Category: Italian Greyhound

Help! My Dog's Mouth Smells Bad!

The minute a baby tooth and a permanent tooth share the same space, when the permanent tooth just starts budding through the gingiva, the baby tooth is retained, by definition.

Why Does my Puppy’s Breath Smell so Bad?

Romeo was a 10-month-old Brindle Chihuahua with halitosis (hal -i -toe- sis). That’s doctor-speak for bad breath.

“Doctor, why does my 10-month-old Chihuahua have such bad breath?” said Romeo’s dad.

One look under his lip revealed the answer.

A double upper canine tooth crowds the permanent tooth and fur and food stick in the crevice between the two teeth
The arrow points to a retained deciduous canine tooth with golden, shaggy muck stuck to it.

“Romeo’s maxillary deciduous canine tooth is retained,” thought Doc Truli.

“Romeo’s left upper baby canine tooth didn’t fall out on time,” said Doc Truli.

Romeo had two other retained canine teeth and a retained upper incisor front tooth as well.

“Romeo needs surgery right away to remove the abnormal tooth before it causes further damage and infection in the mouth,” said Doc Truli. Continue reading “Help! My Dog's Mouth Smells Bad!”

How to Tell If Your Dog is Fat

25 pound Beagle weighs 65 pounds. This is like a person who weighs 600 pounds and cannot get out of bed or fit through the doors to go out.

cute tan short hair chihuahua
"I'm not fat, I'm...not fluffy!"

How to Tell How Much Padding Your Dog Should Have

Use Body Condition Score: BCS!

Body condition score is a semi-objective way to get an idea if your dog has the right amount of weight for his or her body structure.

The weights and weight ranges published for pure-breed dogs are show standards. The show standard means the breeder organization (fanciers) of that breed want a dog of their breed to fall within a certain weight range. This is no guarantee that your dog will become only that size. It also is no insurance that a 18 pound Shih Tzu in a 10-pound Shih Tzu frame is okay, even though the numbers might fit the breed standard.

A majority of dogs are of mixed-breed descent. You cannot look in any book to really get any idea of how much a mutt should weigh. It is pure guesswork. Continue reading “How to Tell If Your Dog is Fat”

Top Ten Breeds for Progressive Periodontal Disease

Certain dogs and cats have more periodontal disease than others…

Long-hair tan Chihuahua
What disease lurks behind those cute lips?

Progressive periodontal disease means, unless you are a super-duper toothbrush trooper, your pet’s teeth will need annual, or even twice yearly root planing, deep cleaning, and gingival and periodontal therapy. Yay!

If you do not feel like spending $600-$1,200 per year on your pet’s oral health, consider a different breed from those listed below. And hope you are lucky and do not adopt a periodontal pariah anyway.
Continue reading “Top Ten Breeds for Progressive Periodontal Disease”

The Down and Dirty of Pet Dental Disease

Grade 4 out of 4 Periodontal disease, and the tooth will have to be extracted; it cannot be salvaged.

Italian Greyhound
Doubtful Italian Greyhound

Many Pets Harbor Hidden Painful Periodontitis

Or, How an Italian Greyhound Ends up Needing 17 Teeth Extracted...

Periodontal Disease refers to problems with the bone, gums, tough little fantastic periodontal ligaments inside the sulcus (tooth socket), basically everything around the tooth itself.

Doc Truli fills us in,”A careful exam of each tooth and 6 points of the gingiva around each tooth, and dental radiographs (x-rays) reveal hidden periodontal disease. There is no other way to find out what is wrong with your pet’s teeth. This examination requires general anesthesia, every time, every pet.”

Continue reading “The Down and Dirty of Pet Dental Disease”

17-Year-Old Italian Greyhound Needs 17 Teeth Removed!

“I know I should have had his teeth looked at years ago, but I was afraid because he’s so old and he’s on 2 kinds of medicine for epilepsy.”

Antonio was a 17-year-old grey and white epileptic Italian Greyhound.  He walked into my office with the right half of his face so swollen, he looked like he tried to swallow a sausage and it got stuck lengthwise in his mouth!  His big brown eyes looked miserable. Continue reading “17-Year-Old Italian Greyhound Needs 17 Teeth Removed!”