# 9 month old wearing down teeth?



## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

Lobo is currently on a kangaroo and oatmeal diet. We are trying to pin point a possible food allergy, so he is very restricted on what he can eat. To keep us all sane we gave him a deer antler and a water buffalo horn. He has had the deer antler for a little over a month and i did not notice any significant change in his teeth. He has had the horn for 1 day, and already the tips of his teeth appear to be wearing flat. Should I be concerned? Should the horn and antler be removed?


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

This is one of my worries about nylabone. I have been told should be fine with it and soft teeth are genetic. Any reason you aren't using nylabones? They make them in different hardness so one should fit your needs. 

I would take away the horns/antlers if you think the teeth are wearing down.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

genetics play into it too...


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

Our veterinarian recommend the antler. She said she has seen several cases where dog's have completely worn down or broken their teeth on Nylabones. Are the tips of his teeth wearing flat or is it just me being paranoid?


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

I had no idea that there was such thing as genetically soft teeth (learned something new  ), I do hope it's not that.


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

Bump...


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

Bumpady, bump, bumps








I just would really like to know if I should be concerned? Do any of you think that his teeth (specifically the canines) appear to be getting flattened tips? Is this normal?


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## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

It sounds like you already talked to your vet about this?


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## bellagriff (Jul 1, 2012)

We had a similar issue with our GSD. She has some other tooth issues as well. For some reason she developed pits in some of her teeth as her adult teeth came in and our vet has no idea why. She said they usually appear in puppies who had parvo as a pup, which Bella did not have. On top of that Bella does have soft teeth. We got some antlers for her and within a week we noticed her teeth wearing a bit -- needless to say that stopped.

So, bottom line I do think it can be genetic.


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

[QOTE=LoveEcho;6551698]It sounds like you already talked to your vet about this?[/QUOTE]

No. When the vet put Lobo on his new kangaroo diet 4 weeks ago, we saw the veterinarian and discussed what we could give him to chew on to avoid boredom and destructive behaviors. We had been giving him carrots, frozen peanut butter in a kong, and a Himalayan bone (pressed yaks milk). on this new 8 week trial food that we are doing to try and pinpoint a possible food allergy he's not allowed to have any of that stuff, so she recommended that in place of the Himalaya bone and frozen peanut butter, we give things such as an antler or a horn. Do you see any wearing on the teeth? Or am I seeing problem were there is none?







thank you for you response


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

himalayan chews are not hard at all. My dogs go through one in about 20 minutes.Horns and antlers may be very dense, like a marrow bone dried out. I wouldn't give them at this time....give a more nutritional chew, like a beef knucklebone with cartilage attached(and the bone itself is more spongy in consistency...the marrow isn't as rich as a marrow bone.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I think they look a little flat

Here are Seger's. He's 17 months


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

Jax08 said:


> I think they look a little flat
> 
> Here are Seger's. He's 17 months


Thank you so much for the pictures!  Yes, Lobo's canines look flatter then Seger's.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Seger doesn't get hard bones. He gets chicken feet, dried trachea. 

Jax's teeth are flat and you can see the pulp coming thru. I think she just has soft teeth. She doesn't get hard bones to chew on either and she chipped her molars on a pork neck.


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

onyx'girl said:


> himalayan chews are not hard at all. My dogs go through one in about 20 minutes.Horns and antlers may be very dense, like a marrow bone dried out. I wouldn't give them at this time....give a more nutritional chew, like a beef knucklebone with cartilage attached(and the bone itself is more spongy in consistency...the marrow isn't as rich as a marrow bone.


the only problem with the knucklebone is that Lobo can only have kangaroo protein for the next 5 weeks. But we discovered that a pet store nearby sells chunks of dried kangaroo tail...gave him a piece tonight and it took him 45 minutes to eat. So this is a possible antler substation for the next few weeks....

2 questions: if he does have genetically soft teeth is there something that I can give him (after the food trail is through) to strengthen his teeth?

And would having soft teeth inhibit him from eventually participating in IPO?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Nothing will make the teeth stronger, I'd just be careful how he is with toys or chews. My male has worn down his canines from frozen jollyballs(he gnawed on them, instead of the normal hold). He still does IPO and has a deep crushing grip. I took away the jollyballs, but the damage had already been done.


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## trcy (Mar 1, 2013)

My oldest dogs teeth are more than a little flat. They are totally flat across. Tennis balls wore them down. He has nyla bones, and bully sticks and balls without the felt on them and he's been fine. The teeth have not worn down anymore since we stopped giving him tennis balls.


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## Lobo dog (Sep 19, 2014)

trcy said:


> My oldest dogs teeth are more than a little flat. They are totally flat across. Tennis balls wore them down. He has nyla bones, and bully sticks and balls without the felt on them and he's been fine. The teeth have not worn down anymore since we stopped giving him tennis balls.


That's a great point! Lobo loves the big squeaky tennis balls. He loves to hold one in his mouth and squeak it until he gets bored (which can be any where from 5 to 20 minutes). That could be affecting his teeth as well. Where do you get the balls without felt? Do they squeak?


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