I've been told by a few different people that you should brush your horses teeth to prevent cavities, rotting, and such. But I also heard horses don't have enamal on their teeth like we do so they don't get cavities...is this true?
Also, why do horses teeth rot and how is it prevented? Does sweet feed have any affect on the teeth?
Hi,
Haven't read other replies so sorry if I repeat...
Never had any personal experience with rotting horse teeth, or with brushing them - that'd be a fun job!! But according to Equine dentists & nutritionists I've quizzed....
Yes, if horses are fed sweet or overly processed starchy feeds, their teeth can decay and regular brushing(I forget the method the dentist suggested) is a good idea to minimise damage. Lack of enamel doesn't make decay impossible, but actually more likely. Unprocessed hard grainy feed, and horses ingesting sand or such causes uneven wear on teeth and floating is generally needed more often. If horses are only fed healthy, high fibre, low sugar/starch feed, tooth decay is not generally a problem that needs to be dealt with.
As I'm a hoof care practitioner familiar with other problems of bad diets, I've never fed my horses 'junk food' anyway. I've only ever heard of the prob in one horse around here, & his owner would put molasses on everything, fed lots of grain & 'treats' and even put molasses in his water. Not surprisingly, this horse was also obese with terrible feet, and ended up diagnosed IR.