How to Determine What to Do if Your Dog Lost a Tooth
When your canine friend loses a tooth, its important to follow these steps. Remember, your dog's health depends on you! The picture shown is of my 10 year old poodle's tooth.
Instructions
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Find the tooth. Pick up the canine tooth with a paper towel, not your hands. The tooth may contain harmful bacteria.
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Do not wash the tooth with soap and water or anything else. Your veterinarian will want to know if there was any blood on the tooth or if it came out clean.
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Put the tooth in a sealed plastic bag for safe keeping and transportation if need be to the veterinarian's office. Saving the tooth helps the doctor make a diagnosis.
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Take a digital picture of your dog's tooth and of his or her mouth. It may be difficult to take a picture of your dog's mouth. If your dog is in pain, leave the dog alone so you do not get bit. Even the best dogs bite when they are hurt.
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If your veterinarian is high-tech, he or she may be able to answer your questions through email pictures without ever visiting the office. How did we ever live without our digital cameras and computers?
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If any part of the tooth has broken off inside the mouth, your dog will need to be seen by the veterinarian. A piece left inside the dogs mouth may cause a terrible abscess infection that will make your dog very sick and possibly cause death.
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Sometimes a dog's tooth falls out eating hard dog food, rocks and other hard substances. Did your dog bite something hard to cause the tooth to fall out? This type of tooth loss to a young healthy dog may actually cause a piece to be left behind.
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If the tooth came out entirely clean of blood or anything else and the tooth is entirely intact, your dog will probably be just fine. This type of tooth loss is fairly common in old dogs. It does not mean you should not call your veterinarian.
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Puppies loose milk teeth. This is perfectly normal and natural. If your dog is a puppy, get use to the idea of stepping on those tiny little teeth all over your house until they all fall out. It might be a good time to invest in some really good slippers.
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If your doctor was able to help you with pictures over the computer, chances are your credit card will never be charged! Just another great thing about computers!
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- Photo Credit My own collection
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Comments
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What would I do without the internet? Thank-You so much. My 15 Year-Old Dog thanks you as well.
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elyria
Feb 05, 2009
Gread advice! When I got my puppy I had no idea they loose their milk teeth, so when the puppy come over and spit her first milk tooth on my palm, I was in panic. Thank you for sharing this helpful information!
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Sheryl Maiorano
Feb 04, 2009
Great information. I had a dog in rescue that had severely chip a tooth on a large femur bone. He developed a really bad abcess and had to be treated with antibiotics for quite a while. Eventually the tooth will need to be pulled, the new owner is aware and putting money aside for the task.
