Dental disease is the most common cause of illness in companion rabbits, driven by inappropriate diet and genetic predispositions that cause lifelong suffering when unaddressed.
Rabbit dental disease is one of the most prevalent and most preventable welfare problems in companion animal keeping. The fundamental cause is dietary: rabbits evolved to spend the majority of their active time consuming fibrous vegetation that wears their continuously growing teeth evenly. A diet of pellets and vegetables without unlimited hay fails to provide this wear, allowing teeth to grow irregularly, create painful spurs, and ultimately abscess. The welfare consequences are severe — dental pain is chronic, significant, and often unrecognised until disease is advanced. Providing unlimited timothy or meadow hay from the earliest age prevents most dental disease and is essentially free compared to the veterinary costs and suffering of established dental problems.