Dental disease is the most common health problem in companion rabbits, causing chronic pain that is often unrecognized by owners because rabbits mask illness as a prey species survival strategy.
Rabbit dental disease represents a welfare crisis enabled by the stoicism of prey animals and the inadequacy of commonly sold diets. Rabbits with painful dental spurs continue eating, though with reduced appetite and changed preferences that owners may not recognize as illness signs. The connection between diet and dental health is direct and preventable: rabbits evolved to spend 70% of their waking hours consuming fibrous vegetation that wears teeth evenly through the lateral grinding motion. Pellet-based diets compress feeding time dramatically and provide insufficient fiber to drive appropriate dental wear. By the time dental disease causes visible weight loss or complete anorexia in a rabbit, it is typically severe. Early regular veterinary dental checks allow intervention before welfare-compromising pain develops.