February is typically dental month for pets. Although rabbits do not need the same type of dental care as dogs and cats, there are some things you can do to help your bunny retain healthy teeth and gums.
Rabbit teeth grow constantly, just like the toe nails. However, if a bunny’s teeth are properly aligned, they do not need to be clipped like the toe nails. The grinding of the teeth while your bunny eats, grooms, plays, or expresses love and/or anger will keep them at an appropriate length. Providing your bunny with safe items to chew on will help maintain a healthy mouth. Some safe items are cardboard, wood (not cherry wood), dried pine cones and straw mats.
Nevertheless, there are situations that can cause mouth problems such as malocclusion of incisors, split or broken teeth, points or spurs on cheek teeth, foreign bodies, abscesses, tooth root and/or bone infection, and warts.
It is important to check your bunny’s mouth regularly. Become familiar with how much touching of the face, cheeks and gums your bunny normally allows. Changes to this tolerance may be a sign of problems within your rabbit’s mouth.
Preferably on a weekly basis, you should conduct an exam of your bunny’s head and mouth.
1. Check for any tenderness, lumps or bumps along the cheeks, gums, jaw line and under the chin. These can be signs of abscesses, loose or crooked teeth or foreign objects stuck in the teeth or gums.
2. Check the incisors on a regular basis for length and even wear. Please refer to the article on Malocclusion in Rabbits.
3. Check for healthy gums. Healthy gums are pink in color.
Additional signs of possible mouth problems are drooling, interest in food but lack of eating, weight loss, bad odor coming from the mouth, grumpy behavior or other signs of pain.
My next article will deal with solutions and treatments for various mouth problems in rabbits.
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