Bun Sushi's is not chewing her toys, teeth growing

[sushimisobunns]

Alrighty so my bun sushi is about 3-4 years old and has recently started not eating her hay or chewing her toys! Her teeth are getting a bit long and again. I say again because I took her probably last month to get a teeth filing and she had to be given anesthesia. I dont really want to put her through that again though! Any recs will be much appreciated. I am expecting new toys soon and will change out her current ones. Her hay is a variety kind and I will get her some hay cubes as well.

 

[Blue eyes]

Toys don't do anything for filing teeth down. Hay is what does that. How much hay does she normally eat per day? How often have you had her teeth filed? (You mentioned she is over 3 years old, so I'm guessing that wasn't the only time??

 

[sushimisobunns]

That was the only time I had to have her teeth filed since I have had her. I make sure she has fresh hay twice a day and normally put in on top of her litter box as well as lining the sides of it. The only thing I can think of is that she had gotten picky with her pellets during the time of that big freeze that happened here in tx. I was sadly not home so I do not really know how much hay my mom was feeding her then. I have been leaving her with just hay at night and I think that has been helping with her consumption.

 

[John Wick]

A rabbit who isn't eating enough hay to maintain its teeth will not eat a lot of hay due to dental problems, and unfortunately it causes a problematic cycle!

I would do what you can to increase hay consumption, and possibly consider switching to a coarser hay, if that is an option. For example, 1st cut timothy hay. It's not a magic cure, but every little bit can help! You can also consider spacing out non-hay food item offerings. In other words, maximize the amount of time your rabbit has access only to hay. Having more hay locations can also be helpful, as it leans into the rabbit's foraging nature.

 

[JBun]

If it's only the incisors that are overgrowing you can try things like grass hay cubes and larger apple branches, where rabbits will use their front teeth to strip the bark of the branches and to chew on the hay cubes. This will provide some amount of tooth wear, but won't completely solve the issue in the case of incisor malocclusion.

If it's the molars that are overgrowing, you can try switching to orchard grass for your rabbits hay. I know of one owner that had good results delaying her rabbits regular dentals, that were every 2 months and went to a year after switching to orchard grass. But for this to work your rabbit needs to be on a very limited pellet and mostly hay diet. If your rabbit isn't eating a lot of hay then this won't help at all.

This will likely be an ongoing issue if this is primarily happening due to malocclusion. In some cases tooth extraction may be an option, but not if all of the back molars are the problem. Usually this is an option if it's only the incisors that are the problem.

https://rabbit.org/dental-disorders-in-rabbits/