Molar spurs

[Kada]

How fast can molar spurs grow back?

My rabbit had his spurs trimmed for the first time in late last october. Then the second time in the beginning of february. February 7th to be exact.

He just yawned in front of me and i think I saw new spurs already. How is this possible? He eats thick pieces of hay and chews on willow branches every day.

I just don't understand. It's like this tooth issue came out of nowhere. He's almost 3 years old and the first time he had tooth issues was last october. What could cause such a sudden change in his teeth?

I don't know if he'll be able to live much longer if he starts to have spurs this often. It's not fair on him to sedate him every few weeks..

++ I'm not 100% sure if there were spurs though, i also saw it for a second while he yawned. He's also still chewing on willow branches with no issues

 

[Kada]

Anyone?

 

[JBun]

Every 6-8 weeks their teeth can overgrow if not wearing down properly from malocclusion and/or from insufficient roughage in the diet. Because he hasn't always had this problem. It could be if he's not eating the same foods or hay as before, or it could be as he ages his mouth structure is changing and affecting his bite. It's not necessarily eating branches and thick strands of hay that affects tooth wear, but the teeth being lined up correctly to wear against the opposite tooth, as well as the abrasive quality of the food being eaten, or the silica content, not the fiber content.

There are really only a few options on how to fix this, besides regular dental trims. The most severe would be tooth extraction, though I would only consider this as a last resort due to expense and the life long effect it has on the rabbits diet.

One thing you may want to try is orchard grass hay. I know of someone in the UK who's rabbit had to have molar trims every 6-8 weeks. She put her rabbit on orchard hay and minimal pellets, and her rabbit was able to go a whole year before needing another dental trim.

Orchard grass is high in silica and so a very abrasive grass, which would promote a lot of tooth wear and why it probably worked for this rabbit. So that is what I would suggest trying, free fed orchard grass hay and a very small limited amount of pellets and veg. You just want lots of the orchard hay to be consumed every day for optimal tooth wear.

 

[Kada]

Every 6-8 weeks their teeth can overgrow if not wearing down properly from malocclusion and/or from insufficient roughage in the diet. Because he hasn't always had this problem. It could be if he's not eating the same foods or hay as before, or it could be as he ages his mouth structure is changing and affecting his bite. It's not necessarily eating branches and thick strands of hay that affects tooth wear, but the teeth being lined up correctly to wear against the opposite tooth, as well as the abrasive quality of the food being eaten, or the silica content, not the fiber content.

There are really only a few options on how to fix this, besides regular dental trims. The most severe would be tooth extraction, though I would only consider this as a last resort due to expense and the life long effect it has on the rabbits diet.

One thing you may want to try is orchard grass hay. I know of someone in the UK who's rabbit had to have molar trims every 6-8 weeks. She put her rabbit on orchard hay and minimal pellets, and her rabbit was able to go a whole year before needing another dental trim.

Orchard grass is high in silica and so a very abrasive grass, which would promote a lot of tooth wear and why it probably worked for this rabbit. So that is what I would suggest trying, free fed orchard grass hay and a very small limited amount of pellets and veg. You just want lots of the orchard hay to be consumed every day for optimal tooth wear.

Thank you for the response. He's still eating and acting normally so I hope the spurs aren't back yet.

I'll have to ask the vet if his bite is not good. He has eaten the same hay and pellets since he came to me in summer 2019 so I don't think it's due to a change in diet.

Unfortunately they don't sell orchard hay here in Finland. I tried to google it but nothing came up. I'd have to grow it myself and that is impossible for me.