Neville214
New Member
Hey everyone! I have a 7-year old male (neutered) holland lop. He's always been a healthy, happy boy until this year. He's my first bunny, so this is my first experience with dental issues and normal aging in a bunny.
He stated losing weight in November and by February it was pretty bad and he was diagnosed with mild/moderate dental disease. He's fully free range in my home and he has a normal rabbit diet, unlimited hay, oxbow pellets in the morning, fresh greens in the evening, oxbow apple banana treat at bedtime. His pattern so far is that first he'll stop eating his pellets (never in his life has he been a big hay eater) and when it's gotten really bad he's stopped eating even his greens. Whenever he stops eating his pellets I start supplementing with critical care and we make a visit to the vet. He's had two dental procedures done so far this year (February and April) under anesthesia and had teeth pulled, and I think we're looking down the barrel of #3 because he stopped eating his pellets and oxbow treats over the weekend. Not eating the oxbow treats is new for him, he has always eaten those even when he was eating nothing else on his own. So right now we're back on critical care until we can see his exotic vet.
I know dental disease is common in aging rabbits, especially the lop breeds. However, he also has had some other symptoms going on that I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with and knows if they're related to the dental disease or normal aging, or if there's something else we need to investigate with his vet.
He's still pretty thin, which I've attributed to the fact that even when he's feeling okay he has yet to go back to the level of pellet eating he was at before all of his dental issues started. He's gotten a lot more sleepy and sleeps much longer and plays a lot less. I can't remember the last time I saw him chew on his cardboard collection or any of his other favorite toys. He still seeks out attention from me and loves to be cuddled and pet and has not lost his lovey, sweet personality. He just sleeps a lot more than he used to.
He's also having a lot of accidents in the house. He's always had excellent litter box habits. The way it was set up for him, he has a cage with his food/water/litterbox in it and he could freely hop in and out to do his stuff which worked fine for him until now. I modified his cage and made it easier for him to get in and out of and even added a ramp and trained him to go in and out that way (which he'll do sometimes but he still prefers to hop in and out). He will pee and poop in his cage but he also will have an accident (meaning pee) outside his cage at least a few times a week. I always clean it so he doesn't associate that spot as a good pee spot, and it's not the same spot every time. There are several spots around the perimeter of his cage and some other spots near various places where he sleeps around the house.
I wondered about arthritis because he used to be a very vertical boy and jump on anything and everything to be able to cuddle and he doesn't do that anymore. I added an oxbow joint supplement treat to his daily mix a few weeks ago. But he's still had some accidents despite that and the ramp on his cage.
He's had blood work done twice and everything has come back normal. He's been to the vet a lot so far this year with all of his dental mess and they don't think he has e.cuniculi but said we can do a test to be on the safe side (which I haven't done yet).
So tl;dr: is all of this related to dental disease and normal aging? Could he also have arthritis? Should I be worried about anything else?
Also any tips/advice for dealing with dental disease? I hate putting him under the stress of having to go to the vet so often and being put under anesthesia for his dental stuff, and I'm getting tempted to abandon regular pellets all together and just keep him on critical care the rest of his life. (He honestly loves the stuff and happily eats it from a syringe!)
Thanks for reading!!
He stated losing weight in November and by February it was pretty bad and he was diagnosed with mild/moderate dental disease. He's fully free range in my home and he has a normal rabbit diet, unlimited hay, oxbow pellets in the morning, fresh greens in the evening, oxbow apple banana treat at bedtime. His pattern so far is that first he'll stop eating his pellets (never in his life has he been a big hay eater) and when it's gotten really bad he's stopped eating even his greens. Whenever he stops eating his pellets I start supplementing with critical care and we make a visit to the vet. He's had two dental procedures done so far this year (February and April) under anesthesia and had teeth pulled, and I think we're looking down the barrel of #3 because he stopped eating his pellets and oxbow treats over the weekend. Not eating the oxbow treats is new for him, he has always eaten those even when he was eating nothing else on his own. So right now we're back on critical care until we can see his exotic vet.
I know dental disease is common in aging rabbits, especially the lop breeds. However, he also has had some other symptoms going on that I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with and knows if they're related to the dental disease or normal aging, or if there's something else we need to investigate with his vet.
He's still pretty thin, which I've attributed to the fact that even when he's feeling okay he has yet to go back to the level of pellet eating he was at before all of his dental issues started. He's gotten a lot more sleepy and sleeps much longer and plays a lot less. I can't remember the last time I saw him chew on his cardboard collection or any of his other favorite toys. He still seeks out attention from me and loves to be cuddled and pet and has not lost his lovey, sweet personality. He just sleeps a lot more than he used to.
He's also having a lot of accidents in the house. He's always had excellent litter box habits. The way it was set up for him, he has a cage with his food/water/litterbox in it and he could freely hop in and out to do his stuff which worked fine for him until now. I modified his cage and made it easier for him to get in and out of and even added a ramp and trained him to go in and out that way (which he'll do sometimes but he still prefers to hop in and out). He will pee and poop in his cage but he also will have an accident (meaning pee) outside his cage at least a few times a week. I always clean it so he doesn't associate that spot as a good pee spot, and it's not the same spot every time. There are several spots around the perimeter of his cage and some other spots near various places where he sleeps around the house.
I wondered about arthritis because he used to be a very vertical boy and jump on anything and everything to be able to cuddle and he doesn't do that anymore. I added an oxbow joint supplement treat to his daily mix a few weeks ago. But he's still had some accidents despite that and the ramp on his cage.
He's had blood work done twice and everything has come back normal. He's been to the vet a lot so far this year with all of his dental mess and they don't think he has e.cuniculi but said we can do a test to be on the safe side (which I haven't done yet).
So tl;dr: is all of this related to dental disease and normal aging? Could he also have arthritis? Should I be worried about anything else?
Also any tips/advice for dealing with dental disease? I hate putting him under the stress of having to go to the vet so often and being put under anesthesia for his dental stuff, and I'm getting tempted to abandon regular pellets all together and just keep him on critical care the rest of his life. (He honestly loves the stuff and happily eats it from a syringe!)
Thanks for reading!!
