Dog with no teeth. Help!!

[celiesky]

Well actually he has one tooth.
I had my 14 year old dog boarded this weekend and he was also groomed while he was there. My husband picked him up yesterday after work and when I saw him I noticed something looked different about him. He then opened his mouth and I noticed he had no teeth! I felt inside his mouth and it was all gums except one canine tooth on top. He had all his teeth when I brought him in.
I called the vet this morning and he said they checked his teeth when he came in and the groomer said she didn't notice anything wrong with his teeth. We didn't get billed for teeth pulling and they have no explanation for what happened.
I don't have a clue how much to feed him or what kind of care he now needs. My (ex) vet told me he can still eat dry food, he can swallow it whole. That just seems wrong.
Does anyone have dogs with no teeth? What do I feed him? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[dhcoffey]

Okay, that's crazy !

I did have a dog with no teeth but hers had to be pulled because they were terrible and causing her a lot of pain (greyhound, famous for bad teeth). She was able to eat canned food easily and yes, she did sometimes eat dry food when we put it out for the other dogs, didn't seem to bother her too much at all.

Hope you get it figured out and your dog is okay.

Heather

 

[minkydog]

Soooo....where are the teeth now? This is very weird. Do old dogs' teeth just fall out? I could see if there was extensive gum disease how that could happen (and lots of old dogs do have gum disease.) Poor puppy!

 

[laurie31]

Oh my goodness! That's terrible! It makes me wonder if there's another dog who was *supposed* to have his teeth removed, and the owners have a bill, and a dog with all his teeth still.

We have a dog with very few teeth. She was a rescue and was like that when we got her. She doesn't have any problem eating dry food. You would think it would be painful or something, but she eagerly crunches it up (I guess with her gums? Or her few remaining teeth) and the vet says it's okay, so as long as she's eating it, I guess it is.

We do give her soft treats, though.

 

[manning]

I would be saying to the vet "we BOTH have a problem here and I want some answers!!"

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't understand that at all.

If they were pulled in the last several days, you'd be able to see that in his gums. They'd be bloody-ish and healing.

If the teeth weren't removed, but broken, you'd still see the teeth below the surface.

I can't imagine there'd be no teeth there with no sign of removal or injury if they were there when you brought him in.

I'd ask to see pictures, but I suspect it'd be way TMI for most people.

At any rate, I'd leave no stone unturned to figure out what happened. (One canine tooth left? Poor guy!)

PS what kind of dog is he?

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

At any rate, I'd leave no stone unturned to figure out what happened. (One canine tooth left? Poor guy!)

Exactly. I'd be raising heck if my dog came back missing a good amount of teeth. It makes no sense that this totally went unnoticed by the workers there. I mean, they even admitted that your dog came in with all of his teeth. I doubt he lost them all on the car ride home.

Anyways, you can soften kibble and mash it if you want. Heat a bowl of water in the microwave so that it's very hot and soak the kibble in it for a little bit until it's very soft and then mash it with a fork.

 

[melanie18]

Holy cow! That's bizarre, not sure I'd go back there again!

We had a schnauzer who went in to have his teeth cleaned and they ended up pulling 19 teeth - without even telling me! When I went to pick him up, they handed me a bill for $900!! Are you kidding?!?

Needless to say, I didn't pay the bill and they admitted they were wrong for not consulting with me first before deciding to pull 19 teeth. Anyway, the vet (who I actually did really like) said that dogs can continue to eat hard food with no teeth. He had a dog who had no teeth & still eats hard food.

Our schnauzer lived another 5-6 years and continued to eat hard food with half his teeth missing!

 

[celiesky]

Thank you! I feel better knowing other dogs with no teeth can still eat dry food.
By the way he is a Maltese.

This is Simon, my old man with no teeth!

 

[manning]

I don't understand that at all.

If they were pulled in the last several days, you'd be able to see that in his gums. They'd be bloody-ish and healing.

If the teeth weren't removed, but broken, you'd still see the teeth below the surface.

I can't imagine there'd be no teeth there with no sign of removal or injury if they were there when you brought him in.

I'd ask to see pictures, but I suspect it'd be way TMI for most people.

