Dental problems are among the most common welfare issues in domestic rabbits, causing chronic pain from continuously growing teeth that become misaligned and cause serious complications.
Rabbits with dental disease experience chronic oral pain from sharp spurs lacerating soft tissues, difficulty eating that causes progressive weight loss, and infections from penetrating roots. Because rabbits eat continuously in health, reduced food consumption from dental pain quickly leads to life-threatening GI stasis. Dental disease causes silent suffering as rabbits do not vocalize pain and owners may attribute reduced eating to other causes. The connection between diet and dental health means owner education about hay-based feeding prevents much of this suffering.