sarita]

Have you had a vet actually look at the teeth or are you just going by what the breeder said? It wouldn’t hurt to get a vet’s opinion on this if you are willing to do that – I would advise you to.

Most likely this is congenital and nothing you can do will help his teeth. You can remove them and many of our members have done this however this will most certainly affect the molars which would need regular maintenance and trims as well – likely this may be the case in any event.

I can tell you that dental problems if not taken care of will certainly be painful and can affect rabbits in many ways. I have a netherland dwarf who has no lower left molars and I must take him in regularly for dental checks. Dental problems are really life long problems especially if they are congenital.

[Kay Elle]

Thanks Sarita, I actually just made an appointment with a vet for this weekend. If it’s just his incisors, I’m going to talk about possibly getting them removed or learn how to file them at home. If it’s his molars too, I’ll have to help the breeder re-home him to someone who’s in a better situation to handle these complications. I really appreciate your advice!

[Sarita]

Many times removing the incisors may cause the molars to eventually shift as well which could also cause dental problems with the molars – discuss that as well with the vet – it would be natural for teeth to shift. The vet should be able to look at the molars with an otoscope too so hopefully you will get a better idea how his whole dental situation is.

I’m glad you have an appt. with the vet and hopefully the discussion will be a positive one and you can manage this as I imagine you have already grown fond of him.

[Beka27]

If the rabbit is easy to handle for teeth trimming, this is something you can consider doing yourself, but with the consent of your vet. And I would still recommend you take him in for routine dental exams (maybe every six months) to make sure things are still looking okay. Molar grinding is typically more expensive because the bunny (usually) has to be put under anesthesia every time, whereas incisor trimming can be done easily by the vet or experienced vet tech. When you take him to his appointment, talk to the vet about this and see how he would want to proceed and what kind of expenses you’d be likely to incur.

[Kay Elle]

Thanks both of you for the advice! I’m writing a list of questions I want to ask the vet – any suggestions of questions not to forget to ask, that might be helpful in figuring out what to do? Thanks!

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