Molar Spurs and Drooling: Sensitive bun?

[bunbunbinkie05]

Hello everyone! I have a 8 year old holland lop rabbit named Merlie who presented last week with some GI stasis, minimal drooling, and was off her hay. I managed to power her through the stasis with sub cutaneous fluids, soaking pellets and orchards grass hay, pineapple juice and bene-bac. Her appetite returned almost immediately following the treatments.

The drooling continued, and seemed to worsen along with her reluctance to eat hay (or drink very much) so I took her to a a specialist where we had x-rays and bloodwork done. We had to sedate her, and while she was out they took a look at her molars. Her lower right molars were a little pointy, and the doctor said they were making little cuts along her tongue. He wasn't 100% convinced that this could have caused all that drooling, but we are sending the x-rays out for a second review. He didn't see any clear indications of an abscess or larger problem. Her appetite has been pretty hearty, aside from the fact that she wont eat the hay unless its cut very finely and soaked in with her pellets and critical care. she has been given an antibiotic (penicillin injection) and metacam for pain/inflammation.

I was wondering if any one else has experienced this sort of thing with their buns. The doctor said it is possible that she is just sensitive (I can attest to that!) But he also said it surprised him that there wasn't something more blatantly obvious that caused so much drooling. On a side note, since they were able to clip and clean her chin, I have noticed that her chin/cheek is no longer wet. She did drink a little last night (just hours after her sedation and work up) but I don't believe she has gone back to eating hay yet. Additionally, she has kept a clean bill of health up until now.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and tips would be greatly appreciated!

Kay and Merlie

 

[flemishwhite]

I'd think that you might want to go with the dental work. If you rabbit is having tooth pain..they will (1) begin reduce eating, and (2) stop chewing their food into small bits. It they don't fully chew their food, and just swallow pretty large bits of food, there's more chance that their primary stomach will become congested....jammed...GI Statis.

Rabbits are masters of disguising pain and discomfort. My personal experience with a GI Statis situation is that there's no reaction from the rabbit except with a reluctance to eat and inability to poop.

If you suspect that your rabbit is having a chewing problem, monitor their weight. Weight loss is difficult to detect because it occurs slowly and you don't notice it. My Bunny went from 8 pounds to 6.5 pounds due to dental problems and I didn't notice. Horses which can have similar problems that attract notice when they have weight loss. Dental work in rabbits, and horses, involves grinding their molars down.

 

[Darden]

Just to second the above, dental health is key with rabbits. My bun exhibited many of the symptoms you describe (drooling, reduced eating, etc.) for a few months. I got frustrated with my main vet who kept insisting his teeth were fine. A call to the local rabbit rescue expert resulted in a recommendation of a another vet. He took one look and 5 minutes later my bun was under for some serious dental work (his molars on one side crumbled away under trimming, it was that bad). Not saying your vet is in the same boat as my original vet, but that was my experience. After the dental work, my bun was back to eating full force. As it turns out, he is prone to dental issues, so he goes back every few months for front tooth trims and checkups.

 

[amandaaaa_xxo]

Hello
I'm really relieved to have come across this conversation. I have a 2 year old holland dwarf lop named Wilson. Three weeks ago I took him to the vet because he was sneezing. He wasn't showing any nose or eye discharge. The vet told me he had a minor upper respiratory infection. I was told to give him oral medicine for two weeks. Once daily. Following this, I began to notice that his poop became smaller in size and some were egg shaped. I'm not sure if this is due to the medication. However, today, they seem to have return to its normal shape and size but he isn't producing AS MUCH poop.

A few days ago I noticed that he had a bit of a dribble under his chin. I then took him again to the vet and a different doctor inspected him this time. She checked his teeth and told me he seemed fine and healthy and couldn't identify a cause to his drool. Because she's an expert in the animal field hence being a doctor, I trusted her and thought nothing of it. Two days ago I noticed that he went off his hay. He wouldn't eat his hay as much but still continues to eat his pellets and vegetables and some fruit. He drinks a lot of water. The drool is still there. I'm taking him again this Friday for a dental check up. I hate to see him in pain and I think he is because he is now starting to tooth grind. Should I make the doctor examine him via x-Ray's? Do blood tests? What do you recommend I do?

