Is raw ultimately hard on teeth?

[Lewie'sMom]

One of the reasons I started Lewie on raw was because of the pics posted here of dogs already on raw. I was impressed by the sparkly white teeth they all had.

 

It seems like we've had a lot of broken/cracked tooth threads lately. Does feeding raw (RMBs) increase the risk of tooth damage?

[Lenajo]

Most of the tooth injuries I see are accidents.

 

My dogs have actually less tooth injuries from working and playing than they used to pre-raw. Of course that's anecdotal and only based on my own dogs...but clean, healthy teeth on strong jaws (eating raw works those jaw and neck muscles) are more likely to stay in place during the normal course of life's little knocks.

 

Large, hard, weight bearing bones can break teeth if you dog is a determined chewer. Part of feeding raw is using good judgement on size and type of bones. I would not, for example, feed my dogs turkey legs or lamb femurs. They are just strong enough to break those bones if they *really* try, potentially injuring teeth, and they are not strong enough to crush them up safely, creating dangerous shards.

 

That said, I would also not feed sterilized bone toys or nylabones for the very same reason.

[Chesney's Girl]

Raw Meaty Bones (RMB) are just that a little bit of bone covered by a lot of meat. I would never feed my dogs bare bones or weight baring bones of an animal over 30 pounds. What someone might call a recreational bone or marrow bones, I don't give my boys anymore since their jaws got stronger and they became more determined chewers because too much chewing over time and their teeth will wear down and there is a good possibility of a cracked tooth. But in RMBs the meat should give the bone a nice buffer and still clean teeth without breaking them.

[TAC2]

That said, I would also not feed sterilized bone toys or nylabones for the very same reason.

 

Unless BCs have really soft dentin or teeth, the sterilized bones and nylabones won't hurt them. We've used both for a number of years and had less problems than with the rawhide.

 

Chewing nylabones shaves off tiny bits like sawdust shavings in a wood shop, which passes harmlessly through the digestive system --- doesn't disolve. Of course you need to watch the size of the nylabone to make sure it doesn't get to the point where they can swallow it whole. Our guys particularly like the wishbone shape.

[Lenajo]

I doubt seriously that soft dentin is the issue. My dogs raised on raw can bite one of the harder rhino nylabones in half. However just because they can, doesn't mean its a good idea or that our luck won't run out eventually.

 

I've seen both raw and kibble fed dogs with slab fractured molars from nylabone and sterilized bone chews. I am not talking about those gummy soft nylabones brand chews for soft chewers. (I have other problems with that, as I don't like my dogs injesting inedible substances) I am referring ot the classic nylabone chew bone.

 

 

 

Unless BCs have really soft dentin or teeth, the sterilized bones and nylabones won't hurt them. We've used both for a number of years and had less problems than with the rawhide.

 

Chewing nylabones shaves off tiny bits like sawdust shavings in a wood shop, which passes harmlessly through the digestive system --- doesn't disolve. Of course you need to watch the size of the nylabone to make sure it doesn't get to the point where they can swallow it whole. Our guys particularly like the wishbone shape.

[MrSnappy]

We have a few chipped and broken teeth around here, and frequently it's from recreational bone chewing. However, previous dogs (pre-raw) have had chipped and broken teeth from recreational chewing toys. The only seriously broken teeth (ie needing surgery) we have experienced were the ones that Briggs broke, and he lost one to a fence while working sheep, and one to an XPen while trying to kill Mona. I've been feeding raw for 8 years, none of my dogs have ever needed a dental, and no one has ever seriously broken any teeth from it.

 

RDM