Veterinary session

The teeth of rabbits grow continuously lifelong, a type of dentition that predisposes to the development of acquired dental disease, which can be described as a multifactorial disease including tooth quality alterations and malocclusion, as well as non-dental consequences.

Two studies were conducted. The German study was based on a questionnaire survey performed among 82 pet rabbit owners and aimed to investigate the nutrition, husbandry and health of pet rabbits with special emphasis on dental disease. The majority of the owners fed their rabbits with concentrates (87.2%) once a day (57.1%), mostly pellet-type (75.6%) with freely available hay (96.2%) and vegetables once a day (47.4%). Dental disease was reported in 33.3% of the rabbits and mostly on the cheek teeth (20.6%) compared with front teeth (9.5%) or both (3.2%) and it occurs mostly in males (43.3%). The group of rabbits affected with dental disease was predominated by the older age group (above 4 years, 54.8%).

The Hungarian study aimed to collect data from rabbits diagnosed with malocclusion or incisivus malocclusion by using the database of the Exo-Pet Veterinary Centre (n=150). Most of the rabbits were male (61.3%) and more than 90% of the rabbits were dwarf. More rabbits were diagnosed only with malocclusion (76.0%) and 24% had both malocclusion and incisivus malocclusion. The least affected teeth were the upper-left cheek teeth no. 6 (1.7%) and upper-right no. 6 (2.1%), as well as incisors (3.2%). The most affected teeth were lower-right cheek teeth no. 2 (6.5%) and upper-right cheek teeth no. 2 (6.3%). 17.4% had dental abscesses and 38.5% of them had surgery during the examined period. The most frequent other clinical signs of the rabbits besides dental disease were obesity (14.8%), epiphora (10.9%), and digestive disorders, such as gastrointestinal stasis syndrome and ileus (5.5%).

Finally, and as a conclusion, multiple causes have been investigated for the presentation of dental disease. In this study age and dwarf breed turned out to be the most important variables. In addition, it was shown by both studies, that front teeth were less affected by malocclusion than cheek teeth. As rabbits were properly fed with hay-based diets (German survey) there was no connection between dental disease and nutrition.