As a small human, losing a tooth was a bit of an adventure. While I kinda took it for granted, I realised, about 13 years down the road that I'd never actually seen my dog's teeth when they dropped (well, we did get given a bag of teeth when he had a bunch extracted, but that's what inspired it).
So if they drop where do they go? I assume if they get swallowed they ought to come out the other end (but I've never seen that), or is there a difference between human and canid tooth replacement?
Cats and dogs will swallow their teeth, if you're lucky you may see it on the floor or fall out from playing with toys. By 6 months of age, most if not all baby teeth should have fallen out.
Some dogs will have retained baby teeth, this is where the animals adult teeth grow at an area that is next to the deciduous tooth. If not removed you get more tartar and debris build up in between the teeth, which can cause some complications (gingivitis, infection etc.). This is normally seen in small brachycephalics or dogs with narrow mouths.
It is not very common in cats.
I'm going to have to look into this and get back to you on Monday, my thoughts are no - they should come out the other end. I figure the reason why you don't notice teeth in feces is because no one thoroughly digs through dog poo.
After discussing with the DVM at my hospital he has told me that the crown of the tooth will be mostly undigested.
For our puppy, on many occasions we would hear her crunch them in her mouth (literally chewing on them) after they fell out. She would eat them but due to the crunching/chewing (they would be quite small), you might not visually see them "out the other end".
Other times she would lose them in toys and out in the backyard (where you'd have a hard time finding them as well).
I was told by the Vet that dogs do not generally experience pain or trauma from losing teeth like humans do. They might bleed a little but they carry on as if nothing happened.
