WARNING: Knuckle bones are NOT safe!
Well don't I feel like an idiot. I've been on here for months telling people who ask dental questions what to do about their dogs tartar, etc. to give raw knuckle bones because they won't break teeth. I was told this in my veterinary dentistry class and have been feeding raw knuckle bones for almost a year now with no problems.....until last night. I gave Franklin and Truck a knuckle bone bc Truck has horrible teeth and I use them to keep Franklin's teeth clean. Well last night he broke his tooth on a knuckle bone. Of course Franklin is one of those dogs that if it can happen it WILL happen, so I've always been SUPER careful of what I give him (food, toys, etc). Now I am faced with a vet bill of around $1000 to get the tooth pulled and I am currently an unemployed student. Not a good combination. Not really sure what I am going to do, I do have Care Credit but the hospital only offers 3 months no interest and then interest jumps to something like 29% so I may just have to charge the whole thing on a credit card or something. Augh, really bad timing for this because teeth are the ONE thing they can't fix for almost free at my school. The Dr.s at my school are so good and can do most anything, but of course not this type of extraction because it is very difficult. Having a small panic attack now to figure out how I am going to pay for this. But just wanted to put it out there DO NOT FEED BONES! I was always told knuckle bones are softer than weight bearing bones so they won't break teeth and that seemed to be true, but not anymore. Now I may have to resort to actually brushing teeth :-(
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
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Oh wow, I'm so sorry to hear that this happened. :( Now I'm nervous about giving my two any bones, even antlers. I could handle it if one of them broke a tooth, but with my luck they would both break one at the same time.
Is there anything you can clear out of the house and sell on craigslist or at a garage sale to help cover even a little bit of the cost? I know it's rough when you're a student (I was there, myself, for 5 years and was unemployed for 3 of those years), but maybe you can get family to loan you some money, too? That way you can pay back a bit at a time with little or no interest.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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My parents are basically supporting me at this point, so it feels weird to ask for even more money, but if it comes to that, I will definitely ask for a loan. I am going to talk to the hospital manager about their Care Credit policy and see if I can get the 6 months or 12 months no interest vs the normal 3 months they offer. It is a VCA hospital, which means its a HUGE corporation so it would be really bad business on their part to refuse a longer no interest plan, which would cost pennies to them, vs have me go elsewhere (not that I really can go elsewhere but they don't know that lol!). They already screwed up twice, they didn't draw the blood for his pre-op panel and they didn't give him an antibiotic injection like they said they would yesterday. So I am going to call today and see what I can work out.
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Permalink Reply by Lois B. Allen on
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The Cardi that I had was dog aggressive and fought other dogs through the chain link fence and I was always having to have teeth pulled because she had damaged them fighting but nothing like what has happened to you. I think you are in a high rent district. Do your parents live in another place, you might want to visit in an area that might be less expensive. It would almost pay for a trip somewhere. Almost any place but CA would be better. I have always gotten the large beef joint bones that have been cooked. The dogs are mostly chewing on soft cartilage and it goes almost too fast, but I thought you were to always used cooked bones. also.
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the beef joint bones are knuckle bones (I think). I was always told not to get cooked (smoked) because they make them harder than when they are raw so that's why I fed them raw cut into large chunks by the butcher. I don't know what happened with this one, because I've been feeding them FOREVER, once a week, and have never ever ever had a problem. If I wasn't worried about infection I would go to where my parents live and get it done. Its likely to be cheaper there since its a small town and it seems like things are a lot cheaper over there. I called the vet today and asked about a few charges I don't agree with/don't understand. It has really helped that I have worked as a tech so there are several things in the estimate that just don't make sense to me. Only problem with going to my parents is that the only time I could go would be a Friday and I don't know if their vet does surgeries on Fridays. I'm just going to wait and see what the new estimate looks like.
I talked to a friend who's dog also broke this tooth and she said they were able to just drill it to pieces and remove it. :-( Franklin fractured it in a way that the tooth is still pretty much whole except for a large slab missing. My luck.
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Permalink Reply by Cindi & Twinkie on
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I hate that you are having to go through this. There certainly is a case for higher vet costs around the country. My mother about dies when I tell what I pay for certain procedures. She uses a vet in the middle of Kansas and the partner there is a LARGE animal vet. Very different than suburban Atlanta. Pricey! Have you considered asking CorgiAid? Maybe they could do a ChipIn fund or call your vet and ask for a break. I have been fortunate enough to never have to ask them for anything but I am blown away by what they do. Twinkie and I are frequent donors. Good luck! PS-What about a vet school around you?
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Thank you for the advice. I have contacted Paige and CorgiPals (CorgiAid is for rescues only). I too have been a frequent donor and never thought that I would have to ask for help. I actually live about 1/2 hour from UC Davis, but being one of the top vet schools in the country they are generally MUCH more expensive than normal vets and you want to stay as far away as you can unless you have a very unique case that requires their specialists. They are also very hard to get into. A couple of the vets I called on Saturday had waiting lists until early February, so I can't imagine how long I'd have to wait to get into Davis. In October 2010 I had to take Franklin to an internal medicine specialist to do an endoscopy and some muscle biopsies and I couldn't even get a human on the line at Davis (you almost need a vet to call and make the appointment for you), so I had to do a big search for one of only about 3 or 4 vets that have these specialists. Thanks for the idea about CorgiPals though!!
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Permalink Reply by Ellen Andersen on
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Let us know if you get a CorgiPals thing (or something like that) set up, Melissa.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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12/12/12 Al has a fractured carnasial tooth, probably from the beef bones I love to buy them.
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For years, I have bought beef joint bones for my dogs. I thought/hoped they were safe but Reese has nearly worn her front lower teeth to the gums. With all of the dangerous things from China, what is safe to give them that lasts more than 2 minutes. They are delighted with those big bones and I hate not to give them to the dogs.
My sympathies John. We are all guilty and have sinned.
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Lois, I have found that American made rawhide retriever rolls seem to last a long time with Franklin. They are rolled pieces of rawhide and are very thick so he can chew chew chew to his hearts content and generally only get through 1/4 to 1/2 the chew depending on the length with several hours of chewing. I used to buy the retriever rolls from Costco (not american made) and it wasn't one big rolled sheet so he could tear chunks off of them and then never lasted very long. My vets are all for rawhides as long as the dogs don't swallow big pieces (which Frank doesn't) because they get nice and soft from the dog's saliva. I'd try one of them, the American made ones are more expensive but I have seen a difference between them and the ones made in other countries.
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Thanks Melissa, I will look for something that is thick and tightly rolled. Reese is bad for swollowing large chunks of rawhide and sometimes throwing them back up with difficulty so I have only been giving them the tied chews that are neither too small or large. Randy loves to chew and chews frequently and more slowly but Reese had been hungry before I adopted her and she will gulp any thing she can including toy pieces.
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Permalink Reply by Cathie on
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Not endorsing anything here, just providing links to information that I found useful.
1.Very detailed article with pictures, sources for rawhide chews.
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/12_5/features/Best-Rawhide-...
2. Article about compressed rawhide bones:
http://www.dog-bones.com/pressed_rawhide_bones.html
I'm so glad to have all this information before getting our new puppy!
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