Wet chin / possible dental issue?

[bunny34422]

Hi guys! I've been away at college for the past month and just came home for the weekend. I noticed that my bun's chin looks worse than usual and now I'm concerned about leaving him again I've read that this could be a dental issue? My parents said that they don't see anything wrong but it just doesn't look normal to me and I don't want to wait until it's too late.

Background info, neutered, a little over one year old. He's always been a great hay eater and we give him sticks & chew toys daily so I never would've thought he'd have teeth issues! Im going to schedule a vet appt tomorrow when they open, they are usually booked 4 weeks out but I'm not sure I want to wait that long?

Sorry for the bad quality pics btw, hard to get good ones with that angle lol. I think the first pic is really obvious but my family is telling me that I'm overreacting? Does anyone know if it could be an issue not related to his teeth?

 

[JBun]

If it's not from him getting it wet in his water bowl, a consistently wet chin does usually indicate a dental problem, though it's also possible there's just a bit of hay stuck in the teeth. Dental problems are best caught early and fixed by the vet, before it starts to affect your rabbit being able to eat and risk GI stasis occurring.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Teeth

 

[bunny34422]

Thank you!! I asked a few FB groups and some people told me it's definitely a tooth issue and not the bowl while others told me the bowl is possible so I was going to wait for the vets to confirm. He's always been eating just fine, was very excited to get his pellets this morning so I hope he's not in too much pain but yes I absolutely want to catch it early!

I checked his chin this morning and it has dried up and looks almost back to normal?? It was also the first night where I was the one refilling the bowl and I made sure not to fill it to the top like my sister does. So I'm wondering if it actually is just the bowl. But I'll continue to monitor him today!!

 

[JBun]

The time to check it would be while or after he eats his pellets and hay, but before he eats wet veggies or drinks from a dish. If it's wet after eating pellets and hay, then it's almost certainly a dental issue.

 

[Satrevino]

Also check and see if his chin is super furry. I though my Holland lop had tooth issues, but I figured out the wetness of her chin was water that never dried from drinking out of her bowl. As soon as I changed her to a bottled waterer, the wetness went away.