bully stick alternative

terrirat1

Hi,
I have always given my dogs large diameter 36" bully sticks, never a problem till now.
My rat terrier has had 3 broken teeth and one missing, 2 were to the pulp and pulled last month, he's accident prone because he gets too wild and runs into things.
It is possible that 2 of the teeth were broken because of bully sticks, upper and lower carnassials one on each side.
He appears to use more bite pressure than my other dogs and he has smaller more pointy teeth.
He's a beast when playing tug o war and the other dogs let go often when playing with him and he puts holes in toys with squeakers in seconds, I think either tug o war was responsible for the missing front tooth or one of his head on collisions.
He's been chewing the bully sticks since a puppy and never broke the puppy teeth, but maybe he didn't use as much pressure when he was younger, or this has nothing to do with bully sticks and the teeth were broken fence fighting or by one of his numerous accidents.
But I since I don't know I would like to buy him some other type of chew stick.
Something softer?
Any advice?
Thank you so much!
Terri

fawkese1

that is strange... most dogs teeth are pretty strong, they have to be since they use them so much... tho i have seen broken and missing teeth, usually tho those are dogs that aren't given good stuff to chew and all that or some sort of trauma...what did your vet suggest the cause was? just curious...

kong toys are good for the teeth and quite a bit softer then bully sticks... you can stuff them and freeze them too, they come in all sorts of sizes and strengths as well...

oh and welcome to the forum btw...

Mikey

Bully sticks (bull penis's- I know...) are considered THE safest dog chew around as they are fully digestable and natural. If the dog does not tolerate bullysticks there is not much he'll tolerate.

I'd suggest 'moozles' as they are cow muzzles-they are soft and easy-but the dogs make quick work of them-3$ in 1 minute is not good economy You can also go for chew stips-easy chew rawhides in small strips-other then that your stuck.

However-with teeth falling out-unless they are baby teeth-that's not right and it's vet time asap=very important to see the vet.

terrirat1

The dentist I took him to said that anything hard can break off teeth.
Didn't think the fence fighting was likely since the teeth are so far back in the mouth.
That was last summer when he doing the fence biting.
I saw that 2 carnassials were broken and checked with flashlight to make sure not down to pulp, don't know if they were already broken before the fence biting because I had not looked carefully since he was maybe 2 years old.
He was playing tug and hit a landscape block and broke a canine tooth.
Possibly broke the lower carnassial further down at that time?
Didn't look at it till I went to vet a couple days later and it was a fresh break I was told because the pulp was pink.
I went to a dentist a week later but decided to just pull the teeth by my regular vet since root canal on 2 teeth is a lot of money and long time under anesthesia.
He won't chew on rubber, I have tried kongs.
I can try soaking the bully sticks first and get the thin ones.
He is 4 years old and has puppy breath until the one tooth got infected a few days before the teeth extractions.
Thank you,
Terri

Mikey

Bully sticks should never break teeth-come to say it-neither should ANY rawhide or bones-seriously that's like your teeth falling out eating a big mac

I'd find another vet-this (teeth falling out) is not ok

terrirat1

Well, those dentists think that anything can break teeth I guess.
My regular vet says that he doesn't know why.
His dog has a broken carnassial also and he doesn't know how it happened.
Maybe my dog just has weak brittle teeth for a dog, sad thing, he is crazy for
chew sticks.
Yesterday was the first time I gave him a bully stick and I sat there in terror
the whole time worrying that he was chewing too hard, so I took it away after only 10 minutes, boy he was upset, the other 2 dogs don't care too much, they can take it or leave it.
I just now found a chew stick to try called stuffed gullets.
Thank you,
Terri

Mikey

Well I guess if your vet says it's normal for teeth to fall out of his mouth then that's fine. I'm telling you in my experience it's not. Not sure why you asked if your certaint that's normal. If your dog's teeth are falling out chewing a bully stick there are severe problems imho-but what can I say if your sure he's fine?

terrirat1

what do you mean falling out?
I never wrote that any of his teeth fell out, they break.

Mikey

Falling out broken out?

Criosphynx

I have a dog with many broken teeth also. Does your dog chew on tennis balls? Thats usually the main culprit.... I find it really strange that bully sticks would break teeth. I think hes likely breaking them other ways you know?

Welcome to the forum btw I would love to see pictures