Dental Gum Disease

Question
Hi Dana, I have a 10 year old rabbit who has chronic dental problems including gum disease - the past 2 dentals we had done the vet says that she has pus coming from her teeth - this time it has been all her teeth.  The vet says obviously we cannot pull all her teeth so we are managing it with dental trims (as needed) and then a 7 day dose of pen-g shots and pain meds as needed.  We have been doing dentals on her for about the past year and she also is having chronic watery eyes.  Luckily she will happily eat pellets (not hay or veggies) and the vet is fine with this since she's eating.  I'm wondering if you've dealt with this gum disease problem in rabbits before and what you have successfully done to manage this.  It seems I am having to take her every 2 months for trims and sedation and I know that is not the best solution but it does seem to be the only solution at this time.  

Thank you so much for any insight you may have.

Answer
Dear Sarita,

The "gum disease" sounds more like chronic tooth "root" abscesses.  Are you using dual-acting Penicillin-G Procaine/Benzathine?  If not, I would certainly ask the vet about it.  The benzathine component is long-acting, and you need inject this (subQ only, and pull back on the plunger to be sure you have not hit a blood vessel!) every 48 hours.

However, a week is likely not long enough to clear up a chronic problem like this, especially if--like most 10 year old rabbits--she has osteoporosis and bone loss in the jaw and tooth sockets.

I don't actually agree that she can't live without her teeth.  If that would help with the cure, then it should be considered.  We've had toothless bunnies that live very well and happily on pellet fluff (add water to pellets and let sit for about 10 minutes to make a moist fluff, or even add warm chamomile tea to do the same).  For greens, you can put fresh stuff into a blender and chop into bits that are the same size she might chew it into herself, if she had molars.

It's something to consider.

If you're not sure your current vet is experienced enough with rabbits to deal with this, you might want to check the list linked here for a vet who can give you a second opinion:

http://www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana