Dental disease is the leading health problem in companion rabbits, causing chronic pain and requiring lifelong management in affected animals.
Dental disease in rabbits causes chronic pain that is often unrecognized because rabbits hide signs of illness. Affected animals may stop eating, lose weight, drool, or develop eye discharge from infected tooth roots near the tear ducts. The relationship between skull shape and dental disease means that lop and flat-faced breeds are structurally predisposed to suffering. Prevention through species-appropriate diet is highly effective; treatment once disease is established is expensive and often incomplete.