Puppy Teething

[aussielover]

Mindy is 5 months old and I am sure she is losing her baby teeth- she now has all the adult incisors and yesterday one of the molars/premolars fell out while she was playing tug with another dog.

I have two questions:

1. Is this when puppies chew the most?

I have not noticed her needing to chew more than usual. If anything, the chewing has decreased since we brought her home at 8 weeks old. She also mouths a lot less.

She is given opportunity to chew on her toys throughout the day and receives a bone or pigs ear or dried roo meat to chew on 1-2 times per day and also has some rawhide chews available. She hasn't even destroyed one toy, which i am a bit disappointed by LOL- need an excuse to buy her more toys!

Perhaps she is just naturally not a chewer. We were warned that lab puppies were very bad chewers and could eat through furniture, walls, tyres etc but she has not even shown any inclination to rip up anything, even socks and shoes.

2. Her breath smells revolting.

It has gotten worse in the last few weeks. I have checked her mouth and there are no indications of infection or anything. Does anyone know why the breath smells yucky while they are teething. Could it be because she is now receiving raw bones more frequently?

Can you do anything about the bad breath? I don't really want to do so far as brushing her teeth or anything like that though.

I hope it will pass becuase i don't enjoy receiving stinky breath kisses. Well i like getting kisses but would prefer if they were not stinky lol.

[persephone]

In my experience, many pups teethe without obvious discomfort /extra chewing , etc.

Just make sure she has lots of bones to chew

The breath? Must admit to never noticing, as dogs' faces are not allowed near mine

I could imagine a blood smell.. but there shouldn't be a rotten/yuk smell? If you say she has an upset tummy- maybe the breath is a part of that? Or maybe she has teeth which are not falling out quickly/hollows in her gum which are retaining food scraps?

Lots of chicken frames etc to clean her mouth :D..and contact the vet if it gets worse .Tonsilitis can also do it- but she would probably show other symptoms ...

[Tokkie]

2. Her breath smells revolting.

Lol.... you are not alone, Nandi is 5 months old, teething and her breath stinks!!!!

I .... googled it and goole says it is normal for teething puppies to have stinky breath....

Google

This also happens when your puppy is teething. The main reason for your puppy to have bad breath at this time is a build up in bacterial count in their mouths. There is inflammation, some blood and serum leakage from the gums, proteins in the drool. These are great feeding and breeding grounds for halitosis causing bacteria. You may even notice a little blood smell.

Edited August 28, 2010 by Tokkie

[Genabee]

Try giving her frozen carrots to munch on. I have found that to help a bit with the bad breath...

[Nekhbet]

yup give frozen bones to chew too they help sooth the gums.

I wouldnt be allowing tug of war while teething for 2 reasons, they can rip out teeth or cause themselves immense pain and shy off toys. Working canines are recommended to stop tug during this period for these reasons.

[lilli_star]

Lots of chicken frames etc to clean her mouth ..and contact the vet if it gets worse .Tonsilitis can also do it- but she would probably show other symptoms ...

Not completely on topic but- Can dogs get tonsillitis? How do they get it? I've never heard of that before. I still suffer from tonsillitis at least once a year (working with kids and their germs is such fun!) and it's horrible to have as an adult human, I can't imagine what it would be like for a dog!

[Nahla + Teddy's Mum]

Try giving her frozen carrots to munch on. I have found that to help a bit with the bad breath... ;)

We gave our 2 frozen carrots and their faeces were orange for the next 2 days Gave me a fright when I went out to clean up then remembered we had given them the carrots!! Nahla has a rope toy which she is currently chewing on like crazy so we put that in the freezer and she loved it even more! Must of been soothing on her sore gums...we also bought dentasticks from our vet which got rid of the bad breathe.

[koalathebear]

We gave our 2 frozen carrots and their faeces were orange for the next 2 days Gave me a fright when I went out to clean up then remembered we had given them the carrots!!

;) That's hilarious! We had a similar experience after Elbie started eating lamb flaps. I knew that some dogs that have a raw diet end up with chalky white poos but Elbie only eats lamb flaps every now and then so we weren't expecting the chalky whites. My husband came in one day after his turn at poo picking and said: "Some of Elbie's poos are all white and look like they've been there for years!" It took us a while to realise that it was the lamb flap aftermath. ;)

[Miranda]

Not completely on topic but- Can dogs get tonsillitis?

Yes they can and it often becomes a chronic condition. I've had a couple of dogs undergo a tonsillectomy and the improvement in their health following surgery was amazing.