# All those tennis balls and fuzzy toys..



## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

What I learned this week 

So for all you toy carriers (my male used to carry around his toys and mouth them... never put them down). They collect dirt, sand, and some are just abrasive to begin with. If you let your dog have them all the time, they cause excessive wear on the teeth. If your dog isn't a big chewer/carrier/crate biter, the pulp will draw into the tooth at the same rate of wear so by old age, they still have ok, albeit worn down, teeth. 

For the aggressive ones, the wear beats the pulp retraction, and the result is the pulp is exposed. Here is a pic of a broken canine (the pulp will bleed).








A wear exposed canine will not be red or bloody. It will be dark as its likely dead and collecting all manner of nasty in it... like this








Its painful (though many aggressive chewers have no issue biting right through the pain), but more importantly it opens a pathway for infection, and ultimately weakens the tooth and puts health at risk. Once the pulp is exposed, the options are extraction of the tooth (big deal for a canine), root canal and filled with inert substance (a little weaker than OEM equipment), or root canal and titanium crown (stronger than natural, and eliminates the issue of further wear, however now if a break were to occur, however rare, it happens at the gumline).

The cost of 4 canine root canals w/TI crowns? About $3600. 

Choose your toys wisely


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Tennis balls are the devil when it comes to GSDs. They should be used for playing tennis.


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## WarrantsWifey (Dec 18, 2010)

I like to use racketballs for the pups, they last a LOT longer and they aren't inclined to chew on it....


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Emoore said:


> Tennis balls are the devil when it comes to GSDs. They should be used for playing tennis.


Yeah i learned that early, so we switched to "pet friendly" but it still doesn't solve the issue of holding sand (I live near the coast, and sand is about as bad as it can get for teeth, and its impossible to keep it out of the house, much less anything that touches the ground outside)


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

WarrantsWifey said:


> I like to use racketballs for the pups, they last a LOT longer and they aren't inclined to chew on it....


I now use large, solid rubber balls that keep their mouth open enough that they aren't inclined to chew. Also, they have no give. B/c with spit on them, they're really hard to hold, it keeps them entertained trying to grab it after they loosened their grip a tad and slipped it


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

WarrantsWifey said:


> I like to use racketballs for the pups, they last a LOT longer and they aren't inclined to chew on it....


Racquetballs are way too small for a GSD and could easily be swallowed if not careful.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

hunterisgreat said:


> Yeah i learned that early, so we switched to "pet friendly" but it still doesn't solve the issue of holding sand )


Or going down their windpipe. :rip:


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

*All of the above also applies to cage biters*


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## WarrantsWifey (Dec 18, 2010)

Oh see, Killian doesn't play ball. He has no intrest in the ball. EVER, he'd rather chase Jazzi while SHE chases the ball. We've never had a problem with her and the racketballs, except how slippery they get. I figure once he gets bigger I could see the issue.....


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

At the beach, my male also has a tendency to drag logs around... fortunately he can't really chew them though.


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

Angus is ball OBSESSED and will destroy a tennis ball in under a minute (literally, we timed him). We now give him lacrosse balls, they are a little larger than tennis balls and since they are solid rubber it is impossible for him to destroy it. Plus as a bonus, they are washable! The only downside is when Angus decides to play ball with himself...all you hear is "THUNK...thunkthunkthunk" Who knew that a ball could make that much noise.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Caitydid255 said:


> Angus is ball OBSESSED and will destroy a tennis ball in under a minute (literally, we timed him). We now give him lacrosse balls, they are a little larger than tennis balls and since they are solid rubber it is impossible for him to destroy it. Plus as a bonus, they are washable! The only downside is when Angus decides to play ball with himself...all you hear is "THUNK...thunkthunkthunk" Who knew that a ball could make that much noise.


