Teething Tales

Airlie's teeth seem to be bothering her more than teething ever bothered the other two dogs. I remember Leo lick, lick, licking at his upper canines, wiggling them with his tongue, licking the blood away, til they would just fall out. I remember marveling at how big puppy canines were, and wondering about the future adult-sized ones!

I don't remember Kansas losing teeth at all, though I'm sure I at least noticed the gaps where missing baby teeth had been. She and Jax spent all day every day in Mom & Dad's backyard together while I was at work, so I wasn't around to see a lot of this.

I've been reading up on puppy teething ages and schedules. I've learned a lot. Airlie seems to be right on track. losing her upper and lower incisors at about the 20-week mark. One day there were just 3 empty spaces, two days later she'd lost most of the lower incisors and the new ones were already half grown in. By the end of the week, she had a full new set of incisors on both the top and bottom.

Earlier this past week, she lost her first canine tooth. She'd been playing really roughly with Kansas over the weekend, crashing into the corner of the brick wall on the house at one point, the side of her face making contact. DH and I both witnessed it and winced, but she seemed unfazed. Tuesday I noticed traces of blood on anything she'd been chewing, and had also seen her pawing at her jaw that day, so I decided to take a look, fearing the worst. I wasn't really sure if she was done losing/growing teeth or not, since I'd kind of forgotten to pay attention. I knew about the incisors, of course, those are easy to see. I knew about the upper canines, thanks to raising Leo, and was keeping an eye on those, but I had no idea if she'd lost the lower canines yet or not, and because I never paid attention to any teeth I couldn't see, I really couldn't tell you anything about premolars, molars, missing deciduous premolars, adult molars...

Airlie, for a puppy still in the mouthing phase, sure struggles a lot if a human WANTS to put their hands in her mouth. Funny, the rest of the time you can hardly keep her mouth off of your hands.. or arms, etc... I managed to hold her still and pry her mouth open long enough to note the lower left canine was loose when WHACK! She gave one final smack at her own face with a paw, and sent that tooth flying across the kitchen. I grabbed it before she could eat it (like she wanted to, and Leo did this, too), and inspected the hollow base, deciding it was, indeed, a baby tooth and that there were no roots present. I set it aside for DH to see, just in case and because I wanted a second opinion. God forbid she'd actually broken a tooth (or several) when she crashed into the wall.

I felt bad about the way her bottom lip quickly rolled into the gap left by the tooth, nothing to hold it back. I was sure chewing on that or accidentally biting it was going to be uncomfortable. There seemed to be a good-sized lump where the baby canine had been, so I was hoping for an adult one to make an appearance soon. It hasn't arrived yet, but the erupting lump is bigger, and the lip in that area is red from being on the inside of Airlie's mouth, rather than the outside. It doesn't seem to be bothering her, but it looks uncomfortable. She's not chewing any more than usual, though she does seem to prefer soft things to chew, rather than hard ones. She's still eating sticks and mulch, though I don't see how that is going to be very helpful. When she does chew on her hard toys, she has this funny habit of wrapping them in her blanket first. It's cute and clever, but I don't really want her in the habit of chewing her blanket. Also, she mostly chews with the incisors, instead of chewing with the parts of her mouth where teeth need to come out or grow in.

Today, while performing the routine inspection of her mouth and teeth (which has yet to get any easier) I noticed something I wasn't sure whether was odd or not. It prompted me to get out my canine medical books, which prompted me to write this post. Airlie's upper molars and adult premolars (puppies don't have molars, just premolars) are growing in behind her puppy premolars. She has two rows of teeth on both sides of her upper jaw. Both sides are surrounded by swollen, pink flesh, little islands the length and width of my thumbs on either sides of her face, erupting bloody, white peaks. I assumed this was normal, since it was symmetrical, and I figured once the baby teeth fell out the adult teeth would shift over on their own, but I emailed a breeder friend of mine for confirmation. She concurred and said the canines are really the ones to watch, because although they do fall out, it takes a very long time, and while it also takes a very long time for the new ones to grow in, she has had an experience in the past with a female puppy's lower canines coming in too far back in the jaw, because she wasn't paying attention and didn't pull the puppy ones soon enough and the adult teeth fused to the bone before they could move forward into their rightful places.

Baby puppy teeth can be pulled at any time, since the roots reabsorb back into the gums. I'm not expecting to have to do this, though. Actually, I do think I pulled Leo's second loose canine, way back when, because his constant licking at it was annoying me and it was just dangling right there. I just reached in and grabbed it. I'm sure there's a blog post about it somewhere on his page...

So, we just wait- even though it looks like Airlie has teeth growing right out of the roof of her mouth.

It also looks very painful, though she's not complaining and it hasn't slowed her down any. I am going to do one thing I've never done but have often suggested. I soaked an old dish cloth, tied it in a knot and put it in the freezer. I never tried it before because the other two didn't seem to need it and also because someone mentioned that giving your dog some cloth things to chew on prompts them to think chewing on any cloth things is ok. I'm not quite sure about this, since they are able to distinguish between plush toys and clothing, eventually... but since she's already shown a penchant for grabbing dish towels and chewing holes in them, pulling the towels out of the cats' crates and chewing those, etc... do I really want to give her a towel to chew? I suppose as long as I am dilligent with showing her what she can/can't have, it shouldn't be a problem.

At this point, the knotted towel is done freezing and she seems to be enjoying it.

