bunnies with no front teeth

[tonyshuman]

How is caring for a bunny whose incisors have been removed different than a "normal" bunny (if it is different at all)?

I have heard you have to chop up veggies into small pieces. What about hay? Any other concerns? Would you be worried about a small (let's say Nethie) incisor-less bunny getting picked on a lot by medium (5lb) toothy buns because he couldn't defend himself?

Thanks all--

 

[polly]

They do seem to realise after a while that biting is ineffective and resort to boxing and scratching to proove a point but i would keep a close eye on something like that so no bun gets hurt!!

As for food and needs they manage very well. yes you need to cut the veggies up small so they can get them in their mouth to chew. You can cut the hay into smaller pieces too to make it easier on them. They do find hay much harder work and won't tend to eat so much so watch out for to many cecals!! The dried grass you can buy is good as it is much shorter length and aim to cut the hay the same. they are usually pretty happy though without.

Hope thats helpful

 

[tonyshuman]

Yes, that does help. Thanks!!:biggrin2:

 

[Haley]

I just have to cut Max's veggies up into small pieces. He can eat his hay and pellets just fine.

As for not being able to defend himself, yes that is a problem if he were being picked on. In the same arena its also a benefit because it makes bonding easier when they cant bite.

 

[Bassetluv]

I only had this experience once, temporarily...my previous rabbit, Raph, twice knocked out his upper front incisors. The only thing I really did for him while waiting for his teeth to grow back was to shred his carrots, as he had difficulty - couldn't bite into them - but as for the rest of his foodhe seemed to do okay (what Polly wrote about chopping the hay makes a lot of sense to me too).

 

[timetowaste]

Great advice from everyone on here. We have a rabbit at the shelter named Phoenix (http://www.bhrabbitrescue.org/adoptables/Phoenix.htm , an amazing story if you get around to reading it, what a lucky bunny!) whose incisors were removed because she was such a biter! We just cut up her veggies for her. She eats hay and pellets with no issues.

Lovely bunny girlie!

Tracy

 

[tonyshuman]

Thanks all!! Good info to know... And don't worry, nobody here needs to lose teeth. I was just wondering because there's a cute nethie at a shelter near here that has no front teeth and my bf kinda wants a bunny of his own, and he likes the really little and really big ones.