Sounds like what I'm using. My male never destroyed his balls. He just sat there with them in his mouth, chewing, chewing, chewing... They'd still be one piece but with a shaving cream like lather on them. They really hold dirt then


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

I no longer use regular tennis ball sized balls because Bianca's mouth is so big I'm afraid she might get one stuck in her throat, especially since she likes to lay on her back and roll around while chewing toys and moving them around in her mouth... I did use them (the ones made for dogs) when I had smaller dogs. For Bianca I have the Kong large-sized squeaky tennis ball toys. They specifically state that they are non-abrasive and won't wear down dogs' teeth.
I need to buy some new ones actually, she lost one and broke the other into pieces inside its "skin" so it no longer squeaks.

However Bianca's teeth were already quite worn when I got her at 4 years old. I don't know what caused this, if it was tennis balls or chewing things or maybe she was given weight-bearing bones that were too hard (previous owner fed raw.)

You can see how worn her teeth are in this photo:
Bianca's teeth
(that was taken soon after I got her)


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> Sounds like what I'm using. My male never destroyed his balls. He just sat there with them in his mouth, chewing, chewing, chewing... They'd still be one piece but with a shaving cream like lather on them. They really hold dirt then


Yeah, the "slime" that they collect makes fetch quite gross.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Chicagocanine said:


> I no longer use regular tennis ball sized balls because Bianca's mouth is so big I'm afraid she might get one stuck in her throat, especially since she likes to lay on her back and roll around while chewing toys and moving them around in her mouth... I did use them (the ones made for dogs) when I had smaller dogs. For Bianca I have the Kong large-sized squeaky tennis ball toys. They specifically state that they are non-abrasive and won't wear down dogs' teeth.
> I need to buy some new ones actually, she lost one and broke the other into pieces inside its "skin" so it no longer squeaks.
> 
> However Bianca's teeth were already quite worn when I got her at 4 years old. I don't know what caused this, if it was tennis balls or chewing things or maybe she was given weight-bearing bones that were too hard (previous owner fed raw.)
> ...


The fuzz itself is nonabrasive, but you can't do much about the stuff tangled up in it.

That doesn't look to worn down to me. Still got nice length on them. The upper right and lower left look the most worn of the canines (another point... the teeth usually wear diagonally with the opposing jaw). Some incisors appear to be well worn though


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## Zan (Nov 12, 2010)

Just another warning to be really careful with raquetballs...my hubby had to do the Heimlich on our first GSD. Thankfully, it worked, but man it was scary. We threw that ball right in the trash. Neko now plays with tennis balls but she is fetch-obsessed (actually, her latest game is to shove the ball under couch/tv/whatever furniture is handy so she can watch us drag it back out...) I will keep an eye on her teeth, thank you for the warning!


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## smdaigle (Mar 14, 2008)

Zan said:


> . . . (actually, her latest game is to shove the ball under couch/tv/whatever furniture is handy so she can watch us drag it back out...) I will keep an eye on her teeth, thank you for the warning!


I think that is a maneuver that is taught to all GSD pups before they leave the kennel. Rex and I played that game many a night . . . Ridley also caught on to it pretty quickly. There's nothing like a relaxing night of crawling around the floor fetching balls out from under the sofa or entertainment center! 

Our dogs have tennis balls and Rennie has them stashed all over the house. She doesn't really chew them, just carries them. Ridley especially also soft toys but he's now reached the point where he destroys the soft toys in minutes so I recently picked them all up. He's not destroying tennis balls . . . mostly just carrying them around.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Zan said:


> Just another warning to be really careful with raquetballs...my hubby had to do the Heimlich on our first GSD. Thankfully, it worked, but man it was scary. We threw that ball right in the trash. Neko now plays with tennis balls but she is fetch-obsessed (actually, her latest game is to shove the ball under couch/tv/whatever furniture is handy so she can watch us drag it back out...) I will keep an eye on her teeth, thank you for the warning!


At least switch to pet safe tennis balls. Chuck-it makes rubber tennis ball replicas without fur


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

smdaigle said:


> I think that is a maneuver that is taught to all GSD pups before they leave the kennel. Rex and I played that game many a night . . . Ridley also caught on to it pretty quickly. There's nothing like a relaxing night of crawling around the floor fetching balls out from under the sofa or entertainment center!
> 
> Our dogs have tennis balls and Rennie has them stashed all over the house. She doesn't really chew them, just carries them. Ridley especially also soft toys but he's now reached the point where he destroys the soft toys in minutes so I recently picked them all up. He's not destroying tennis balls . . . mostly just carrying them around.


