How to Feed Your Dog After Mouth or Jaw Surgery

Some of the most common forms of cancer in canines occur in the mouth and jaw. These cancers can often be deadly and are usually aggressive. If the cancerous growth in question is located on the bottom part of the jaw (the mandible), surgery can often be performed with positive results. Feeding your dog after the operation requires patience as the animal adjusts to learning how to eat all over again.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Buy the right food. Dry food is hard for the post-operative dog to get into it's mouth because it has yet to master using it's tongue to scoop food up. Eating out of a bowl is impossibile. The best option is a thick, and moldable dry food that can be rolled into meatballs.

2. Make meatballs. After opening your canned food, scoop the contents out onto a plate in tablespoon-sized portions and roll them into meatballs the size of golf balls. A standard can usually makes about 10 to 12 meatballs.

3. Feed the dog. Find a place in the house where you are not concerned about the flooring and can easily clean up. Access to a sink is a plus.

4. Taking a meatball in your hand, show the bite to your dog. Then gently place the bite under your pet' s snout. Keep it above the tongue. You might need to lightly push the meatball back into your pet's mouth. This will be messy, particularly at first, but it is vital to helping your pet re-learn how to eat and use his mouth.

5. After each meatball is eaten, wait a few seconds before feeding the next one. While most dogs swallow food with little chewing, your post-op pet may have trouble with food sticking to the roofs of it's mouth. A few extra chews are usually all it takes to clear this up.

6. After the meatballs are gone, give your dog a full bowl of water. In the months following this type of operation, your dog may experience difficulty scooping the water from the bowl into his smaller mouth. Keeping the water as close to full as possible will make access easier. Place a rug or thick towel under the bowl to catch splashes and run-offs.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient A dog's mouth is as vital to it as your hands are to you. Losing the use of its mouth, for even a short period, is both confusing and frightening.

Resources

• Bark Back News
• Scott Cavanagh

[periel8]

on 3/25/2009 Excellent advice for those dealing with this issue!Thanks!