Rabbit and Their Teeth

Here’s some food for thought…

Rabbit teeth are different than people, dogs and cat’s teeth as they continuously grow and are called “continuously erupting teeth”. This allows for a unique set of problems for rabbits and can become critical as their nutrition and food intake is vital for their health.

Rabbits need routine dental exams with your veterinarian to properly assess all of their teeth. It is easy to visually see their incisors and peg teeth (second row of top incisors) but if a rabbit is having trouble eating it normally starts with their molars.

Never attempt to trim your rabbit’s teeth at home; this requires a full oral health exam and specialized dental equipment and training. Nutrition plays a major role into the balance between tooth growth and proper tooth wear (attrition) with a normal occlusion (bite) of your rabbit.

Fun Fact:

• Each tooth in a rabbit’s mouth grows at a different rate
• The molars grown 10-20mm per month
• The upper incisors grown 2mm per week
• Lower incisors grow 2.4mm per week.

Eruption rate is influenced by several different things including; age, health, gender, pregnancy and nutrition.

Written by: Mayfield Veterinary Clinic