Question about malocclusion

[aurora369]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the gene presents itself, whether both parents have to carry the gene or just one.

I've just noticed that out of my five babies, two of them have malocclusion. I'm absolutly devasted!! I thought I was being responsable by finding a purebred buck to breed my Wildfire with, but now the babies have turned out to have more problems than when I bred her with my pet-store bought mini-rex.

Wildfire has had two litters before this one, with two different bucks, and never had kits with malocclusion. The buck has had one litter, but only one baby in it, so I don't know how much of a measure that is.

If this is something both parents have to carry in order for the kits to have it, then I will spay Wildfire immediatly, as I don't want to pass on this gene. But if it can be passed by only one parent, then do you think it's safe to breed Wildfire still? She produces beautiful babies, and comes from champion lineage, with lots of grand champions in her pedigree...

And now I'm either going to have to keep these little guys or find homes willing to dedicate themselves to getting their teeth trimmed.

One of the babies, the bottom teeth don't line up the the peg teeth, but the do line up with the top incisors, do you think he'll still need his little teeth trimmed or will they still wear down with time? And the other one has one bottom tooth that lines up with the top incisors, and one that is not lined up with anything.

I've tried searching on line, but I can't seem to find anything other than a description of what malocclusion is, any help would be greatly appreciated.

--Dawn

 

[TinysMom]

Here is what I was told when I had two litters develop malocclusion.

Both parents must be carriers of the gene in order for the babies to have it- even if they themselves have perfect teeth.

In my case, I had mated Summer to Harry - and then later to Roary - a son of hers. Since both littesr from her wound up having malocclusion - that means that all three rabbits involved - carry the gene.

Summer is currently pregnant - with her last litter. She will be spayed and never bred again. Harry is being neutered and will not be bred - and Roary will be neutered also.

So yes - I would spay your doe because she must be a carrier. Also - if you have sold any of your other babies to breeders for breeding - I would notify them that the baby *might* be a carrier of this gene.

Peg

 

[aurora369]

I'm not selling any of the babies to breeders, because of the risk of having the malocclusion gene.

Thanks for your advise.

--Dawn

 

[TinysMom]

I forgot to add - I don't know how old the babies are - but sometimes they go through "changes" with their teeth as they're growing - particularly if they have something to chew on...it will help the teeth *sometimes* get in place.

Also - I was thinking the other day - we used to trim Spencer's teeth every 1-2 weeks - but we haven't had to trim his teeth in about 3 months.....and I checked them and his jaw had apparently gotten to the point where they did line up right (mind you - he's about a year old now).

So - depending upon the age of the babies - and what they have to chew on, etc - their teeth could wind up lining up ok.

Peg

 

[aurora369]

The babies are five weeks old, I'll try to take some pictures of their teeth for you to look at because they are not missaligned very much. Do you think if I took them to the vets to get trimmed, they would maybe grow into alignment?

They've got a wooden chew toy, lots of hay, and some cardboard toys like tp rolls.

--Dawn

 

[aurora369]

Okay these aren't the best pictures, but hopefully you can get an idea of their teeth. They are just barely out of alignment, but enough to make me worry.

Here's baby number one, the Travis baby (even though she's a girl, we named them before they where old enough to sex):

And the Holly baby (he's really a boy, we got these names all backwards...) His teeth line up with the top incisors but don't sit behind them like they should:

Thanks again,
--Dawn

 

[aurora369]

Well, good news!! One little girls teeth are now back where they are supposed to be, and I've sent an e-mail off to the owner of the little boy (Spyro now) in question. Hopefully his teeth have shifted back as well, because his weren't even as bad as his sisters.

So hopefully the bad teeth was caused by them chewing on the wire cage and not because of genetics. I made sure to put a variety of new chew toys in the cage, and that seemed to do the trick, it's now two weeks later and the teeth are all better.

--Dawn