Serious Dental Issue With My Rabbit-I need help!

by Bee
(Ohio)

Hi everyone

This is my first visit to this forum. I am in desperate straights. I have a rescued lion head dwarf rabbit. He's had dental problems since about 6 months after we adopted him.

He's front teeth were maloccluded and we have been taking him once a month for over 2 years for incisor trims. He stopped eating hay last week and started to show signs of not feeling well.

Our regular vet referred us to a specialist and we took him in. They did a full exam, xrays and they found that his molars are beginning to ingrow into his mandible and they trimmed a spur that had overgrown into his tongue.

This cost us 1000 dollars out of the blue. We put the cost on a credit card, otherwise we could not have done it. The prognosis appears to be open ended-we could have to do this every 3-6 months. That is only the trimming of the overgrown molars and does not address the problems ingrown molars into the mandible could cause--abscesses, tooth extraction.

Please I need honest information from anyone who has any. The specialist are very talented but they do not necessarily understand the reality of literally not having 1000 dollars to spend.

He's very skittish, hates being handled and this whole thing has been hellish on him. Does anyone know the general prognosis in this situation? We want to give him the best care but we are not wealthy and we also want him to have a good quality of life. Any information would be appreciated.

Thank you