Soon to have very few teeth -- food questions

[kyfirestorm]

It's been a month of ups and downs here . . . September 23rd our Puddles disappeared into thin air as I turned my back for less than a minute while he was outside to potty. We went nuts and searched high and low while posting urgent appeals everywhere possible. After the first week we kept searching but honestly thought the worst.

Yesterday we get a call saying that someone knows where our dog is and wanting to know if there is a reward. It was a crazy few hours but we finally got our hands on our little boy who has been just a couple of miles away the entire time . . . seems he was "rescued" on the 23rd and even though they KNEW who he was and who he belonged to they decided to keep him (and this came from their own mouths) but suddenly had a change of heart. I didn't care why, how, who, or what caused it, I was just happy to have our boy back!

The past 24 hours have shown us some issues however. There are some physical problems surfacing which are issues he's always had but suddenly they're much worse. One of those problems is his ability to eat. Which they let drop in an offhand way when we picked him up . . . that suddenly he wasn't wanting to eat much at all.

When we adopted Puddles 1 and 1/2 years ago he (according to my vet) had the teeth of a 13 year old dog -- and he was only 3. A typical 2lb "teacup" mess of health problems . A dental was performed that week and they had to pull 7 teeth. We immediately put him on Taste Of The Wild food (hubby's lab was on it and we really liked it -- AND my vet recommends it) and he did "okay". The main problem was that he'd struggle to chew even those small pieces of kibble. We realized about 6 months ago that he was sometimes swallowing pieces whole. We've had to really be creative with his food at times to enable him to eat it, but there was never a huge problem. We had planned on another dental in February of this year, which would have been exactly a year, but his teeth weren't too bad and we're trying to balance the need against the risks of sedation. In late August/early September we noticed they had started to get pretty funky again and we needed to take him in for a dental. His disappearance couldn't have come at a worse time. We immediately took him to my vet yesterday when we picked him up and he's healthy except for those teeth.

Suddenly, after three weeks with these . . . people . . . and three weeks of Cesar wet food and table scraps, his teeth are absolutely horrible. Two upper fronts are VERY loose and the rest are absolutely funky. Now, suddenly, he won't eat much of anything . . . finally tonight I was able to tempt him with some mashed pieces of bologna. Canned food, funky treats, nothing is appetizing. Cooked, mashed chicken is our next option tomorrow. Thankfully we always keep Nutrical on hand just in case.

I have a dental scheduled for October 21st (next Friday) and I'm expecting another 6 or 7 teeth to be pulled. Brushing his teeth is suddenly a MUST, but I'm afraid that he's to the point that the dry TOTW won't work anymore. I need to know what my options are . . . I know that TOTW has canned food . . . is it as good as the dry? With us brushing his teeth, is it going to reduce the issues associated with canned food? Should I be looking into a homemade diet? I was thinking that cooked chicken/turkey can be slightly fibrous and that might help with his dental issues and the remaining teeth. Or what about the Natural Balance meat rolls? Are there NUTRITIOUS semi-soft foods available? I'm just at a loss . . . help, please?

[LovinOurYorkies]

OMG... What an ordeal... the nerve of some people never ceases to amaze me! Thank heavens you have Puddles back home.

Re food: This site might be helpful...http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/. I appreciate the ingredient lists, and the bottom line ratio of protien to fat to carbs. BTW, I've read a number of people on this site feed TOTW... the canned is grain-free and highly recommended (if that helps).

Bella just had her dental yesterday - the vet recommended Hills T/D, but since she didn't have gum disease or require any teeth to be pulled, AND the food is only available thru the vet, something told me the recommendation wasn't made in the best interest of my pet Also, the ingredient lists of Hills Prescriptions concern me (they receive a very low rating on the above site).

I've read that raw diets lead to healthier teeth and gums, and there's always cooking your own dog food... but I know that carries concern about giving them balanced nutrition. (I don't have experience with either, but others on the forum do, and there are threads you can search on this site for more info).

