1836 Tooth of the Dog

Yesterday I did a commentary about the big growth in pet funeral parlors and it lead me in a couple of directions I hadn't expected.
First, if people are now lavishing so many people-like things like fancy funerals on their pets, where's the limit? There are also now spas for pets, including not just petty pedicures but pet massages as well. What's next? Pet cosmetic dentistry? Then it hit me, why don't we see more doggy orthodontia?
And that led me to this epiphanic query---Why don't animals need more orthodontia generally? And its corollary---Why is it that only humans have such bad teeth and need it?
Kind of odd when you think about it. That the human species is the only one which suffers from bad teeth. Was that the trade-off for our big brains? Like birds traded off hands for wings, we had to give up a perfect bite so we could do advanced physics?
Something to think about with that big brain of yours next time you're in the dentist chair.
The other direction my pet funeral research led me was to potatoes. I was looking up the word "procession" to confirm it was used as both a word the meant moving ahead and also what they call the chain of cars in a funeral, and my auto-complete Google function completed the term "funeral procession" to "funeral potatoes."
Yep, funeral potatoes. Turns out it's a Mormon dish, prepared for their equivalent of wakes. It's made with hashbrown potatoes, cream soup, sour cream, and cheese, topped with crushed potato chips and more cheese and cooked as a casserole.
Rich enough to not just celebrate a funeral, but cause a few of its own.
But easy to chew, and pets love it too.
America, ya gotta love it.