Hershey lost a tooth.
I’m not sure when. I noticed the missing incisor last week and thought it must have happened sometime between her last teeth cleaning a few weeks before and trying to get the possum. But looking at a photo from a few months back the tooth is clearly missing, it’s just taken me this long to notice!
Frankly, it’s surprising she still has any incisors at all! Back before Eris was mine, she was a semi-feral mama cat who dropped a litter of kittens on the other side of our fence. Having four, helpless, prey-sized animals inches away, separated only be a fence drove Hershey mildly insane, and she worked to resolve the situation in her patented problem solving style, chewing. Yes, she attempted to chew through the fence!*
Fortunately for the kittens (I caught them and farmed them out to friends and co-workers) but unfortunately for Hershey’s teeth, she chose the wrong part of the fence to chew through. Instead of a frontal assault, going to work on a relatively thin slat, she attacked from the side and tried to chew through a post. A 4×4 post that was easy for her to get to and get a purchase on, but concealed from immediate view.
By the time I noticed all the bits of wood she had bitten off the damage had been done, to the post and to her teeth.
While the post remained damaged but intact, she had ground most of her incisors down to the root. When I asked the vet about the implications he said dogs can lose those teeth without any real problems. Now that she’s actually lost one I’ll be taking her back and talking with the vet again, just to be sure.
Anyone have any tales to share of canine obsessiveness and/or dental damage? I’d love to read them!
*This is the main reason Eris is named after the trouble making Greek goddess.
smoredogs 
Boy, she really did get after that post. I hope it doesn’t cause any problems.
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Aside from the tooth she lost a couple of years later, nothing really!
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Our first German shepherd wore her incisors down all the way to the gumline. A combination of allergies and anxiety had her chewing her legs incessantly, and I didn’t figure it out until she needed root canals on all four canines.
Leo broke a tooth when he was a puppy, I’m not sure how. I JUST noticed last night that Mia has broken the same tooth! It’s the longer incisor just before the canine. Hers is ragged and broken pretty close to the surface. She’s a door chewer, so that could be why, but it’s disturbing. 😦
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The good news with incisors, and I’ve heard this from two different vets now, is that they aren’t very vital teeth and dogs can get along fine without them. This is good since Hershey seems to have a grudge against hers! I was also told at the most recent visit that dogs don’t need their teeth to mesh perfectly like humans do, which is good because if you think it’s hard for a kid to keep track of a retainer!
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Pippa has very bad teeth, but for her, it’s mostly due to malnutrition from the past. The vet had to remove 2 incisors and 1 fang 😦
I’m writing about it this very moment! Her story will be up on monday!
Have a great weekend!
Love x
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Before attacking the fence Hershey had perfect teeth, and for the most part her more important teeth are in perfect shape. I’m looking forward to reading about your experiences with Pippa’s teeth!
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