Benji had his incisors out :( any tips and advice for aftercare please?

[jcottonl02]

As lots of you know I have been debating over the last few years whether to get Benji's incisors removed or not. I have been trimming them every 3-4 weeks for the past 3 or so years and they have not realigned, due to his bottom jaw being wider and shorter than his upper jaw.

He needed his molar spurs trimmed again so I made the hard decision with the help of the vet that whilst he was under I would get his incisors removed at the same time.

The op went really well even though I was really worried, and he is home now. It has taken him a while to recover from the anasthetic (it took him ages last time he had his molars trimmed too), and he is still really wobbly.

He is going for a post-op check tomorrow morning. He has been given injections of antibiotics, painkillers, and also something to keep his gut moving.

I have given him some paste called Fibriplex the vets gave me (he needs it 4 times a day), and I have also mashed some pellets and mixed it with some mashed banana and a bit of canned pumpkin and he has tried to eat it off my fingers, but has really only licked up a little bit of it. I've left that with him.



I was just wondering if anyone else who has had their bunny's incisors removed could give me some advice and tips on the aftercare- how to get him to eat, what is best etc. what to look out for and how to check everything is okay...and also some tips on how to feed him in the future. How will not having his incisors affect his eating? Do I need to do anything differently?

Do I need to syringe him some water?

I also have painkillers and a packet of this other critical care-type thing that you mix with water and syringe feed but I haven't given any of that yet.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Poor little Ben


Jen

 

[LakeCondo]

If he's not eating any greens such as romaine that have some water in them, I guess he should have some. I wonder if an eye dropper to give it, or a small plastic bottle like an empty saline bottle that you could quirt the water into his mouth from.

I wonder if you would have luck with the mashed pellets etc if you put some on a lettuce leaf.

I'm sure in the long run this was the right decision. As he gets older, trimming the incisors would have been harder & harder on him.

 

[hln917]

Shades had her insicors removed 2 years ago. We made the same decision due to the frequent trimming and stress it was causing her. The vet had told us it would take 48 hours after the surgery for her to eat on her own. We syringed her Critical Care and Pedialyte the first day. Surprisingly she was eating pellets on her own by the second day.
Keep up with the pain meds. Not sure about the gut medication though. I just pulled out the reciept and it looks like she was on Banamine, Buprenex, Duopen and Tribrissen. Sorry, I don't remember which drug was during surgery and which we came home with.

You may want to syringe her water/Pedialtye until she eats/drink on her own. Also remember to cut her hay 1 in. Hoping Benji is a good hay eater. Shades refuse to eat hay and now she has bad molars resulting from lack of hay.
My vet left her peg tooth intact to help her pick the pellets up.

Sending Benji good wishes for a fast recovery!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray: We've had 2 with mis-aligned teeth but never had to remove, just trim.

 

[jcottonl02]

Thanks everyone for your replies .
Benji is doing really well. The vet said in his post op check that he was healing very well considering it was only about 15 hours after the surgery and she gave him another gut stimulant injection just to help him along. He was reluctant to eat last night but I definitely saw him munching hay quite a lot which I was very pleased about, but although he tried to eat the banana and mushed pellet mix I offered he just couldn't do it :-(.
But then this morning I offered him a small amount of pellets with his pain medication and he definitely ate at least 7 or 8 pellets, which he ate with excitement and I was very happy to see it!
He is still getting used to his new mouth and his little tongue keeps sticking out as he eats and while he is grooming himself.
He seems very happy in himself, grooming, pooping and weeing in his litter tray, and enjoying lots of hay
Jen

 

[LakeCondo]

Good. Things are moving in the right direction. Once he's completely healed he'll be better than before. No more uncomfortable trimmings for him.

 

[jcottonl02]

He's still not eating pellets.....

He is eating a lot of hay, and likes some bits of banana etc.

I am occasionaly syringing recovery (like critical care).

But after eating those first 7 or 8 pellets, he hasn't eaten ANY more, in 5 days...
Should I be concerned?

He is acting totally normally- pooing (his poos are a little smaller than usual), weeing, cleaning himself, giving me kisses and demanding strokes...but he used to LOVE his pellets. He used to get excited about then etc. but now he just sniffs them and wanders off.

They are small pellets too...the dwarf ones.

Help

Jen

 

[LakeCondo]

I think I'd try giving him pellets that are presoaked with water. Then slowly make them drier &/or add some unsoaked pellets to the soaked ones.

 

[hln917]

LakeCondo wrote:

I think I'd try giving him pellets that are presoaked with water. Then slowly make them drier &/or add some unsoaked pellets to the soaked ones.

Yep trying doing the above. That's what we do for Shades everytime she has her molars filed down also lately b/c her peg tooth broke off.

Did the vet leave Benji's peg tooth intact? He might be having a hard time learning how to pick up the pellets.

 

[jcottonl02]

Yeah that's what I've been doing for the past week and all he did was sort of, slob on them and then not eat them. I was getting really worried because he just wouldn't touch pellets in any form. If I gave him some banana, he would eat some, but not if I had sneakily put some pellet mush in there too!

Having said all that, last night, I gave him a teaspoon fresh pellets, (just in case) and I came back and they were all gone!!! So I gave him more this time, left him for a few hours....and they were all gone!!! So he is eating them now THANK GOD!

And he's eating more hay than ever before! He loves the stuff now so I am hoping it will keep his molars down for a while .

What else will be good for keeping his molars down? Is timothy hay the best? Or is there something better?

Thanks

Jen

 

[LakeCondo]

I would assume that thicker hay, like 1st cut [or some places' 2nd cut] hay would be better, but the trick would be getting him to eat it. I don't know if it matters what the type of grass it is.

Chewing on twigs would help too.

But as he's eating pellets & lots of his hay, it might be you don't need to change anything.

I;m glad things are going so well.