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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Do all Netherland Dwarf bunnies have teeth issues?

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    • Deleted User
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        1st time owner looking into getting a small size bunny and considering a netherland dwarf but I have read that they can get expensive with vet bills, especially for teeth issues. I can afford the occasional visit to the vet but not every month or so.

        So, do all netherland dwarfs have more chances of teeth and health issues versus other breeds?


      • LBJ10
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          Generally speaking, tooth problems are more common in dwarf breeds simply because they have smooshed faces. That doesn’t mean all dwarf rabbits have tooth problems (or that all non-dwarf rabbits don’t have tooth problems). But it is more common.

          That being said, any rabbit can be expensive due to vet bills. Tooth problems aren’t the only thing to go wrong. Some rabbits suffer from other chronic aliments. My Wooly for example has chronic problems with his sinuses. He has “tooth problems”, but it’s different than what you’re probably thinking of. His tooth roots have grown into his sinuses, which leads to on and off URIs. He has ear problems as well and permanent facial paralysis.

          I’m not trying to scare you. LOL But it’s something to keep in mind with ANY pet. Sometimes your beloved pet ends up being one of the unlucky ones with chronic health problems. I believe that is something you should be prepared for when acquiring a pet because you just never know.


        • LittlePuffyTail
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            Well said, LBJ10.

            My Bindi can def be used as an example that smooshed face bunnies tend to have more problems with teeth. He has a very smooshy face and needs his molar spurs trimmed every 5 months or so. This as been for the past few years. He also has had sinusitits in the past as well as chronic runny eyes and ear infections. No way to prove 100% that these problems are due to his smooshy face, but I believe they are related.

            And, as you can imagine, this has cost me a lot of money. I’ve spend thousands at the vet on him alone.


          • Wick & Fable
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              You do need to be prepared for a costly vet bills with rabbits because rabbit vets are special and unique, this means you are paying more because rabbit-specific training and knowledge is very valuable while not being common. Wick is a Netherland dwarf with very frequent need for teeth grindings (every 2mo, $155 each time); however, the largest expenses for Wick were his neuter ($268; expensive side, but his vet is the best in the wide area), and his treatments and visits for his upper respiratory infection, which took 3mo to treat (~$1,000 total).

              So if your rabbit finds itself ill which for better or for worse does happen, you need to be prepared for the expense!

              Is your current budget fine for monthly supplies? Feel free to ask any additional questions!

              The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.


            • Sirius&Luna
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                One good option to consider is pet insurance. I pay £10 per month per bunny, and there’s a £50 excess that I pay for each condition.

                So far, I’ve never had to claim on Luna’s, and I’ve claimed about £50 for Atlas when he got an eye infection (plus I paid the first £50 so the total vet bill for the eye infection was £100 just so you have an idea of costs!).

                It doesn’t cover routine vaccinations or neuters.

                When Sirius died, we had a £1300 bill from the vets that my insurance paid (minus the first £50 which I had to pay). I can’t tell you what a relief it was to not be stressing about money in such a distressing time. I can’t recommend having insurance enough.There’s lots of things to consider (eg. what conditions do they cover, is it life time), and it also depends on what country you live in I think, but it’s definitely worth considering.


              • Theodorusrex
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                  Hi Max. I have to agree with the others about being prepared for vets bills with rabbits. I adopted my bun Theo when he was 8 months old and a perfectly healthy little bunny but we soon found out that he has chronic gut problems which has caused him to have life threatening stasis issues 4 times now in the short 2 year period we’ve had him so far. I would say vets bills so far will have cost us about £1000 over 2 years. Although I believe it is much more expensive to treat rabbits in the states (I’m from the UK).

                  I have pet insurance and if you do decide to go for any rabbit, nethie or otherwise I would definitely recommend getting pet insurance. We pay £14/month for Theo who will be covered for life(even should he live to be 15!) as long as we continue with our policy. I’d say so far our insurance company has covered around £650 on the above mentioned vets costs (many things such as yearly check ups, vaccinations, neutering etc are not covered by insurance).

