• If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.

Rescue dog with no teeth

Purplepoppy

New member
Hi

I have recently adopted an abandoned 8 year old male cavalier. He is just gorgeous and we fell in love with him the moment we met him. Unfortunately, his teeth were very bad and most of them have been removed. He drools a lot because of this. I was wondering if anyone could advise me on diet etc as I assume his diet is restricted somewhat due to having no teeth!

Any advice welcome

Kind regards
Poppy
 
Gosh I have no idea, but I just wanted to say welcome to the boards!!

I am assuming anything but hard kibble. I feed mine Ziwi Peak which is quite soft, and Brooklyn loves it. I think something like that would give him the nutrition without having to chew on hard bits.

Would love to see pics of him soon and congrats on your adoption!!
 
If you soak the dry food well before feeding it (perhaps with a tasty gravy or stock), it should be manageable - dogs tend not to chew soft food, just hoover it down and leave their strong stomach juices to deal with it! You could feed homecooked, like rice, mashed potato, and cooked meat or fish, or raw mince, but it can be difficult then to provide all the minerals and vitamins they get from a good dry food such as Burns or James Wellbeloved. If you're feeding mushy food, he may need his anal glands emptying more regularly, and you'll probably need to watch out for runny stools. A sprinkle of bran mixed in with the mush would help both of those!

Top marks for adopting him - Cavaliers are such dignified old boys, it's such a shame when people can't be bothered, or think they have outlived their usefulness and money-making potential as a stud dog.

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Hello. Well done for rescuing. My rescue has about 3 teeth left, when we got him back after surgery we fed him cooked chicken and pasta/rice.
Gradually we started feeding him harder foods, like chunks in gravy mashed up with a few soggy biscuits. He loves his food in loaf form, very easy to eat.
Like Kate said, dogs don't always chew their food (Murphy doesnt lol!) he just woofs it down.
Hope this helps :)
 
Well done you!

I'd agree with the above–personally, I like feeding something other than just commercial tinned or dry foods anyway, and making up some stews and then adding some dog biscuit so that it's kind of a half-and-half mix, and the biscuit can soften by being left to soak, as Kate suggests–that's a nice combination. There are some recipes for home cooked foods in the Library section, and we also have a fundraiser CD of Rupert's Recipes for a fiver, full of all sorts of suggestions of things that can be made for dogs. :) The money goes to Cavalier health research.

I'd also have a chat with your vet about suggestions. A lot of dogs really have no problem eating a hard dry food despite lack of teeth because, as others note, many of them don't do much chewing up of the bits anyway. I have some with all their teeth that are like this–and I have others who would crunch everything up. It would be good to get a vet's advice on what he might be able to handle and if anything might be too hard on his gums. You'd not want to feed anything hard that might cause him to choke so the advice might be to only give softened biscuit.

I hope you have many years ahead with him!
 
Just wanted to mention our rescue boy had very bad teeth when we got him and had to have 16 teeth removed... well my vet said most of them kinda just fell out. He was already missing a couple teeth as well. He only has very few teeth left. I fed him soft food at first but now he is eating dry food just fine. Smaller kibble is a little easier for him to eat.

Make sure to brush his remaining teeth often and keep an eye on them. Since they can't chew correctly there remaining teeth can get nasty really quick. Especially if you are feeding a softer food. I like a product called CET Dental Rinse (Recommended by my vet). I try to wash his mouth out every night before bed.
 
We had one with no teeth a while ago and i'm sure sloppy food was harder for her , stuff like scrambled egg and semi soaked biscuit was fine
 
Back
Top