Hermione's teeth

I had Hermione spayed today, which wemt well, but whilst she was under, they filed her back teeth. DH collected her so didn't question it but I'm a bit worried and have some questions.

Why did they file her teeth and will it need doing again? When will it need doing again? Does this spell bigger troubles for the future? How can I tell if they need doing again? Can I prevent it?

Sorry about all the questions, Pip the piggie may be heading for dental problems too so need to budget for any potential problems.

Thanks

Check with the vets exactly why the did it, but it is most likely because she had spurs on her molars. Spurs are a sign of misalignment in the jaw leading to the teeth not grinding together properly. It can also be a sign that she is not eating enough good quality long fibre material. If she has misalignment it will be a problem for life and it isn't covered by any insurance policies. It depends on how fast the spurs grow as to how often the need doing - Bruce has his done yearly normally. It costs about £70 and can only be done under GA. Signs to look out for are dribbling from the corners of the mouth, weight loss, not keen to eat. With Bruce he will initially look to eat but then only manage a bite or 2. As long as you keep on top of it it should not develop into a more serious problem.

It may be that she had bad teeth because of the rubbishy start she had in life, and that now she is on the right diet she will be okay.

You have had her a while now and not seen that there was a problem so it could be that the vet was just taking a precautionary measure.

Mr C says three things to me to prevent/extend time between detals. Hay Hay Hay.

Thanks Cheryl, I will phone them tomorrow and get further info. I did ask them to phone me if there were any problems but they didn't.

I would add grass to that. Having more access to grass has certainly added to the time between dentals. And different types/textures of hay seems to help.

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:I would add grass to that. Having more access to grass has certainly added to the time between dentals. And different types/textures of hay seems to help.

I have also found that mixing three different types of hay (Ings, Meadow & barley) has helped us extend the time between Daisy's dentals from 8 weeks to 12.
(dont worry that she will need them that often Elaine, its because Daisy is a nethie)

Hi Kate, I suppose having 6 bunnies one of them is bound to have some dental problems. I will get more info tomorrow. When I collected them all from the bunny boarding after my holiday, the lady said to watcg Pip's teeth as the front ones were alligning diagonally slightly which indicates a further problem with his molars.

They have hay in a large cargo net hung on the wall, plus hay in the litter box and hay in their beds. I don't think the rexes are as big on their hay eating as the other trio so I will have to get cre- hay- tive with how I offer it to them

Ok, I will get them some different hays too and more grass. I have to get most of my fresh grass from a field down the road (well washed before fed to them) so that's a little job my boy can help me with on the way back from the school run.

They will have no doubt filed her teeth due to a molar spur which may grow back in time.

We have a lot of dental buns and we have had buns with malaoclussion where the teeth don't properly align and that was in the incisor teeth which we had removed to prevent the stress that the poor bun was going through with teeth trimming every 3 weeks. Spurs can grow at any time, Pud had brilliant teeth and a good diet of unlimited hay and Western Timothy hay but suddenly ended up with a spur.

You may find this very interesting http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Dental_diseases/Differential/D_problems1.htm

Thanks for that Maysie, I think I understand it much better now

Please let us know what the vet says love.

Hugs

JO xx

I have nothing to add to the teeth comments posted already, but I'm really pleased to hear her spay went well