Ebony is not eating properly

[Robin123]

Hi,

Ebony is a 5 year old black lop-earred rabbit. About 2 weeks ago she had tohave her teeth trimmed and one molar removedbecause they had over-grown and she wasn't eating very much. She is still active and everything but she still isn't eating properly. The vet gaveher critical-care but we have to give it to herwith a syringe because she won't eat it on her own. She will eat her timothy pellets, but only if they're softened with water. She doesn't wanthay. She does eat some vegetables like broccoli, cucumber, mixed greens, but the last couple of days she doesn't want themmuch either. We've alsotried givingher apple, banana and pear, which she would normally eat, but she didn't even try them.

Ebony had problems with her teeth about 3 1/2 years ago but she had been fine until the last few weeks. Last time she didn't mind the critical-care and she went back to eating pretty quickly. This time she had a tooth removed, so I don't know whether that is the reason it's taking her longer this time to get back to normal. Do you have any other suggestions about whatelsewe can do?

Robin

 

[aurora369]

Did you get any pain medication for her? Her mouth is probably sore and she's not wanting to chew because of it.

Did she have the opposing molar removed as well? The molars are open rooted (always growing) and need the opposing tooth to grind against. If the opposing tooth is still there, that could cause some problems in the future.

I haven't had any buns with tooth problems, but lots of members have. Hopefully some will be along shortly to give you some advice.

-Dawn

 

[Robin123]

The vet only gave her pain medication for 3 days. She said that would be enough. I asked her about that again last week when I called totell her how Ebony was doingand she said she didn't think she needed to give her any more, even though I told her she still wasn't eating normally. She just said to keep syringe feeding her and give her anything that she would eat. She only removed the one tooth. She said it would grow back. It that true? If so, do you know how long will it take to grow back?

Robin

 

[aurora369]

If the tooth was properly removed (the entire root taken out), then the tooth will not grow back, and the opposing tooth will have nothing to grind against.

Maybe she just ground it down to gumline for some reason?

-Dawn

 

[Maureen Las]

I have had a rabbit who has had many molars removed over the last couple years. They have been removed because of being severely infected and loose and because my bun has severe periodontal disease.

He initally went to an animal dentist because he had overgrown incisors.I had planned to have2 incisors 2 peg teeth removed but
the incisors were the least of his problems


Usually if you pull a molar you need to pull the opposing tooth as the remaining molar will never be able to grind itself down .
After my bun had this first massive dental procedure (5 molars pulled, teeth filed and mouth realigned) he never again ate hay. he attempted to eat it but could only hold it in his mouth. he eventually could not eat anything but soft food.
it is sometimes difficult to know if the full root of the tooth was extracted. If even a tiny piece of the root is left the tooth will grow back . Beau has had some of his molars grow back again.
Many other folks on this forum have rabbits with dental issues and most of those rabbits can eat normally after filing etc.
I feel that possibly the vet who did the dental did not complete all the necessary work . Did he take x-rays to examine the roots of the teeth or did he just anesthesize your rabbit and look at them visually.
Iwould bring your rabbit back for a recheck. I would hate to advise any one to start in with a soft diet as this is dead-end in terms of the possiblilty of normal teeth function again.
Ask your vet why he did not pull the opposing molar. ? Beacuse of that extraction the other tooth will need to be repeatedly filed down probably ever 6- 8 weeks.

Ask him if he can see anything eles that may be amiss in his mouth. is there infection in the area where the molar was taken out. ?
it would be so easy if only our rabits could tell us what is bothering them .
In the meantime you may want to try to to use a blender to chop up his veggies. Just as a test to see if he will eat them that way. Giving the pellets with water on them is fine .
it is still possible that he is uncomfortable fron the dental and will soon start eating again.
my bun eats a diet of oxbow timothy pellets and critical care;. he won't eat blended veggies and cannot eat regular veggies.; his diet is severely limited.

he does like apple banana critical care so if I mix it up he will eat it on his own and doesn't need to be syringe fed. I sometimes mix pure plain pumpkin and maybe a little banana into it to add some flavor. You could try this while you are in the process of determining what the problem is.

I would try to get the recheck andI do think that your bun will eat normally again.

 

[jcl_24]

Best wishes for a speedy reecovery from another 'Ebony' bunny slave.

:bunnyhug:

Jo xx

 

[tonyshuman]

I am not really happy with what your vet is saying. That's not enough pain medicine, and if the tooth in fact had to be removed, the opposite one should have also been removed like angieluv said, and it will not grow back. If he just cut the tooth really short--to the gumline, that's not really a typical rabbit dental procedure and I think wouldn't help much. I would go back and get some more info on what exactly he did and why.

 

[Robin123]

Ebony is about the same today. She has ate quite afew pellets that were softened with water. We shredded carrot, broccoli and cauliflower but she didn't wantany of it. Tonight we gave her somestrawberries, but she didn't want that either. These are things she normally really likes. I'm going to call the vet tomarrow to make Ebony another appointment. The vet said she said she removed the tooth.If that is really what she did, we will have to find out whythe opposite tooth wasn't removed as well. She had said she wants Ebony back in every three months. I hope that isn't why. I also thought she should have had more pain medication than that, but the vet didn't think she needed it. The vetwe go to isn't the best, but she is the best we have where we live. The others wont even see rabbits, just cats and dogs.

Robin