An Oklahoma woman said a Great Dane she had adopted earlier this year had 70 teeth, about 28 more teeth than normal.
When a veterinarian looked inside the animal’s mouth, she discovered the dog had significantly more teeth than normal.
The medic took about 21 of the teeth out, which cost her about $770.
“I had taken him to our local vet as a routine checkup since he was a new rescue and mentioned to the doctor that the people we got him from mentioned that he may have retained baby teeth,” Rutledge said.
“Loki is a giant puppy and is very energetic—so I hadn’t had a chance to look inside his mouth myself beforehand,” she added. “When we did get a chance to have a little look we could see he had more than normal, but we didn’t think he'd have 70 teeth in there!”
The dog now has 49 teeth, which is still seven more than usual.
“It was something that massively shocked us, but we’re just so glad that he is home and recovering now,” the owner said.
Loki is now on a strict, soft-food diet as it recovers, the Mail reported.
Rutledge, who is a parent to three children, said the extra teeth might be “a result of poor breeding.”
“The rescue we got him from is working hard to track down his breeder to hopefully stop something as painful as this happening again,” she said.
She said that rescuing animals can be expensive.
It adds: “Developmental abnormalities of teeth, albeit uncommon in general veterinary practice, are seen with higher frequency in the dental referral clinic. Understanding these abnormalities is important for optimal management in order to maintain masticatory function through preservation of the dentition, while improvement of the clinical appearance should be of secondary importance.”