Carrying is still a big no no.


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## CassandGunnar (Jan 3, 2011)

We have a bunch of tennis balls (my daughter played tennis in college and we'd get 5 gallon pails of them) but after hearing about the dangers a while back, we've been using the JollyBalls and frisbee/discs. I don't have one, but they also make a thrower for discs.
I posted a story yesterday about the fun we had with Gunnar and his frisbee.


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## krystyne73 (Oct 13, 2010)

Sasha's canine incisors are worn down like the second picture. I realized, after a few months after we got her ,that she chews on her name tag a lot. The damage was already done by then , now she gnaws on her crate latch so bad I am going to have to replace the crate. She is very quiet about it ,so it's hard to catch her. My vet didn't seem as worried about her teeth as I am.


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## smdaigle (Mar 14, 2008)

hunterisgreat said:


> Carrying is still a big no no.


I believe you, convincing my husband might be more difficult! I'm waiting on some new frisbee type toys to arrive and I'm hoping that his dog (Rennie) will like them better than her tennis balls. They'll sure be easier to find in the yard!


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

I feel for ya...that happened to my moms GSD. We throw tennis balls for Brody every day, but when he comes back in the house, we take them away. If it was up to him, he'd sleep with them in his mouth!


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## timmster (Jan 26, 2011)

I've read about tennis balls being dangerous, but I don't remember the specifics...why are they so bad again?


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Lesley1905 said:


> I feel for ya...that happened to my moms GSD. We throw tennis balls for Brody every day, but when he comes back in the house, we take them away. If it was up to him, he'd sleep with them in his mouth!


Sleeping with the ball in their mouth is exactly the dogs that have it the worst. Exact case the vet quoted


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## Metalsmith (Mar 25, 2009)

> The cost of 4 canine root canals w/TI crowns? About $3600.


Yowza, that's pricey! Is that the option you will end up going for? I'm curious about this process because my dog has dreadful, excessive wear on his lower canines especially. Top canines are better, but not great.

With the root canal/TI crowns, can you still play tug or do bitework with your dog?


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Metalsmith said:


> Yowza, that's pricey! Is that the option you will end up going for? I'm curious about this process because my dog has dreadful, excessive wear on his lower canines especially. Top canines are better, but not great.
> 
> With the root canal/TI crowns, can you still play tug or do bitework with your dog?


Yes to both I think. Vet said if I plan on continuing bitework crowns are the best option... Stronger than factory trim . Only adds about ~400/tooth to the price. The X-rays, sedation, etc are ~800, root canals are ~250 each. You can do root canals only but must periodically sedate and xray to ensure there is no progression of infection, and the wear continues unless you are vigilant in modifing the exposure to what caused it. If infection is left to fester it can travel into bone and require extraction. Bitework is done at this point 

Are his pulps exposed?


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

smdaigle said:


> I think that is a maneuver that is taught to all GSD pups before they leave the kennel. Rex and I played that game many a night . . . Ridley also caught on to it pretty quickly. There's nothing like a relaxing night of crawling around the floor fetching balls out from under the sofa or entertainment center!
> 
> Our dogs have tennis balls and Rennie has them stashed all over the house. She doesn't really chew them, just carries them. Ridley especially also soft toys but he's now reached the point where he destroys the soft toys in minutes so I recently picked them all up. He's not destroying tennis balls . . . mostly just carrying them around.


Ditto here. Crawling around getting balls out from under furniture is keeping me limber. I can't thank Abby enough.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

PaddyD said:


> Ditto here. Crawling around getting balls out from under furniture is keeping me limber. I can't thank Abby enough.


Strange, playing with my dogs is making me stiff. Feel like I got runover this morning


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> Strange, playing with my dogs is making me stiff. Feel like I got runover this morning


Yup, that too from playing chase and tag and tug of war in the backyard in 4 feet of snow.


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## G-burg (Nov 10, 2002)

My dogs have/love the cuz toys and the planet balls... Don't care for the jolly balls even tho the dogs do.. They've gotten their teeth stuck in them..

