Good news bunny breeders and owners!
Lop eared rabbits and short faced dwarf bunnies are not inherently unhealthy as some veterinarians were starting to believe. Instead, these issues are more likely linked to genetics, and the fact that domestic rabbits tend to live longer lives than nature may have intended them to. It’s interesting that they are finding other potential problems that we don’t know the implications of too, highlighting that more research is needed, especially considering the increasing popularity of small animals as pets.
This study was done all on purebred pedigreed UK rabbits. While there were no breed specific differences, there are still a lot of dental issues in all types of rabbits. With more research and guidance, breeders may be able to further lower incidence of dental issues in rabbits (cheek teeth especially are quite difficult to observe without an x-ray).
“-Many rabbits had no obvious dental issues with 68.28% of rabbits having no incisor abnormalities and 55.40% having no issues with their cheek teeth.
-Lop-eared rabbits were not more likely to have dental problems but were 4.03 times more likely to have watery eyes – a symptom that could be linked to other health issues.
-Flat-faced (brachycephalic) rabbits did not show more dental abnormalities than those with longer faces.
-Longer-faced rabbits (dolichocephalic) were slightly more likely (1.39 times) to have a specific dental issue known as “step or wave mouth”, where the premolars and molars have a step-like pattern and don’t align normally.
-Older age and sex were more consistently linked to dental abnormalities. Male rabbits were 2.06 times more likely to have an incisor abnormality and 2.23 times more likely to have slanted or curved incisor occlusal surfaces. While females were 2.18 times more likely to have long first cheek teeth, although the clinical significance of some of these findings isn’t clear.”
