sue fitzpatrick FITZPATRICK
Posted : 7/28/2006 4:03:12 PM
Good news, once you are past the removals and the gums have properly healed, she should be able to gum food most marvelously-had a beagle who lost most of his teeth due to an owner who thought it was funny to watch him eat taffy.....Once healed, he could eat most anything, just took a little longer and there were more crumbs on the floor around the food dish
There are some really excellent powder form food supplements out there. Nutro puts out a good line, and there is Missing Link. There is even supplements that come in paste form. A good multipurpose vitamin supplement in powder form should probably help-although to see real results, supplements take a month or longer to be noticeable difference. What might be easier is to get a good vitamin supplement from your vet, and put the proper dose in the food processor with the dogs food. It will insure that they take the supplement, and might even make eating a bit easier for the present. You can gradually reduce the amount of processing, (how fine you grind it) as the dog's mouth heals and their strength increases. The tooth thing seems to go along with greyhounds in general as I have several friends involved in full size greyhound rescue, and almost all of them seem to have a personal relationship with a doggy dentist. Once the oral problems are under control though, the dogs seem to thrive. I would also advocate putting about a tablespoon of plain, full fat, unsweetened yogourt in with the food each day. The dog will be getting medication for teeth infections and that can also strip good bacteria out of the intestines making it harder to get the nutrients from food, causing gas and bloating, diahrea and all sorts of other unpleasant side effects-the probiotics in the yogourt will help to minimize those effects. I know that there are acidopholous powders out there, but dried....I question how viable they are, and they are a good bit more expensive. All my dogs get the yogourt on a daily basis, and the plus side is that we seldom have the silent but deadlies at our house-at least not from the dogs-Kids are another matter.