Antlers

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

My daughter's beagle/boxer mix Sophie went for her annual check up today and the vet discovered that she has a chipped tooth right in front. They are going to have to extract the tooth unless they can find a specialist that can "cap" it.

Apparently the tooth in question has a huge nerve and it could be infected easily and of course would be quite painful if left unaddressed. The extraction will be quite costly ($600 +), not to mention it will mess up her beautiful smile.

Here's the thing - she asked my son in law if Sophie chews on antlers, when he told her that her Grandma (me) got her an antler for Christmas he was told to throw it away. She told him that they are too hard and just about every dog with chipped teeth are antler chewers. I am torn...has anyone else
had this experience with their dogs? Daisy seems to really love them.

 

:-(

 

UPDATE 2-5-11: Sophie ended up having the tooth extracted....$900!!!!! She is fine and doing well at home, mommy is feeding her soft food by hand and she will be having that for 3 weeks. Sophie is the queen for the month so she is happy...her sister Lily the boxer however is tired of waiting for her to play.

I spoke to my Vet about Antlers....he said as long as Daisy is not an aggressive chewer (she is not) then she can have them. We just have to keep a good eye on her. They are still on the family room floor, she will occasionally pick one up but not often and not long.

[F, Calla & Luca]

There was just a discussion on this and as I said there, Calla has a small chip on one of her incisors. I think I may have to confiscate the antlers. She's the main chewer of my two. Now I'm also wondering about the marrow bines. This is a real dilemma.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Oh no....I just discovered Antlers and both my dogs love them. I am going to be following this discussion closely. How old is your daughter's dog? I hope Grandma didn't get in trouble :)

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Sweet Sophie is 5 years old - no Grandma claimed the 5th.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Well, that blew my theory that it was young teeth. Good call, Grandma!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Tara doesn't have an interest in antlers but recently we took her to a new vet who is the closest thing we have in this area to a dental specialist for companion animals. She said absolutely no antlers or bones. Her critieria for testing whether or not a chew is safe for your dog's teeth is whether or not it bounces off your knee!! If you drop the item (antlers or bones or even bullysticks) on your knee  and they bounce off they are too hard for your dogs teeth and could cause chipping.

I am kind of torn about this too since Tara loves bully sticks and they do bounce!! :( She is not an aggressive chewer though so that is my excuse to let her continue to chew them!! :)

 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy is not an aggressive chewer either she actually carries her antler to DH to "hold" so she can chew on it - pretty funny.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Awww...that is So cute!!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Darn, my two love their antlers also and have had them for over a year. I certainly expect that Bellas teeth are made of titanium as she eats rocks and breaks them, (not that I LET her, I discover her doing it). Murphy isn't such a chewer, but will still chomp on his antler and marrow bones. I guess because they aren't in the wild eating sticks and other animals that their teeth can be more soft, but I'd sure hate to have to take this away now.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My Vern is such a powerful chewer that I feel like he needs something to satisfy this urge. I have heard bad things about Nylabones too, so now I don't know what to do. I think I will call my vet tomorrow.

[F, Calla & Luca]

We have info on this in the Danger Group.

[Wendy and Eddie]

I  started giving my dogs antlers this past spring, I think, and just two weeks ago my doodle had to have a molar extracted that had been badly chipped and was almost ready to abscess. The only thing I've done differently is give him antlers and he loves them, but I afraid the antlers may be the culprit.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Noooooo, I do NOT want to hear this.  I use Antlers as THE treat chew at my house. And we have bones all over our house.  My guys chew on this stuff every, every day.  We have stuffies but Clancy destroys them quickly - so I should say we have gutted, tattered stuffies.  We also have a couple of nylabones that they love!  Now what - the rugs? wall molding? chair legs?