 

[MaryAnne]

When my little guy had his tooth problems, they used a camera to look at his back molars (not under sedation) and the doctor immediately recognized the problem. He had surgery to have them ground down and after that all was well.
So possibly no xray needed. My vet is a very experienced bunny guy.
No matter what your vet says, get some pain relief for your bun and if he suddenly feels better and gets back to his old self, you know he was in pain. Then you need to figure out what caused the pain and fix it.

 

[flemishwhite]

I wish I had been participating in this forum (or any forum) when my last rabbit was alive. She lived to be 11 1/2 years. I'd imagine she'd be alive today, if I was participating in this forum.

GI Statis. I wasn't totally naive. Her statis problem developed on a weekend with bizarre high temperatures where I live. Torrance California. Almost no one has air conditioning since during warm summer nights, cool ocean air flows in at around 10:00 PM. On the Sunday, during the day the outside air temp was 100 degrees F. It had been just about as hot on Saturday and also the following Monday. Bunny wasn't eating..actually she did eat a tiny bit. We assumed her lack of appetite was due to the extreme hot weather. We'd see this before in previous years. She acted normally. When rabbits are in distress, afraid, etc...they are masters at hiding their problems. She had developed GastroIntestinal Statis. Two initiators...one..she had teeth problems..she needed her teeth to be ground down and as such she was not adequately chewing her food.. her stomach was experiencing large pieces of inadequately chewed food ..and at the same time it was shedding season and she was licking her fur because of the heat...she was developing a hair ball.. Her primary stomach became clogged. With a clogged primary stomach, her secondary Cecum stomach bacteria had no cellulose and they probably died. Actually at this point, she was starving to death. We had no clue under the circumstances. It was on a late Tuesday night, that she lost control of her front feet...this was the onset of ketosis. Under extreme final starving conditions, irreversible nerve damage occurs..ketosis. A post mortem X ray showed her primary stomach completely clogged and her Cecum stomach was empty but filled with gas.

If her Statis problem would have occurred in cold weather, I would have caught it...the hot weather disguised her lack of appetite. Won't happen again with one of my rabbits.

When I realized what and why she died, I weeped. I felt that I had not done my job to protect her and take care of her.

 

[amandaaaa_xxo]

Hello everyone! I have a 8 year old holland lop rabbit named Merlie who presented last week with some GI stasis, minimal drooling, and was off her hay.

The drooling continued, and seemed to worsen along with her reluctance to eat hay (or drink very much) so I took her to a a specialist where we had x-rays and bloodwork done. We had to sedate her, and while she was out they took a look at her molars. Her lower right molars were a little pointy, and the doctor said they were making little cuts along her tongue. He wasn't 100% convinced that this could have caused all that drooling, but we are sending the x-rays out for a second review. He didn't see any clear indications of an abscess or larger problem. Her appetite has been pretty hearty, aside from the fact that she wont eat the hay unless its cut very finely and soaked in with her pellets and critical care. she has been given an antibiotic (penicillin injection) and metacam for pain/inflammation.

I was wondering if any one else has experienced this sort of thing with their buns.

Yes! I have experienced this. A few days ago my rabbit were too presenting with GI stasis. He was drooling, grinding his teeth and went off his hay. He would eat minimal pellets, and some vegetables, herbs and fruits. Mind you, he was drinking way too much water and i was told he was doing this to cover up his pain. Poor guy I was really concerned because he wasn't eating his hay and he wasn't producing poop much either and they were dark in colour and very small.

I took him to a rabbit specialist today because after two attempts with my local vet, failed to recognise the cause for all his symptoms. Today, I finally was given an answer to all his mishap! The doctor found a pointy tooth located on the right side at the back of his jaw. She told me it was making tiny little cuts to the side of his tongue and that is what was causing him pain and not eating hay.

She gave him two injections and gave me a bottle of pain killers (meloxicam) to give to him in small doses until Monday. Monday is when he will have his surgery to file down that pointy tooth!

I'm so relieved now because now I know he will get better and can actually eat and gain the weight that he lost