Puppy teething - double fangs? - 5.5 months old - Page 2

Ummm...I would have NO idea what I am doing. Vet it is if they have to be extracted. I am going to spay her soon and that would likely be a good time. But I have contacted my breeder to find out when she should have her first heat but the breeder has not got back to me yet. West German showlines....what, maybe 8-9 months for their first heat?

Give her a good raw knuckle bone to chew or something to tug and you can wiggle the tooth manually for a few days. Afterwards, you csn easily remove it with a pair of needle nose pliers. Just yank it out in the direction that it grows. The pup will hardly feel a thing--and won't be traumatized. These retained, deciduous teeth have fairly shallow roots. Nine times out of ten, most vets will insist on anesthesia. The needle (or IV cather) used to inject the anesthetic induction agent is more uncomfortable for the pup than the procedure I've described above. As for spaying,I would wait until your bitch has acieved most of her skeletal growth (at ~18 months),

The pup had the primary teeth extracted, and then the canines were cut down to the length of the front teeth. Jordi’s canines would never have been in alignment. It caused ulcers in her mouth. Canine dentist informed us that this is genetic. Jordi was sold as a pet; clients loved her despite her teeth. Yes, for those wondering, we paid for half of her surgery. Kmaot photos on the way.

LMH- To answer your question Jordi was 5.5 months old.

I would say go to the vet and most likely they will have to be pulled. Pup has probably been chewing on things up to this point and if the baby teeth are still not they probably won't loosen soon. The first pup I didn't have the sense to check and the bottom canines were growing up towards the pallet and missing the canine groove entirely. After the pup teeth were pulled I pushed on the canines and they fell into place luckily! Next pup whose didn't fall out I had them pulled right off when the adult canines began to erupt.

I acutally just went through this with my 5 1/2 month old. He had double canines on the top. My vet pulled them and it was a good thing he did because they were not coming out on their own. I got them out early enough so that the bite won't be affected by it. I agree with everyone else go see your vet.

Hi Kmaot, The advise given on the teeth of your pup is as good as it gets. Furthermore you mentioned that you want to spay her. For me as a breeder i find it always sad to hear that a dog is spayed. Neverless, i bet you have your reasons for it. But there are a variety of reasons not to do it too early. One is you told us about medical problems in the past, that probably were medically treated. Meaning the dog is or was exposed to Medication, which always is a strain on the young dog. Better to wait till all that is flushed out of the organisiom. Second, when you spay to early, before the first heat took place, you take away hormons that are needed and the dog will not mature in the way nature would have taken place. Third, anästhesia in this young age is a risk that should not be taken lightly. This is an endover with a most uncertain outcome. I know it is done with succes, but i also know of cases were the dog died on the table. Best advice i can offer is, let your dog grow till she is about 18 month. The dog will be so much stronger to cope with the anästhesia plus she grew up in an hormonal normal way. Have in mind, that if you do spay her, there might be a change in her behavior, this happens. Eating habbits can change too, you will have to watch it. Hope this helps. Kind Regards Ulli Dresbach

Contrary to what most vets will tell you, it is really best to wait til growth plates have closed before spaying/neutering a dog... Hormones help develop secondary sex characteristics and I believe round out the dog totally.. growth plates are usually closed in large dogs by 14 months. So good to wait on that... I have had many puppies whose teeth were slow to fall out and again, I think sometimes we are too quick to "do something", because we have so much available to us.. like Louise said, natural chewing, a bit of light tug on a burlap or rope toy will help.. I know too many people who have had teeth filed because the bite was off as a puppy, and the vet told them their dog needed that and now they have cracking teeth and are having to remove canines, etc... we have to learn to sometimes let nature take its course.. if a dog's bite is gonna be off, it is gonna be off no matter what someone does!! Had a female many years ago, with a horrible 1/2 gap overbite... she was fine her whole life, could eat, tug, pick things up,bite just fine.. never did her teeth pierce the roof of her mouth. She had more tarter than most because they didn't clean naturally but I could help with that.. In a young puppy, a small ball that fits right into the space in its bottom jaw and is tugged ever so gently will help to move that bottom jaw a bit.. Just some experience from an old timer.....

Terrific advice from all. Thanks so very much. Ironically, one lower tooth has fallen out!!!! I swear, I jiggled it before I posted and it seemed solid. And now it is gone. I am VERY happy. So I will work on the other lower one with my hands for a bit and see if nature can take her course quickly. The breeder has gotten a hold of me. She had advised that it is usually the lowers that potentially cause the problems and that the lowers have to have a space to fit over the uppers. To be honest, I can't tell a darn thing right now. The little ice burgs that are her adult teeth seem to be be a fair bit UNDER and not OVER - hmmm...could that mean an undershot jaw? DKiah, the idea of the ball is interesting. Can that actually help to "pull" out her lower adult teeth if there are signs of being undershot?

CORRECTION - her teeth look OVERshot, not undershot. Her lower bite is not out far enough.