                  I’d also stress the importance of having your rabbits teeth checked using a special instrument at least once a year (this is a requirement for many insurance companies to cover dental costs).


                • Mikey
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                    My nethie has perfect teeth, but he needs a specific diet. We didnt know about his diet needs until after he had gotten sick and was in pain. Finding out about his problem costed well over 500$. Monthly care for his diet is about 30$. Hitting the vet for check ups twice+ a year is about 120$ per session per bunny.

                    My Badger, a nethie/dutch mix, needs the most care and vet time. He is physically disabled and has muscle problems. Treatments and tests for him were well over 1,500$ within six months. Hes also got funky teeth (not overgrown, just curved apart) and is likely to need teeth check ups as he gets older. Im not sure how much that costs, yet.

                    My Blue, not a nethie, always has a perfect bill of health. He costs more monthly, though, because he constantly (happily) destroys toys he gets. He can tear down a large willow ball within 24 hours, then spend the next 24 hours eating the stick pieces. It keeps him occupied and happy, though, so I dont mind it


                  • kirstyol
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                      My reasonably large (2kg ish) bunny has issues with his teeth as well as his tummy and very expensive vet bills that come along with them, and I am in the UK where rabbit vet care is significantly cheaper than other parts of the world. Every bun is different, their needs are different and their costs are different. Our Ron probably costs us less than half what Bramble does yet Bramble is the one we have had since a baby and know his full history whereas we got Ron as a total unknown at around 2.5 years old. I guess what I am saying is you can never know what to expect with buns.


                    • Deleted User
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                        Really good information, thank you. Nationwide offers insurance for $12 monthly payments or $120 single annual payment but not sure at this point if worth it.
                        Would a mini rex have same dental issues as netherland dwarfs?
                        Looks like the dental work for the nethies seems to be a regular expense


                      • Deleted User
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                          Posted By Mikey on 11/13/2017 11:27 AM

                          “My nethie has perfect teeth, but he needs a specific diet. We didnt know about his diet needs until after he had gotten sick and was in pain. Finding out about his problem costed well over 500$. Monthly care for his diet is about 30$. Hitting the vet for check ups twice+ a year is about 120$ per session per bunny.”

                          The specific diet is for an illness and not for keeping his teeth healthy, right?

                          So, your nethie has never had teeth issues.


                        • jerseygirl
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                            Posted By Max on 11/13/2017 6:25 PM

                            Really good information, thank you. Nationwide offers insurance for $12 monthly payments or $120 single annual payment but not sure at this point if worth it.
                            Would a mini rex have same dental issues as netherland dwarfs?
                            Looks like the dental work for the nethies seems to be a regular expense

                            You might like to look into Pet Assure or CareCredit/Veterinary too. I think Pet Assure lowers cost of all procedures and covers pre-existing conditions also. 


                          • Mikey
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                              Posted By Max on 11/13/2017 6:29 PM

                              Posted By Mikey on 11/13/2017 11:27 AM

                              “My nethie has perfect teeth, but he needs a specific diet. We didnt know about his diet needs until after he had gotten sick and was in pain. Finding out about his problem costed well over 500$. Monthly care for his diet is about 30$. Hitting the vet for check ups twice+ a year is about 120$ per session per bunny.”

                              The specific diet is for an illness and not for keeping his teeth healthy, right?

                              So, your nethie has never had teeth issues.

                              To be fair, my dutch/nethie does have teeth issue. My purebred nethie, so far, does not. His diet is due to his bad stomach which he did get genetically from one of his parents.

                              Health issues can come up as a surprise later on. If you dont have the income to support most surprise vet visits, you shouldnt get a pet until your income increases.


