Q: Baxter, my 5-year-old retriever mix, broke a tooth while gnawing on a bone. The veterinarian extracted the fractured tooth and remarked that Baxter’s enamel was badly worn, probably from chewing on tennis balls. Can you suggest some safe chew toys?
A: The nylon fuzz on tennis balls damages enamel two ways: it’s abrasive, even when clean, and it picks up dirt that acts like sandpaper on teeth.
For that reason, I gave our golden retriever ball-hound, Sam, smooth racquetball balls, but he chewed them to bits and swallowed the pieces.
Fortunately, he threw them up, so I didn’t have to surgically remove them. But that was the end of his racquetball fun—and a lesson for us all….