rescued a Italian Greyhound

    • Gold Top Dog

    rescued a Italian Greyhound

    Yesterday I received a very tiny and skinny 6 year old Italian Greyhound. Her teeth are rotten beyond belief. The people that had her were feeding her Dog Chow and had never looked after her teeth. We went to the vet and almost all of her teeth have to go and also some of the teeth that are left are broken right down to the gums. She requires extensive surgeries to remove the broken teeth. The eye teeth on each side have rotted so badly that they have left holes in the gums and bone. She also has sinus problems because of them. The holes are going to have to be filled.
    Today I purchased Innova canned because there was no way she could eat kibble, the pieces fall out of her tiny toothless mouth.[sm=uhoh.gif]
    I am looking for suggestions of suppliments to give her because I know her body is lacking nutrients.
    We are going back to the vet next week to have her bloodwork done and discuss what will be done first to fix the poor little soul.
    If anyone has any tips to give me about this breed I would really appreciate it.
    Thanks
    • Gold Top Dog
    awww poor girl. Good job for taking her in. The innova canned should be perfect for her, but maybe start slow in case it is too rich for her system?
    As for suppliments, fish oil and vit e is always good to suppliment with any type of food. I don't know much about other supplements, but some people have good luck with missing link or nupro.
    • Bronze
    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.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Thank you for the advice.
    I have tried to feed Angel plain yogurt, my other 4 furkids love it, but she doesn't like it at all. I will definitely put it in her food.
    Also, when we go to the vet again next week, I will ask him which type of supplements to give her.
    I am glad to hear that she will do just fine without the teethies, I have worried myself sick over it. I'm sure they are hurting really badly and I just want to fix her up so she feels good.