Something else you have to think about too.. Some dogs have softer teeth which they wear down quicker..


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## smdaigle (Mar 14, 2008)

G-burg said:


> My dogs have/love the cuz toys and the planet balls... Don't care for the jolly balls even tho the dogs do.. They've gotten their teeth stuck in them..
> 
> Something else you have to think about too.. Some dogs have softer teeth which they wear down quicker..


I gave Ridley a brand new cuz toy this morning. The feet were off within minutes. I think I got most of it picked up but I'm pretty sure he ate some of it. I need something to keep this boy occupied that he can't destroy and swallow in minutes. (We have a few things that he can't destroy but he has no interest in them either - GoNuts, Everlasting Treat Balls, Cosmos Balls, Kongs . . . sigh).


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

G-burg said:


> My dogs have/love the cuz toys and the planet balls... Don't care for the jolly balls even tho the dogs do.. They've gotten their teeth stuck in them..
> 
> Something else you have to think about too.. Some dogs have softer teeth which they wear down quicker..


I can't really do anything in this situation but say I screwed up  He's had more than his share of tennis balls, and if he wasn't eating, he was carrying his ball around, chewing while walking, laying down, whatever. I just didn't know this was an issue. He is a real broad head dog with a real hard bite so I'm sure thats also contributing. To make matters worse, in the summer we are out in the boat probably 3 days a week, swimming and playing on sand bars... he'd have a mouth full of sand doing the same which is probably the worst thing I could have done. His aren't worn down dramatically (I'd say he's lost 2 or maybe 3 mm of length, just that he was able to do it fast enough that the pulp got exposed. Here's an upper canine. You can clearly see the enamel's end, and the dentin's start, and then the dark spot is the pulp we believe. You can actually see in this pic how the wear angle on the canine matches the profile of holding a ball in the mouth


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## G-burg (Nov 10, 2002)

I feel for you Hunter! It sucks I know..


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Also... I asked about bones.. Dr said she discourages any bones raw or otherwise as thats the main thing she is repairing broken teeth. and actually had to do an emergency bone shard removal from a dogs jaw lastnight.

Can't have no fun no more


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Can you guys see my picture above? The [ IMG ] tags are there but I'm seeing nothing... the link is also def good


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## G-burg (Nov 10, 2002)

Raw bones can crack teeth, yes.. As of yet I've not had a problem with them, but am very cautions when my dogs get them.. I also have a bunch of them laying around the house and will occasionally fill them with peanut butter or cream cheese and we have nylabones..


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

G-burg said:


> Raw bones can crack teeth, yes.. As of yet I've not had a problem with them, but am very cautions when my dogs get them.. I also have a bunch of them laying around the house and will occasionally fill them with peanut butter or cream cheese and we have nylabones..


I always gave low density raw meaty bones as treats, and the marrow bones... they didn't eat the marrow bones, it just took a long time for them to get the marrow out and then they were done... I might stop though

From one of the email exchanges:
I give my dogs lots of raw bones.. both smaller less dense ones they consume fully, as well as denser ones that they don't, but scrape the marrow out of (seems to keep the teeth pretty clean). Should I not be doing one, the other, or both? 
I don't recommend bones at all, since they are the most common items that break dogs teeth. I just took a marrow bone of a dogs lower jaw on emergency last night. The top three are real meat bones, nylabones, and chew hooves.


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## smdaigle (Mar 14, 2008)

hunterisgreat said:


> Can you guys see my picture above? The [ IMG ] tags are there but I'm seeing nothing... the link is also def good


I can see it. How old is your dog? Just curious how quickly his teeth got worn like that.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

smdaigle said:


> I can see it. How old is your dog? Just curious how quickly his teeth got worn like that.


Almost 4


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

It is the glue, with tennis balls, that destroy the teeth.