I know they say soft food promotes dental issues quicker than dry, but if you have a dental regimen at home and provide things for them to chew on, I think it balances out (just my opinion).

I feed Whole Earth Farms canned (very reasonably priced for the quality), and for something to chew, I give piggy twists, Himalayan chews, raw carrots, etc. Neither of my girls allow for much tooth brushing, so I started using Leba III oral spray too.

Hope this helps - and again, so so so glad you have Puddles back home

[kyfirestorm]

Thank you so much! It's so surreal to have been mourning his death and then suddenly he's here in the house again. And none of the stories are matching up . . . so far it looks like he was taken . . . hubby thinks from our driveway . . . and we've found a picture of a dog that we're pretty sure is him added a week ago online advertising stud service on a local for sale/wanted site. It makes me so doggone mad.

Balanced nutrition is one of my main worries. Hubby and I did some checking yesterday and we found some "recipes" for homemade food that have meat, veggies, etc; but nothing I've found yet discusses in depth whether or not a multivitamin or other supplementation is needed. Puddles' weight balances between 2 1/2lbs and 3lbs most of the time so there's no room for error before an issue that might have been minor in a big dog is a major issue for him.

Thank you for the information on the TOTW canned food as well! We love their dry food and (before he was taken) we would soak Puddles' dry in some some broth or sometimes simply in hot water to get it soft.

One of the "leftovers" that we have from his previous life -- which was horrible -- is that he won't chew much of anything. Chewy treats of any kind, he simply doesn't know how We've tried so many . . . and he's left looking at it in confusion . . . has no clue about holding anything between his feet so that he can gnaw on it . . . and I honestly believe that his teeth were so bad for so long before we adopted him that the pain simply stopped him from being able to.

I'm adding the Leba III oral spray to my list of things . . . my groomer does some sort of a tooth cleaning with a spray, I'll hafta find out what it is that she offers.

[My lil friend]

I dont really have any food ideas to offer. However I would like to reccommend that you find a lawyer. These people basically held your dog hostage (this is dog napping),they even admitted that they KNEW that the dog belonged to you. If you gave them $$ then that is ransom. They had your baby and didnt take proper care of him and now he is going to loose the rest of his teeth.
I am so sorry that you went through this and that there is more to deal with. I do hope that he will be ok and begin to eat.

[kyfirestorm]

Just a quick update:

Puddles had his dental on Friday and lost 6 teeth (including 1 premolar) and had an infection in his gums. We're juggling some different food choices right now as we try to get his mouth healed . . .

Mlf, I had actually talked to a lawyer last week, but locally there's not a lot they can do; among other things I didn't tape the original call.

Saw the "woman" that had him on Friday in WalMart. The first words out of her mouth? "How's my puppy doing?"

Daughter and I were both flabbergasted . . . when I recovered from the shock I said "PUDDLES is doing fine now that he's back home." The nerve of some people!

[ritapatt]

I homecooked with vitamin suppl. for 6 months (for allergy reasons) The dogs Loved it, but I could see altho it got my wheaten back on track that her hair was lacking the shine that it has on TOTW.I also had trouble keeping the weight on her with homecooked. I tried the canned TOTW , it is expensive (but very nice) but for such a small dog maybe not too bad... I crushed the TOTW kibble up for the new pup at first but she is managing fine now.The kibble soaks and blows up nicely after +1/2 hour, maybe in broth or plain yogurt?

[kyfirestorm]

We're actually looking at the broth route with the dry kibble to make it semi-moist. Right now he's been eating 4Health canned chicken (which rated higher than TOTW canned on DogFoodAdvisor site) and seems to be doing okay. I'd really like to get him eating as dry as possible for his mouth though simply for tooth/gum health.

I'm aware that may not be possible for lilttle snaggletooth

[kjc]

So glad you got him back...

If you have a blender you can feed him whatever you want! I used to pulverize a bunch of kibble at a time, and mix it with wet food (finely chopped or put in the blender) and add a bit of extra water.

Actually wet food has more nutrients in it than dry...