Spangly
Well-known member
Last night I gave Spangle her deer antler to have a little chew on, as we have done since we got it at Crufts in March.
She used to just take it from me and run around the house deciding where she was going to hide it, she never really chewed at it.
But about a week ago she realised that it made a pretty good chew as well.
I only let her have it for about 15 minutes each night, but she really did love it and would sit looking at me each night until I gave it to her.
Anyway last night she was lying next to me on the sofa happily chewing and there was a fairly loud cracking noise and Spangle jumped off the sofa looking very scared. I removed the antler straight away and tried to look in her mouth. She wouldn`t let me which isn`t unusual, Colin (my OH) and I tried our best but we couldn`t see anything.
She didn`t seem very concerned, in fact she picked up her nylon dental bone and started to chew that for a couple of minutes.
Then she settled down and went to sleep as usual. It was only after I`d been in bed for about half an hour that I became a bit concerned as she seemed to be licking her lips and generally seemed a bit down. We both tried again to see if we could see a problem in her mouth but we just couldn`t. She then went to sleep and slept for most of the night (although I couldn`t settle after that).
We took her to our vet this morning and he was able to show us that she had broken her tooth, one of the long ones at the back (the premolar ?). It seems to have broken right through the middle from front to back.So he`s kept her in to remove it this morning.
I feel so guilty. I knew she had a fairly strong jaw. I should have noticed that she was gnawing at it too much.
I would still recommend deer antler to anyone but please be very aware of just how strongly your dog is chewing on it.
She used to just take it from me and run around the house deciding where she was going to hide it, she never really chewed at it.
But about a week ago she realised that it made a pretty good chew as well.
I only let her have it for about 15 minutes each night, but she really did love it and would sit looking at me each night until I gave it to her.
Anyway last night she was lying next to me on the sofa happily chewing and there was a fairly loud cracking noise and Spangle jumped off the sofa looking very scared. I removed the antler straight away and tried to look in her mouth. She wouldn`t let me which isn`t unusual, Colin (my OH) and I tried our best but we couldn`t see anything.
She didn`t seem very concerned, in fact she picked up her nylon dental bone and started to chew that for a couple of minutes.
Then she settled down and went to sleep as usual. It was only after I`d been in bed for about half an hour that I became a bit concerned as she seemed to be licking her lips and generally seemed a bit down. We both tried again to see if we could see a problem in her mouth but we just couldn`t. She then went to sleep and slept for most of the night (although I couldn`t settle after that).
We took her to our vet this morning and he was able to show us that she had broken her tooth, one of the long ones at the back (the premolar ?). It seems to have broken right through the middle from front to back.So he`s kept her in to remove it this morning.
I feel so guilty. I knew she had a fairly strong jaw. I should have noticed that she was gnawing at it too much.
I would still recommend deer antler to anyone but please be very aware of just how strongly your dog is chewing on it.