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People love to give their pets treats and toys to chew on. But did you know that many of the "toys" we employ including cow hooves, bones and some hard nylon products can frequently lead to fractured teeth? The enamel that covers the tooth is the hardest substance in the body, but the shape of the teeth, in particular the 4th upper premolar and sometimes the canines, can predispose them to fracture when they bite down on a hard substance.
Cow hooves are extremely strong, after all they support thousands of pounds of cow and they are big enough to fit across the mouth. When the pointy 4th premolar comes down on the hoof, it frequently develops a slab fracture as seen in the photo above. Once fractured, the tooth will invariably become infected by bacteria. Because the root of the tooth lives right under the eye, it is common to see draining tracts develop below the eye as a result.

Summer invariably brings more bite wounds through our doors primarily because people are out and about with their pets more in the summer and the risk of exposure to other pets is greater. After the fight, it is not uncommon for owners to clean their pets wounds and find only a small puncture wound on their pet. They will frequently be found around the head and neck, on the limbs or near the lower spinal area. Often times, people mistakenly think that the wound is just a small puncture and assume it will heal on its own.
Unfortunately, when dog's bite one and other, or other animals, their sharp canines will puncture the skin and then, once they bite down, they will gnaw on the tissues below. As the teeth penetrate the skin, they drag dirt, and fur beneath the surface of the skin along with the massive amounts of bacteria from their mouths. In most cases, if left untreated, these wounds will go on to fester into large draining abscesses. Moreover, it is not uncommon for the teeth to damage structures under the skin and even puncture into a body cavity during the fight.
We encourage you to bring in any pet who has been in a fight in order to determine the true exent of the disease before there are serious complications. Click on the link below for more details.

Ashley is a 100 pound, 4 year old Yellow Lab who presented to us with a sudden onset of lameness in the right shoulder. According to her owner, there was no distinctive incident which brought on the lameness. There had been no recent travel history, and there were no other pets in the yard with Ashley and she had no previous history of lameness in this or any other leg. Ashley's owner was unable to find the source of the pain in the leg, but thought that it might be in the foot.
On physical exam, Ashley was in good spriits, bouncing around the exam room as most labs do. She had no other physical problems except that she was about 10 pounds too heavy (another common problem among labs). She was obviously lame on her right front limb. When examining a pet for lameness, we typically place a muzzle on the pet to prevent accidental bites when the sore point is manipulated. Once the pet is safely restrained, we examine each joint of the foot for pain or swelling. We check the pads and toes for foreign bodies (such as foxtails, glass, metal or wood). We move up the limb feeling the bones and joints one by one until we find the painful area.
In Ashley's case, the pain was not obvious until we reached the shoulder region. Once we knew which part of the body was affected, we sedated Ashley to take radiographs (x-rays) of the affected area. Click on the link below to find out what we found!