Balding and overgrown teeth

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dinosaurgrzzzly

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coeur d'alene, Idaho, USA
I have a male rabbit, 4 months old. I am not sure of the breed but he does have floppy ears and long hair.Recently he has started pulling out chunks of hair leaving bald spots. He also leaves the fur in his mouth letting it get wrapped around his bottomteeth and causing his teeth to overgrow to get past the hair. I've tried pulling the hair off his teeth whenever itswadded big but he always just starts pulling his fur out again. What do I do?!
 
From your description, I'd guess he's a jersey wooly--it's really the only breed I know of in the US that is a long-haired (wool) lop. Could be a cross, of course, but jersey's the most likely.

As far as the issue goes, though, I would suggest making sure to check his teeth every day to make sure there isn't any hair on them at all (not just when it gets big). The long teeth may or may not be due to the hair wrapping around them, although it certainly doesn't help.

To help with the long teeth, make sure he always has fresh hay available, and good solid pellets (shouldn't be much dust in the bag). I also recommend some wood for chewing on, like apple or maple branches.

Do you brush him? Sometimes brushing to keep the mats out will help them when they have to groom. It also helps to avoid wool-block, which is essentially a huge hairball that stops the digestive tract and can be fatal if not treated.

Is he pulling fur from a certain spot? It's possible he has a wound under there that you haven't seen.

You can also shear the wool off, which might help you figure out if there's an underlying problem. It will grow back, and probably rather quickly if there's not a huge issue causing the hair loss.
 
Actually i got him in Germany as i am visiting here (husband in the army)

I do pull it off at least once a day, but it seems to always be there. As soon as i put him down he will start pulling at more hair.

He just pulls it from his sides and im not sure if he just looks skinnier because he is loosing fur, but he eats more now than he didandlooks thinner.


Thank you very much for the advice i will try to get him wood and brush him.
 
I very much doubt it is the fur causing the teeth to overgrow, I think it's the other way around. The teeth are growing abnormally and that means the fur gets caught on them.

The teeth won't grow faster in response to a bit of fluff. Rabbits teeth grow continually because rabbits are designed to eat lots and lots of grass, which is really ruff and wears down the teeth. Rabbits that don't eat lots of grass or hay (dry grass) don't get enough wear on the teeth. About 80% of a rabbits diet should be hay, that's a pile about the size of their body every day.

Basically what you need is a balance between growth and wear. The teeth aren't growing too much, they just aren't getting enough wear to balance it out.

I would suggest getting a vet to burr (file) the teeth back to the right size, so they meet properly and then make diet changes if your rabbit isn't already eating lots of hay. That may provide a fix for the problem.

However, it's possible he was born with a jaw that isn't quite the right shape and as his teeth don't meet properly they won't wear down normally. Diet can usually improve this but he may need the teeth regularly shorted for the rest of his life.
 
I groom and cut my rabbits fur regularly to make sure he's tidy and he has no bald patches and I give him peices of dried apple wood and wooden chewy toys to make sure his teeth don't overgrow.

Hope this helps :)
 
I would suggest a vet visit to check out his teeth.

Others have already given some great advice....lots of hay, good pellets, chew toys, and grooming.
 
I bought him at least $50 worth of multiple diffrent chew toys and such but he wont chew on ANYTHING!! I did take him to the vet and she cut off almost an inch from his bottom teeth and a quarter inch off his top teeth. His back teeth where fine thankfully, but she said his teeth are extremely crooked and he will probably need them cut regularly because they dont grow together so he wont be able to use them after a certain point of growth. I also got him a mite injection just because she wasnt sure and i wanted to be on the safe side. As soon as he got his teeth cut my husband took him outside on his leash and he started eating everything he could reach as fast as he possibly could lol. thx for all your help!
 
Hay or grass, rather than chew toys, is what should be wearing his teeth down. Rabbits need to eat pile of hay roughly the same size as their body every day... which takes a lot of chopping :)

The other possibility is that his teeth just don't align because of a genetic abnormality or injury.
 

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