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46-48 Pollen Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland |
 Rabbit and Rodent DentistryYou may be surprised to learn that dental problems are the number one health complaint in our smaller furry friends. Many small mammals are herbivores, and have been designed by nature to eat very hard and tough food, i.e. Grass, seeds etc. Their teeth grow continuously, to keep up with wear and tear. Their gastrointestinal tract expects, and demands a constant intake of vegetable matter. Consequently when we take them into our homes and start feeding them soft fruit, leafy greens, oats and other delectable treats, we actually do their health no favours at all. Just like us your rabbit will develop a sweet tooth, and bypass that tough old hay and grass in favour of the pear or lettuce leaf. Soon his teeth will start to grow too long, since they are not being worn down properly. This can lead to spurs and sharp edges on the crowns, which lacerate the gums or tongue. Lengthening back teeth jam the mouth slightly open, which then stops the front teeth from meeting, and they become overlong and useless. Sometimes there is no room left in the mouth for growth, and the roots start growing into the jawbones. This leads to pain, can block the flow of tears out of the eyes, and worst of all can cause dental abscesses, which can be extremely hard to treat. Any mouth problem tends to put rodents off their food, which has So you can see how important dental problems are in small pets! Prevention is simple: feed the diet that nature intended. For a rabbit, this means at least 75% of their diet should be hay and grass, with greens and pellets the other 25% (i.e. more of a treat.) If your pet does develop dental problems, there are measures that we can take to control the problem. Recently at Ponsonby Vet Centre we have invested in specialised rodent dental equipment to enhance our service. Because rodents have very small mouths and delicate, brittle teeth they are harder to work on surgically than cats or dogs. The photo illustrates our new rodent molar rasps and molar cutters. These tools allow us to treat overgrown or infected teeth in even the tiniest creatures.
Our anaesthetic protocols are designed to make any surgery as safe and pain-free as possible, and our nurses are trained to monitor small pets closely to ensure any problems are picked up in time to be handled appropriately. After rodents have surgery, particularly of the mouth, they can lose their appetite. To address this we supply a special Critical Care Support diet, which is essentially a liquidised version of their diet. We are proud to be the New Zealand distributors for Oxbow Critical Care, the recognised U.S. standard of care in this area.
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disastrous effects on the health of their bowel and can lead to a fatal bacterial overgrowth. In addition, bad teeth prevent proper grooming behaviour; this increases the chance of skin problems, most seriously flystrike around the hindquarters due to dagging of the coat. A high-calorie, low-fibre diet is more likely to make your rodent obese, which aggravates grooming problems and can cause other issues eg. Pressure sores on the feet.
We already have a dedicated dental x-ray machine, which allows us to assess the problem and make the best surgical plan before we start.