                            • Sirius&Luna
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                                $12 a month to me sounds like a very good deal. If you can’t afford that, then I’m afraid you definitely won’t be able to afford vet bills as they come. I cannot stress enough how unexpected and expensive bills for rabbits are. What does the $12 a month cover? The important thing is to have life-time cover, as lots of places don’t cover ‘pre-existing conditions’ – so if they got stasis once, then you moved insurance and he got it again, it would count as pre-existing and not be covered.

                                When Atlas got his eye infection, he got it from scratching his own eye too hard. There’s nothing you can do to prevent something like that, it’s just one of those things that is bound to happen with bunnies. There’s many things that can go wrong other than teeth – teeth are just a big one to watch out for. But if you got a rabbit with healthy teeth there’s no guaruntee it won’t get stasis occasionally, or a UTI, or an ear infection etc.


                              • Fluffykins
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                                  Sirius, hope you don’t mind me asking, who do you insure with? I’ve been looking around for a good comprehensive plan at an affordable price.. yours sounds great!


                                • Sirius&Luna
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                                    It’s HelpUCover. I can’t recommend them enough! They also cover dental as long as you do yearly? (or is it 6 months? I should check!) check ups. It’s lifetime, so any conditions will always be covered.The only negative is that they only pay out up to £2000 a year – obviously that sounds like a lot, but I also saw the ways bills could rack up pretty quickly when Sirius was sick.

                                    I’ve always felt like other insurers (travel for example, who I had to deal with recently) try to avoid paying out whenever possible, but these guys are so sympathetic and helpful.


                                  • joea64
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                                      Posted By Max on 11/13/2017 6:25 PM

                                      Really good information, thank you. Nationwide offers insurance for $12 monthly payments or $120 single annual payment but not sure at this point if worth it.
                                      Would a mini rex have same dental issues as netherland dwarfs?
                                      Looks like the dental work for the nethies seems to be a regular expense

                                      I have both Nationwide pet insurance at $11.50/month for Panda and Fernando, a total of $23 per month. I filed my first claim last week for their exam on 11/4 – I don’t know if they’ll cover it but it never hurts to put in the paperwork. I also have the CareCredit card which is very helpful for not just veterinary but other medical expenses. I looked at the Pet Assure discount program but it doesn’t appear to include my vet in the program, though I’ll check again.

                                      Panda and Fernando are Polish rabbits (I believe – I’m not 100% certain even now, but fairly so based on my research), so they’re not technically dwarf rabbits though the Netherland Dwarf is derived from the Polish breed. They were given a clean bill of health at their exam, including their teeth; the best way to keep it that way going forward is to give them a hay-based diet so they have plenty of opportunity to chew, plus suitable things to chew on between meals such as plain cardboard or willow sticks.


                                    • LittlePuffyTail
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                                        In Canada, we don’t only have insurance for cats and dogs. I insured my cat, Kyle, right when I adopted him and it more than paid off in less than a year. I pay $29 a month and he’s already raked up more than $1000.00 in vet bills. So if I had the option for bunnies, I would def go for it. Vet bills can get super high really fast, especially if it’s during emergency hours.

                                        While I’m not sure what the norm is for Rex’s, I had a Mini Rex for 9 years and he never had dental issues.


                                      • Deleted User
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                                          Thank you for the responses, very helpful.
                                          I have decided to go with a Blue Eyed White (if I can find one) Netherland Dwarf bunny. Now for the hard part finding a good breeder in Southern California.


                                        • Wick & Fable
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                                            Try adopting first! There’s a lot of rabbits who need good homes who’ve been abandoned, and a lot of times, people find a rabbit they really click with !

                                            The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.


                                          • kirstyol
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                                              Plus adopting usually means you will get a neutered/spayed bun that’s had a full health check, as well as the fact that its simply the right thing to do.


                                            • Deleted User
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                                                Will look into adopting, thank you.

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                                            Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Do all Netherland Dwarf bunnies have teeth issues?