Malocc

Question
Dana,

I have offered to look after my friends 5 yr old un neutered dwarf lop rabbit while he is away for two months.

After having picked up the rabbit (Scooby) and having him in my care for less than a day i noticed that sumthing was badly wrong with him. He was sneezing all the time and had a runny nose and runny watery eyes. his back end was completely matted and his underside was yellow from urine stains. The poor little guy was sleeping on shredded paper and had no litter in his tray and had never even seen sawdust or hay in its life. i took him to the vet imediately and discovered that the source of all his discomfort was his teeth - they were badly over grown and had started to form into sort of tusks that were growning into his poor little cheeks. He has not been eating at all and is at this moment under going surgery to help correct his misformed teeth.

I have 2 of my own rabbits and compared to poor Scooby are the personifcation of health and I have never had to deal with an unhealthy rabbit as at any sign of illness with my two, im straight to the vets.

The questions i am asking are basically what do you do to look after him when he returns this evening? I have been cutting up his veggies for him so he can at least get them in his mouth without too much pain but i dont know if making his pellets soft with water is advisable. and also am The owner of this rabbit informed me that the reason scooby has never seen hay is because his last rabbit died from eating it. Am i right in assuming this is nonsense as from what i know hay is a stable food source for rabbits!

I would appreciate you help in this matter,

Thank you
Gemma.

Answer
Dear Gemma,

Given what you've said about poor Scooby's condition, I sure hope he doesn't have to go back to his original owner.  The neglect the poor bunny suffered sounds as if it bordered on abuse!  He is very lucky to have a saving angel in you.

You don't say it explicitly, but it sounds as if Scooby is having his incisors extracted.  This is painful, but the right course of action for long-term relief.  Please ask about pain medication for the first few days (metacam and tramadol are great for this type of pain--and if it's really bad, Banamine could be substituted for metacam).

We give Critical Care to bunnies with mouth pain.  You can get it from many rabbit-savvy vets, or you can order it directly from Oxbow Hay Company:

www.oxbowhay.com

If you don't have time for that, then it would be good to soften his pellets in warm water or chamomile tea, let them fluff, and then wet to a paste you can syringe feed him if he won't eat on his own.  (He'll be more likely to eat pellet fluff than paste, once he's feeling better.)

Other than that, cutting up his hard food into bite-sized chunks should be all you need to do.  He should be able to macerate whole pellets and hay with his remaining molars, and same for fresh veggies.  He just won't be able to *cut* things, and for that he'll need your help.

I hope this helps.  Many healing thoughts coming to Scooby.  Bless you for taking care of him!

Dana