& I cringe when I read of peeps giving "recreational" bones to adult dogs = adult teeth. Especially "weight" bearing bones, & all bones from cows, cattle. These bones are too hard, dense, for "eating," consuming, & lead to tooth breakage.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

mtmarabianz said:


> It is the glue, with tennis balls, that destroy the teeth.
> 
> & I cringe when I read of peeps giving "recreational" bones to adult dogs = adult teeth. Especially "weight" bearing bones, & all bones from cows, cattle. These bones are too hard, dense, for "eating," consuming, & lead to tooth breakage.


Fortunately, we haven't broken teeth, but only worn them


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> Fortunately, we haven't broken teeth, but only *worn* them


That is what I meant regarding the glue in tennis balls. 

I added regarding broken, as I thought it was also mentioned in this thread.


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

Google search tennis ball glue & dog's teeth:

"The *glue* on *tennis balls* are bad for your *dog's teeth*. It wears down the enamel"

"The glue that is used in tennis balls, when combined with a dog's saliva undergoes a chemical process that makes it corosive to the dog's tooth enamel."


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

mtmarabianz said:


> That is what I meant regarding the glue in tennis balls.
> 
> I added regarding broken, as I thought it was also mentioned in this thread.


Oh yeah I saw that just didn't comment. Likely the biggest culprit for us is the beach sand worked into it. When I learned about the glue we used pet safe tennis balls whenever possible


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> Oh yeah I saw that just didn't comment. Likely the biggest culprit for us is the beach sand worked into it. When I learned about the glue we used pet safe tennis balls whenever possible


How long did you use tennis balls on adult teeth, before switching to pet safe, or rubber, balls? "Whenever Possible"?


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I found an over sized Kong tennis balls that squeak at Tractor Supply. Two of Hondo's very favorite toys combined into one. I can monitor him sitting and chewing on the ball because it does squeak, and it's too big to roll under my sofa.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

mtmarabianz said:


> How long did you use tennis balls on adult teeth, before switching to pet safe, or rubber, balls? "Whenever Possible"?


I switched off after puppy teeth unless we were swimming. Still, every dog on my street has tennis balls so they were always turning up


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> I switched off after puppy teeth unless we were swimming. Still, every dog on my street has tennis balls so they were always turning up


Well, if you're convinced that it is "beach sand", best to your pup, looks like a hefty vet bill.


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> I switched off after puppy teeth unless we were swimming. Still, every dog on my street has tennis balls so they were always turning up


I trained my pup, as a puppy, not to pick up stuff; but always carry a ball in pocket, easy to switch out.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

I never discouraged them from picking stuff up and carrying it around... Wanted to keep them mouthy and willing to carry a dumbbell later on


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## mtmarabianz (Jan 7, 2010)

hunterisgreat said:


> I never discouraged them from picking stuff up and carrying it around... Wanted to keep them mouthy and willing to carry a dumbbell later on


I didn't discourage "mouthy-ness" either, as I bite imprinted; but didn't want "un-wanted" stuff in my pup's mouth.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

mtmarabianz said:


> Well, if you're convinced that it is "beach sand", best to your pup, looks like a hefty vet bill.


It is a multitude of things, but sand is probably the major contributor


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Holy crap! I got a second quote from another veterinary dental specialist... $8k for TI crowns on 4 canines!!!


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Wow.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

mtmarabianz said:


> Google search tennis ball glue & dog's teeth:
> 
> "The *glue* on *tennis balls* are bad for your *dog's teeth*. It wears down the enamel"
> 
> "The glue that is used in tennis balls, when combined with a dog's saliva undergoes a chemical process that makes it corosive to the dog's tooth enamel."


That is true but all I EVER used were the safe flyball tennis balls without the bad glue. THe fuzz picks up dirt that abrades. (my back yard is more dirt than grass, imagine that)

$3600 is bargain basement pricing for 4 root canals and titanium crowns! I have paid $1200 just for ONE root canal no crown. Were the teeth actually dead or did you have a vital pulpotomy? 

My dogs' incisors and canines are all worn down to nubbins but not bloody pulp though you can see the black specs. Vet says they are still solid and not painful (except for the ones Grim knocked out on the tree)
-------------

Everything I have heard about titanium jacketing is that it is NOT as strong as the natural tooth but stronger than the tooth + root canal only.


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