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Author: Laurie Stroupe, Precious Pet Rabbits
Ideally, the top front teeth of a rabbit will lap over the
front bottom teeth. Since rabbit teeth grow, this positioning
allows natural wearing to occur as the rabbit eats his food
and hay.
Occasionally, the front teeth will butt. If the teeth are
wearing normally (you don't see any really long teeth), I
would judge those teeth acceptable for a pet rabbit. Butting
teeth is a showing disqualification, so if you are willing
to accept a rabbit with non-problematic butting teeth, you
may be able to adopt a gorgeous [otherwise] show-quality rabbit.
Sometimes the teeth will butt or overlap the wrong way and
not wear normally. In this case, the teeth can be clipped.
It only takes a few seconds and is easy to learn how to do;
your vet or a breeder can teach you. My vet charges less to
clip a rabbit's teeth than to clip a dog's nails. The frequency
of the clipping
would vary with the severity of the malocclusion. If the teeth
need clipping but are not clipped, the rabbit could lose his
ability to eat and literally starve to death.
Wolf teeth are misaligned teeth that grow in all types of
directions. Simple clipping may not be enough to all rabbits
with this sort of teeth problem to live a normal life. In
many cases, rabbits with severe teeth problems may require
euthanasia.
Checking the teeth is only one part of the pre-purchase evaluation
you should perform before you decide to purchase a pet rabbit.
Visit Precious Pet Rabbits (http://www.pet-rabbit-care-information.com/)
for more information on buying pet rabbits.
About the author:
Laurie Stroupe is owner of Precious Pet Rabbits (http://www.pet-rabbit-care-information.com/),
a website dedicated to providing quality rabbit care information.
She is also the owner of The Nature Trail Rabbitry (http://www.thenaturetrail.com/),
home to her herd of Holland
lop show rabbits. You can read her daily blog at http://www.thenaturetrail.com/blog/BLOG.htm |