One Hit Wonders

- Fetching one toy and bringing it back in her mouth while shoving another toward me with her nose.

- Standing in front of Tess, trying to herd her "toward" the back door, until I finally told her to go around behind Tess, at which time she goosed Tess in the butt and got her moving in the right direction.

- That flying leap she took, landing in my lap while I sat at the computer.

New Heights

She just hopped right up there last night. Now her new favorite thing is to jump from one chair to the other.

New Privileges

Getting the hang of sleeping on her pillow when we're watching TV, instead of being entertained with toys or crated.

Pardon Mom's Bedraggled Post-gym Appearance...

Since the last update, I have lost all of my front bottom teeth, have the two adult teeth front and center growing in nicely and seem to be missing a few more upper teeth- not that I'm sitting still long enough for anyone to see very well.

Milestones

When we got her, at 12 weeks old, Airlie weighed 12.8lbs.

At her vet visit (one month ago this coming Saturday), she weighed 14.9lbs.

Today we weighed her on DH's certified wrestling scale- she's a whopping 18.6lbs!

Also, Airlie has lost two of her puppy teeth, one on top, one on the bottom (opposite the top one). I kind of forgot to keep an eye out for this, and only noticed today, when we were playing Frisbee (finally, after a week of cold, wet and no sun). I thought I saw one missing. Further inspection showed the second, newer empty space. I think she may have lost one more before this, because there's a little stump of tooth poking out in an odd spot...like it came in in front of a baby tooth and still needs to move back into it's proper place.

Last week she managed to get herself up on the bed. We don't make a habit of allowing the dogs on the bed until they are finally tall enough,  and strong enough to figure it out by themselves. Until now she's just been placing her front paws on the mattress and hopping up and down. However, after her nightly trip out to pee one night, she got a running start, took a flying leap and there she was. She's done it again a few times since. She still needed the running start for most of last week, then, today, when I was changing the sheets, she just hopped right up.

Last night she took a running start and a flying leap right into my lap as I sat here at the computer.

Suspicious and Frustrated

We may have a case of  demodicosis (demodectic mange) on our hands.

Originally I thought the crescent-shaped bald spots I was finding on Airlie's head were a result of playing too rough with Kansas, who regularly has Airlie's head in her mouth. I figured her teeth were scraping the fur away, much like they do when Kansas nips at Leo's legs, leaving a skinny, bald stripe in her wake.

I've been supervising their play, and keeping an eye on these 3 spots, which seem to be recovering and growing in new hair.

Yesterday I noticed a new patch.

This one appeared rather pink, whereas the others were just flesh-colored.

None of the patches have appeared irritated, nor is the skin broken, bloody, oozing or flaking in any way.

I looked closer.

Make that a total of 5 spots.

Oh, and she seems to be losing the hair around her eyelids, though she still has her eyelashes.

I compared her to the other two dogs.

I hit up the internet (and am about to check my books).

I've read a few sites and looked closely at a few pictures and I do think that this overgrowth of normally occurring mites is definitely what she has. According to the information I've got so far, it's localized. It's not contagious. It's rather typical of puppies and tends to correct itself within the first three months to one year (adult onset is a bit trickier).

The good news is there doesn't seem to be a secondary, bacterial infection, and I already have a handy shampoo that I can wipe her head down with daily just in case. Also, she'll be going to the vet this coming week for her monthly flea/heartworm treatment. Even better, the product I prefer to use is actually one of the medications used to treat this issue, so maybe I can convince the vet to go ahead and switch us to that.

Treatments of a serious case require clipping the coat, regular medicated dips, etc...

I think we can avoid that. I think the vet will agree with me that it's typical in a young puppy, localized and if she'll agree to the topical flea/heartworm treatment that contains the drug used to treat this issue, maybe we can nip it in the bud.

See? Even more reason to stick with my beloved Revolution.

Both my canine medical texts, which concur with the internet diagnosis, as well as the "typical in puppies, usually corrects its self in time, not a serious problem unless a secondary infection (from scratching/itching/licking/chewing) is present. One even says that a vet will be unconcerned and say it's not a big deal unless the secondary infection is present. The other also says that "unless 5 or more patches are present" (patches being defined as 1-inch or more in diameter, which doesn't describe Airlie's) on other parts of the body, not to be concerned".

One text says it should clear up on it's own in 6-8 weeks, but that the occasional recurrence is to be expected.

Both books mention benzoyl peroxide as a treatment. One also mentions a "mild ear mite treatment". Sweet. I have a 5% benzyol peroxide acne treatment gel, and I can snag ear mite solution from Wal-Mart if need be.

Benzoyl peroxide speeds up the sloughing of the skin. Since the mites causing the hair loss live in the hair folicle, normal shedding of the skin, or increasing the frequency of this skin sloughing is what rids the body of the problem. Hence the problem clearing up on it's own.

So, I don't have to panic. I can still ask about it when I take her in next week,  but it looks like I'll be able to manage it here with products I already have. And if all else fails, I had intended to try apple cider vinegar, anyway. That stuff fixes a host of things. I'm all about taking steps to change the pH of the body in order to make an environment less friendly to infections, germs, parasites, etc...

And to think the reaction of one of our former vets (when I was explaining why I liked Revolution so much and listing the parasites it protected against) was  to roll his eyes and scoff "Mites and mange aren't even that big of a deal."