Netherland Dwarf Dental Problems

[Brambino]

Hi everyone

At the start of December Bramble had her first dental surgery. She’s only 1 so it’s a misalignment, probably because she’s a Nethie

I went to the vets with her today for her RHD2 jab and the vet checked her teeth and said they will need doing again in approx 4 weeks. We’re now looking at every 2-3 months which is a horrible thought but it’s all we can do. She has lingual spurs. They said next time she is under they will bear them back as much as possible to leave as long as they can between dentals.

My questions are…
1. How much can I restrict her pellets to ensure she eats as much hay as possible? She currently has a tbsp, will tsp be okay?

2. Has anybun with dental problems looked into getting your own looky device thing? I’m worried logistically because work is quite demanding and there may be a day when it is very difficult to take Bramble in the same morning she seems reluctant to eat. With a scope hopefully I can have an idea when it’s getting bad enough for the dental before she becomes in pain. I don’t know how much they are or how much skill is involved but it must be possible to learn???

I’m picking up her husbun next week so hopefully having a partner will help her with the stress of the op and her recovery xx

[Jazlyn]

Some rabbits never eat pellets, so I’m sure a tsp would be fine! I have heard of some people only feeding their rabbits hay and a handul of veggies.
To ensure my buns eat as much hay as possible, I have bought them hay mats and plenty of hay toys. I also spread some hay on the floor along with their hay racks.
Unfortunately, I cannot help you with your second question as mine have never had to deal with a dental problem. I hope everything works out with your bunnies though, good luck!

[Azerane]

If she’s only a 1 tablespoon of pellets a day, I doubt that dropping her down to 1 teaspoon would make much of a difference in regards to hay consumption. Is she a good hay eater usually or not really?

Since she’s so small, 1 teaspoon would probably be fine though, Apollo weighs 3kg and he only gets 2 tablespoons daily.

[Bam]

I agree about the pellets. But you’ll have to monitor her weight.

I have no idea what an otoscope costs, a new one I think would be very expensive. I’ve no idea if you can buy used ones.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My Bindi has to get his molars filed down every 4-5 months. I would never attempt to look in his mouth on my own. I see how much my vet has to struggle to see his mouth. And she’s tried showing me specific spots in his mouth and I really have no idea what I’m looking at. Bindi is a good hay eater but he’s got the smooshy face that tend to have dental problems.

[kirstyol]

As you know our Bramble has recurrent spurs too (I still find it so weird that our same named buns are so similar) I cannot imagine being able to check his teeth ourselves even with the correct equipment.

Our Bramble is nearly three now and has had a few dentals, started off every three months and we are now at nine months since his last one. All we have done is change his hay a few times till we found one he would eat a lot of and brought our second bun home, we have made no other changes but the new hay seems to have made a massive difference.

The problem with our Bramble is that he is sort of an all or nothing kinda guy, he literally goes from eating normally one day to eating nothing the next so its very hard to keep an eye on him, regular checks of his teeth really are all we can do. But you do get to know the signs over time, for example Bramble never ever lies in his litter box. When he lies in the litter box he is unwell, he goes to the vet and 99% of the time the problem is his teeth.. I also keep some metacam and ranitidine in the house but obviously this will depend on your vet if they are willing to prescribe them prophylactically, if he gets unwell at night we try a dose of each to see if he eats and if he does we wait till the morning to take him in The way our vet looks at it is we know our bun, we have been dealing with this for almost three years and we know the signs and are sensible enough to give him a dose of meds and if there is no improvement take him in, we also keep a pouch of rescue remedy (like critical care) so we can feed him if needs be to try and keep him going overnight. Don’t get me wrong I would take him to the animal hospital if I had to, but would rather he seen his own vet if at all possible

[Brambino]

Thank you so much for all of your answers. They’re really helpful and appeciated. Kirsty it’s so weird the similarities between our buns! I will definitely look out for her signs of difficulties. I usually notice her poops change but then it’s downhill very quickly.

She’s not a great hay eater. She is very fussy and even with a good mix is never overly keen. I’ve found she loves oat hay but then the oat ears often get embedded in her fur and are a nightmare to get out. Maybe that the price to pay for better teeth!

Thanks, LPT. I think it’s Brambles smushy face too! And me being a softie for nethies I have adopted another as her husbun :s fingers crossed his teeth will be OK! I think it will be good for Bramble to have a friend when she goes in for dentals though!

[kirstyol]

It really is strange!

Bramble is the same, as soon as he starts being unwell he becomes really unwell really quickly its horrible but you do get used to what to look out for and of course regular check ups help get a good idea of how the teeth are doing.

It took us a long time to find a hay that Bramble would eat enough of, we get this one from amazon now https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B012RHPIP0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Its a bit pricey but well worth it to see Bramble do so well with it. We also use lots of creative ways to get them eating more hay by incorporating it into toys and things. They love a good haybox, I fill the small boxes we get our coffee pods in with hay when they are empty and they have a great time trying to get the hay through the tiny opening

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