In which Christmas doesn't help matters

Didn't think I'd be posting again so quickly, but stuff has come up and I need to vent a little. (Don't forget to scroll down to see what I posted last night as well, plz. )

Lesson learned: NEVER allow a vet to work on my rabbit who I haven't talked to either in person or on the phone beforehand.


Mickey gets his molars ground down every 3 months. This time, he happened to be scheduled for Dec. 23rd. The day before, I get a call from his vet's office; his regular vet is going to be away on that day, and another vet (also rabbit-experienced) is going to be there. Did I want to reschedule or have the other vet take care of things?

If it wasn't for the fact that Mickey was already showing some signs that his teeth were starting to bug him, I would have postponed the appointment, but because I didn't want things to get worse, I decided to let everything go as scheduled. I figured I would talk to the vet beforehand, so everything would be fine. However, when I got to the vet's to drop off Mickey, I asked to speak with the vet and was told that he was with another patient who was under snesthesia, so I left him there with instructions to call me once everything was done.

To my surprise, they called a short time later and left a message on my cell phone; he was fine, didn't need anesthesia, his teeth were trimmed and filed and I could pick him up any time.

"Didn't need anesthesia"? "Trimmed"?

I called them back. It turned out that the vet had done his front teeth, not his back ones. I talked to the vet; he said that the front teeth appeared to be causing some irritation, so he trimmed and filed them. He didn't know about the regular back teeth work, but they appeared to be fine. I explained the situation and he told me that he would put Mickey under and do the back teeth as well and they would call me when he was ready.

We had been visiting relatives that afternoon, so I didn't pick up Mickey until almost closing time (this had been prearranged with the vet). He appeared to be fine and in his usual mildly grumpy spirits post-dental work. When I got him home and back in his cage, though, I noticed he was having a little difficulty getting his greens into his mouth. Normally, he chews up a piece of cilantro like someone would suck up a piece of spaghetti. This time, he took the piece into his mouth, but once the initial bite was chewed up, he couldn't seem to get the rest of the piece into his mouth. I figured perhaps his mouth was still a little tender from the dental work and left it at that. The same thing happened later on that evening when I gave him some kale at bedtime; he nibbled at it a little, then just dropped it.

This morning when I got up and checked on him, I noticed some kale was still in his cage. That was not normal; kale is never left uneaten. When I got home a short time ago, I gave him another piece of cilantro; same thing as last night. He ate some small bits of dried banana that I gave him and didn't have any problem chewing it with his back teeth, but he couldn't eat the larger piece that I gave him beforehand. It's like his front teeth can't break through anything. Could his vet have filed them down a little too much?

I called the vet, but of course, they're already closed for Christmas. Since he can eat small pieces, I don't consider it an emergency; I can chop up his greens into small bites for him or feed him by hand if necessary until I can reach them on Monday, but they're going to be getting an earful on Monday if his situation doesn't improve.