At any rate, I'd leave no stone unturned to figure out what happened. (One canine tooth left? Poor guy!)

PS what kind of dog is he?

That's a good point. Does it look like the teeth were recently pulled. If not did you get the right dog.

 

[Jockaroo]

This is too odd. Yes, elderly dogs can have teeth just "fall out". These are typically the small incisor teeth. My elderly dog developed some dental issues in his senior years and did have some teeth extracted, but it was very obvious that the teeth were removed. The back teeth leave some very deep wounds that take a week or so to heal. A dog with severe dental disease would have given you signs of dental problems -- wicked foul breath, drooling, inability to eat dry food, etc.

You need to get to the bottom of this. All teeth but one didn't just fall out. I would be livid if a 14 year old dog was put under anesthesia without my knowledge or the appropriate blood work done to test organ function before surgery. And a dog that age needs support IV fluids during surgery. If the teeth were pulled this was very risky and you would have needed to sign a consent form. Toy breeds can have bad teeth, but if his teeth were at the point of needing extracting you would have known something was amiss.

You can feed wet/canned food or soften up the kibble with warm water. Elderly dogs actually like this since it makes the food more smelly and appealing to them.

 

[Green Tea]

All of your dogs teeth are mysteriously missing?? You are exceedingly calm about the whole thing!! You have got to be able to tell if they were just pulled. If they mistakenly removed your dog's teeth instead of another dog the vet has a huge problem on his hands. If they gave you the wrong dog, the vet has a fixable problem on his hands. In either case, the licensing board for veterinary care needs to be notified.

 

[puffkin]

When my cat had most of her teeth pulled this spring (she was only 5 but had rotten teeth, genetic) her recovery was a good 10 days or so. Her gums were very tender and she wouldn't let me anywhere near her face. I can do anything to this cat, so that was very unusual. She is now back to normally and perfectly fine. I feed her wet food primarily because for cats it is better for their overall health, but she does get dry food occassionally and has ZERO problems eating it. I don't think a dog would have any problems with dry either.

If the dog is letting you in the mouth and the gums are healed, then either you have the wrong dog or the teeth fell out awhile ago and you just didn't notice.

 

[HM]

Gosh, until someone mentioned it....I didn't think about the fact that you might have been given the wrong dog.

 

[DizBelle]

OP - come back and tell us if you have the right dog or not.

I don't think that the dogs teeth just fell out and OP didn't notice. Both the groomer and the vet said that they checked the dog's teeth and they were fine. That implies that there were teeth to check.

OP - are the gums all healed over or is there evidence of freshly removed teeth?

 

[robinb]

Wow! What a mystery.

When my 11-year old kitty had some of his teeth pulled I fed him moistened dry food and wet food. He's now on regular dry and a bit of wet every once in a while to keep his weight up.

 

[sneadae]

Does anyone have dogs with no teeth? What do I feed him? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, my two small dogs recently had LOTS of teeth pulled. We gave them a food called Fresh Pets (I think). It's in a small refrigerator in our grocery store, right in the middle of the pet aisle. It looks like a roll of sausage. You just slice off a piece for them and then mash it up with a fork. You can also give them cottage cheese (of course, check with your vet first). Our vet recommended these things until my dogs could learn how to eat without teeth. Good luck!

 

[dhcoffey]

Yeah, I have to say if they were pulled out, it would be very obvious. When our grey had hers pulled, it was a couple of week recovery time and it was very, very messy and bloody. I felt so bad for her! Anyway, hope you get it figured out soon.

Heather

 

[Denine]

First of all, I hope you find out what happened to your poor dog.

I had a cat with no teeth and she ate dry food just fine. She just gummed it. Their gums toughen. She also ate wet food. Hers were pulled due to them being very bad.

 

[celiesky]

Yup, I have the right dog. I've had him for 14 years and I know it's Simon.

He won't let me look into his mouth, he will let me feel around for a little. It's not bloody but very swollen.

He is acting like a puppy again and eating dry food just fine. I think I will give him some wet food in the mornings though.

I talked to my husband if we should keep calling and asking what happened. We decided that they can't put his teeth back in and we didn't get billed for anything. We will be looking for a new vet though. We live in a small town so we will have to travel, but we will!

Thanks again for all your help!