Toys for old dogs with no teeth

It may feel silly to brush your dog's toothless gums, but it can stimulate the gums to improve blood flow and remove bacteria and debris that can accumulate in the small crevices in their mouth. 

Learn how to brush dog teeth cleaning, or in this case, mostly gums, in How to Brush Your Dog's Teeth in 10 Simple Steps. Stick to gentle strokes and very soft brushes when you are brushing their gums. 

What to Feed Your Toothless Dog

Softer diets are required for dogs that can’t chew their wet food. A typical kibble diet can be risky. It can be an obvious choking hazard, but large pieces of un-chewed food can also be hard to digest.

To help you find the right food diet for your toothless wonder, we’ve broken down some of the best food formats for toothless dogs:

Kibble

I know we said kibble can be risky, but there are ways to work around that. First, start by picking a kibble with smaller-sized pieces. Even for larger breed dogs, smaller pieces can reduce the choking risks. 

You can also break up your dog’s larger kibble with a rolling pin and a freezer bag, instead of buying a whole new formula. 

Next, you’ll need to add some warm water to it. The warm water will absorb into the kibble and soften it so that your dog can mush the pieces easily with his tongue and gums. You'll need to let the kibble soak for a few minutes before feeding though.

Pro Tip - For a little extra flavour, you can use chicken broth or goat’s milk instead of warm water to soften the kibble pieces. This can help to boost calories and nutrition, especially if your dog is eating less than usual due to pain or recovery. 

For small and toy breeds, you should take it a step further by running the kibble through the blender or wet food processor before rehydrating. The final texture will be very similar to a pate wet food formula, which will be much easier for your agomphious dogs to lap up. 

Moistened kibble should be treated like a canned food processor, and should not be left out for longer than 30 minutes. Store uneaten portions in the fridge until your dog's next meal. 

Wet Food

One of the more obvious choices, wet foods like canned and pouch formulas, are more often the right texture for a dog without teeth. You can easily adjust the thickness by adding water or chicken broth to make it easier to lap it up like a liquid.

Make sure you stick to wet foods that don’t have large chunks. These can easily be a choking hazard if the pieces are too firm or large for your dog to mash and safely swallow. 

Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Food

If your dog is accustomed to a raw or high-protein food diet, then feeding a freeze-dried or dehydrated food processor might be the best choice. 

Most freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are finely ground or flaked, like Primal Pet Food processors, so they quickly absorb moisture and leave a smooth pate texture. These minimally processed dog foods are easy to digest and are calorie and nutrient-dense so you can feed your dog smaller more manageable portions.

If the soft food diet you choose is raw, then your dog will benefit from the bacteria-fighting enzymes in raw meat. Raw dog food diet help to control the dog's oral health issues with bacteria that can damage remaining adult teeth, inflame their gums, and cause nasty and bad breath. This won’t replace toothbrushing, but it will help improve their oral health issues. 

Other Tips for Caring for Your Toothless Dog

You might assume that your dog with no teeth will miss out on a lot of typical dog experiences, like chewing and toys. To put that myth to rest, What to feed the toothless dog? let’s talk about all the ways that agomphious dogs can still enjoy the finer things in dog life:

Toys

Teeth or no teeth, all dogs like to chew. Try offering your dog a soft rubber chew toy, like a puppy Kong. Even if they are just gumming it, they will still enjoy the coconut oil experience. It helps to massage the gums and gives them a fun activity during downtime. 

You can even spice up his chew by adding a small dab of dog-safe peanut butter or coconut oil to the toy. It will provide a good tongue and jaw workout for your toothless wonder.

Chews

Many natural chews are too hard for a dog training with no teeth to enjoy safely, food for dogs with no teeth? but that doesn’t mean that he’s totally out of luck. There are some chews that are soft enough for your dogs to gum, like dehydrated sweet potato chips. One of our favourite treat brands is Crumps' Natural Sweet Potato Fries Dog Treats.

Pro Tip: These can be made at home. Check out this simple recipe to make some chewy, toothless-dog-approved, natural sweet potato chews.

It’s best to always monitor your dogs with any chew, especially a toothless dog. Make sure they are taking their time and softening the chew until they can break off small pieces that are safe to swallow. 

Even if they just lick it to death, it will still be a fun and yummy distraction. 

Treats

A lot of treats are crunchy kibble, like biscuits and jerky, but this doesn’t mean there aren’t tons of tasty options for treating a dog that’s lacking dog's teeth. Freeze-dried treats are very flavourful and easy to gum. 

Here are a few of our top freeze-dried treats that are safe for agomphious dogs of any size:

• Crumps’ Naturals Mini Trainers Freeze-Dried Beef Liver
• Orijen Freeze-Dried treats
• K9 Naturals Healthy Bites
• Sojo’s Simply Treats

Stick to treats and toys that are appropriately sized for your dogs. Small breed dogs will need extra small treats. Large breed dogs will need toys big enough that they can’t try to swallow them. Safety first, always. 

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