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Location: Surrey
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 4,420
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That's good news
I had four bunnies with dental problems so a good diet was a high priority. One was very bad and needed dentals every 4-6 weeks initially, but with diet change we got that down to every 6 months eventually
The others ended up not needing any dental work despite their teeth looking a bit iffy originally - well, 2 had their incisors out but never needed work on the molars.
Firstly I really upped the hay in their diet. To encourage them to eat more, they got various types - meadow hay from a farm (a lot fresher than petshop hay), timothy hay, grass hay, oat hay etc., not just different types but different cuts too. At the time there was a good store that sold short cut hays like timothy, which was fab for the ones with no incisors. Rather than putting a big pile in, I'd put smaller amounts and top up throughout the day - the curiousity of this "new" food often encouraged them to eat more than they would with a flattened pile they'd already had a nibble at in the morning.
They also did hay cubes - they actually sold bags of the broken cubes which were perfect for the incisorless ones as they were small enough pieces to eat with just their molars. I cut down on the rabbit pellets they had to build up a bigger hunger for hay, plus mixed the pellets in with the timothy hay pellets that this shop sold too, so again, encouraging more hay in the diet. They got small amounts of dried grass, like Readigrass, but not too much as this is higher in protein than hay. I switched to Science Selective pellets as they apparently encouraged better toothwear than smaller pellets due to their shape - not sure how much of a difference it made but they liked the taste anyway.
I also provided fresh grass daily too. They were indoor rabbits so I grew grass in litter trays which I then gave them access to (didn't leave it permanently as they'd just dig up the dirt), plus I would pick fresh grass - just small amounts frequently so it was eating quickly, rather than a big pile sitting there all day to ferment.
Their vegetables consisted mostly of dark green leafy veg to encourage grinding of the teeth. Carrot tops, rather than carrot, curly kale, cauliflower greens, romaine lettuce, etc. - cut into strips for the incisorless bunnies. I also gave leafy herbs, e.g. curly parsley, and would dry out nettles for nettle hay.
The one who did have his incisors would also get apple tree branches to rip up as apparently they chew the bark with their molars too.
Not only did all this roughage really help their teeth but it made for healthy digestive systems too
The shop I used isn't around but there's a few who've done similar, e.g. The Hay Experts is one I know of.