Animal Welfare Professionals

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Our rescue has taken in a foster dog that we are now discovering was likely a bait dog for a dog fighting ring.  Aside from his physical bite wounds and scars, his mouth is our greatest concern as all of his teeth have been ground down to almost the gums.  He is having great difficultly eating, which presently we are doing by using wet food molded into small balls so that he can pick them up with his mouth.  He is extremely emaciated due to a likely long period of little to no nutrition.  We do not want to overdue his feeding and are presently feeding small meals several times a day.  Needless to say, he is ravenous. We were hoping someone might have suggestions for the best way to feed, including bowl or plate shape, as well as food and/or supplement suggestions.  If anyone has any other suggestions, we would very much appreciate same as this is, thankfully, a first for us.  

#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization
#PetSupportServices*

Anonymous,

First and foremost I am not a veterinarian and believe the specific nutritional and supplemental portion of your question would be best answered by a professional. I would like to share with you our experience.  We adopted a dog from the shelter in which I am a volunteer about 2 and 1/2 years ago. He was underweight as your pup. We came to find out that he had a swallowing issue (this has never been fully diagnosed by our veterinarian but I suspect it is mechanical--his tongue seems way too big for his mouth). We ultimately bought a Waring blender to "grind" his kibble, added CHEESE, ground turkey and water--essentially making a thin pate'. His food bowl is elevated so as to aid his swallowing.  He is a happy healthy boy and the sound of the blender has become our Pavlovian "dinner time" bell for him and the rest of the pack! Hoping all the best for your pup!!

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Susan Murphy
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I adopted a Pekingnese who had no lower jaw and no teeth. I have historically cooked for all of my dogs, adding supplements to ensure they get all nutrients needed. For this little one I bought an emersion blender and when everything was cooked I pureed it down to a baby food consistency. You can also do this with kibble, soaking it to soft and then using an emersion blender.If the dog needs to gain some weight you can add some Sustecal as a treat.

For "treats" for my dog, I used a little squirt of canned cheese and a dab of whipped cream.

The best bowl I used was a cat bowl that was slightly tilted. If it is a larger dog, I'm not sure if they have anything like that. 

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Roxane Fritz
Veterinary Program Coordinator
San Mateo County
CA
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Hi Anonymous,

Thansk for all you're doing for this dog! Please share a pic if you can :)  I had an emaciated dog who almost died about 14 years ago so always have a soft spot for them! 

Usually dogs without teeth can eat pretty well, sounds like you're doing a great job! Lots of great recommendations so far. Here's a link to an article by veterinary dentists, as well as info from the UC Davis shelter medicine program about starvation and refeeding- be sure to check that one out and let us know if you have any questions.

https://animaldentalaz.com/how-can-my-dog-eat-with-missing-teeth/

https://www.sheltermedicine.com/library/resources/starvation-and-re-feeding-animals

https://www.sheltermedicine.com/library/resources/nutritional-recommendations-for-shelter-animals

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Sheila Segurson, DVM, DACVB
Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist
Director of Shelter Solutions
Maddie's Fund
Pleasanton CA
9258608284
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Anonymous,

I am a shelter veterinarian with many years of experience. You have gotten good advice from lots of folks here.  As many have noted, most animals without any teeth, missing jawbones and advanced dental disease, etc. are still able to eat without a lot of trouble. If this dog is struggling as much as you describe, consider taking them to a veterinary dentist ASAP for evaluation, including dental radiographs. If their teeth were broken or ground down, they may be suffering from open pulp cavities that have led to abscesses, tooth root infections or broken mandibular or maxillary bones, among other things. Treatment with antibiotics or pain medications is unlikely to give them much relief without extraction of affected teeth or other treatment. Good luck with this poor pup! 

Rachel Powell DVM

Director of Surgery

Greenhill Humane Society

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Rachel Powell
Veterinarian
Greenhill Humane Society
OR
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Hello Anonymous:
Thank you for taking care of this mistreated dog. I wanted to echo Rachel's excellent recommendation to have this dog examined by a veterinary dentist. (She beat me to the response!) While in private practice, I was horrified to see how many of our patients had "silent" dental disease discovered only because we started doing dental radiographs on every patient. And it's easy to imagine that your poor dog did not have his teeth altered professionally. Since this is quite an expensive undertaking, maybe you can set up some sort of fund raiser for him to offset the expense. Our shelter does this from time to time for animals that we acquire that have medical needs above and beyond what we can provide.

Good luck to you both!

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Kirsten Cianci, VMD
Palmetto Animal League
Ridgeland, SC 29936
=^..^=
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We have found that dog with issues like that often can eat better off a plate or frisbee.

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Kathleen Griffin
Licking County Humane Society
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