Dental disease is the single most common and welfare-compromising health problem in companion rabbits, arising from dietary and environmental factors that are largely preventable.
Rabbit dental disease represents a preventable welfare crisis affecting the majority of companion rabbits. The fundamental cause is dietary — commercial pellet-heavy diets and insufficient hay fail to provide the lateral grinding jaw motion that naturally wears rabbit teeth to appropriate length. Without appropriate wear, teeth overgrow and develop spurs that lacerate the tongue and cheeks, causing chronic pain that is often missed because rabbits mask discomfort until severely ill. Secondary gut stasis from pain-reduced food intake causes additional suffering. The breeding of lop-eared rabbits has created a population genetically predisposed to dental problems — a direct welfare harm baked into the genetics of the most popular companion rabbit varieties. Prevention through correct diet is highly effective and completely within owner control.