Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 5/10/2011

Question
My dog is a Blue Healer about 12 years old.   I don't get to see her much because she live on the farm wih my parents, they have sheep.   I had not seen her in almost 8 months, I work in a different town.  She developed a bad bacterial infection ("elephant like" skin, lack of energy & appitite, black gums, teeth seem to be disolving).  I feel terrable about her condition!  I crid when I saw her.  She's such a good dog!  She seemed to be suffering.
I took her to the Vet. The next day!  Our Vet. prescribed a steroid shot and antibiotic pills for at least three weeks.  She is improving greatly!  It has been one and a half weeks since we started treatment.  
Our Vet said she probably has an allergy to something in her environment which caused her to scratch and scratch until she developed a secondary bacterial infection.   It is noticably better with the antibiotic and her energy level has improved greatly as well!   Yea!

My main concern now is her teeth.   I read that older dogs often loose their front teeth with age.  Is this true?
Also, her other teeth appear to have enamel loss and may have sustained some damage from the bacterial infection as well; she scratches with her teeth.  I noticed a dark "cavity" type spot on one of her back teeth.  She eats dry dog food two times each day.  No table scraps except maybe meat or vegies occasionally.  No sweets.
What can I do for her teeth?   Is the dry dog food causing curbed damage?

Answer
Most likely, from what you are describing, your dog's teeth have been worn down by attrition. This is from them constantly chewing, chewing, chewing on their hair and skin. This is a common result from dogs with massive skin problems that go untreated for long periods of time.

Her skin condition sounded like a common flea/environment allergy and her chewing and itching is a direct result of that.

There is nothing that can be done for her teeth at this point except to maybe get her a good dental cleaning. Older dogs do NOT lose their front teeth with age except in cases like this or a rock chewing dog. My dog is 13 and a half and her teeth are like a 5 yr old dogs. My late dog Cameo had great teeth until she died at 16. So whatever you read is incorrect.

It's all about care. Most cats and dogs both have moderate to severe dental disease by the age of two if their owners do not brush their teeth.

Domestic dogs don't eat whole animals like wolves do. Eating a whole rabbit, for example, cleans a wolves teeth by them breaking the bones, chewing on sinew and eating the fur as well. That doesn't mean our dogs should be eating rabbits by any means, as they are not wolves and cannot digest them the same way, but it means that our domestic pets need our help with their teeth and dental care.

I don't understand what you mean by the dry dog food causing curbed damage, but just keep her on dry food and give her a few raw carrots daily and that will help with her teeth.

I am glad that she is feeling better. Get her on some good flea control like Sentinel and she will never have to go through this again.