Broken off tooth!

[Pharfly]

Breed: Mini Rex (runt)
Color: broken black
Sex: Female
Age: 5 months
Weight: 1 lb 12oz (not sure how much she has lost)
Diet: pellets, oats, hay and greens.

I took her out to clean her cage yesterday and noticed she has lost weight. I checked her teeth and one of her top teeth has broken off. Not sure if she did it in the cage or if it happened a week ago at the pet parade when she jumped out of my daughters arms onto the road(Thinking this is what happened).

Took her to the Vet. The other tooth has been clipped, she is eating pellets, oats and grass. I have added critical care to the pellets. She is not touching hay. I have moved her inside to monitor her eating. She is urinating and pooing. I was told 50/50 chance at the teeth coming back right and if they come in bad she'll have to be put down if she can't eat.

Any advice to encourage the teeth to grow back right? I would hate to lose her!

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

You don't have to put her down due to the teeth. There are people who have had the front teeth removed and the rabbit does fine. You do need to cut up hay and veggies to smaller bite sized pieces, but the rabbits seem to adapt well. Even rabbits with bad front teeth can do well if they are trimmed, I have fostered a few with bad incisors and they have been a decent weight (one was kind of fat) and didn't have problems eating.

Having the teeth damaged can be hard, some grow back without too much problems and others are never the same. I think you should give her time for them to grow back and look into trimming them to see if they can be corrected over time. If that doesn't help, then look into having the front teeth removed and the care involved in that. Only if the other option are considered and given a chance, and then she is not doing well should euthanizing be seriously considered.

For now, cut up her hay into smaller pieces or find some that is already smaller bits (I have found Oxbow hay to be in smaller pieces than the baled hay I buy). Also cut up veggies into small pieces.

 

[missyscove]

Agreed. Some rabbits are born with a malocclusion and require regular tooth trimming to keep their teeth from overgrowing, but it is something that can be managed and doesn't necessitate that they are put down.
Other than that, I don't know of anything you can do to get the teeth to grow back right but definitely monitor her to make sure she's eating. You may need to be syringe feeding her the critical care although I have a friend whose rabbit eats it out of a dish.

 

[Geoff]

A broken tooth can be painful so some may not eat well for a while... in a dog or cat, the pain quickly recedes as the tooth nerve dies... but this is less likely to happen in a rabbit so these teeth can be painful for a long time until the tooth grows out and the nerve recedes a bit. Pain meds are never a bad idea.

I totally agree you do NOT have to put your bunny down if the tooth grows in improperly... then your options are to have the tooth trimmed regularly, or have it removed.

 

[Pharfly]

Up date! Sunflower is gaining weight Yay, her tooth is almost all the way grown back in and looks very normal. The trimmed tooth looks just a little bit too long so I'll get her back to the Vet to trim it even again. She has started eating hay again and I am sure she'll make a full recovery. Thank you all for your support

 

[Imbrium]

 

[Pharfly]

I checked out Sunflowers teeth today and you can't even tell one broke off She's also gained 4 oz!!!
Here's a picture of it the day I found it

She's not cooperating for an update teeth pic lol! She's much more active now! Looks like she is 100% again. From being told to not get my hopes up to her teeth looking perfect, even the one that didnt break is even with the other one.

 

[JBun]

Yay for Sunflower!! Glad she's doing well

 

[marj]

so it must be trimmed to be okay again?
because my rabbit has broken tooth too. I just figured out a while ago. Thats why she's so alone all day and she's not eating as well I feel so bad about her. I will take her to the vet tomorrow.

 

[Aki]

It depends. Sometimes the tooth will grow back (but it's seldom the case when it stops the rabbit from eating). If the tooth has moved a bit due to the shock which caused the damage, it's possible your rabbit now suffers from malocclusion. In that case, vets can trim it but it's sometimes advisable to have the tooth removed when it's possible and a front teeth (extracting back tooth is a big no-no, it can break the jaw). While breaking his teeth, your rabbit might also have gotten a bruise around the root, it's nothing serious but it can prevent the rabbit from eating because of the pain which can lead to GI stasis (a bit of Metacam would take care of that). In short, going to see a vet knowledgeable concerning rabbits is the way to go in this case. I hope it's nothing serious!