Hi

I have a 15 week old Westie, who I think is now teething. We have had problems in the past getting him interested in food but we had seemed to overcome that.

After being the perfect puppy, he suddenly started chewing. First the wallpaper in the hall and then we came home, after leaving him for a couple of hours, to find he had chewed the contents of my work bag, hairbrush, receipts, that sort of thing.
At this point he was still eating.

Yesterday, he was off his food a little and just seemed to pick. Today he wont have anything, not even a treat. We have checked his mouth and he does not like you touching his bottom jaw and the gum around one of his teeth seems a little red.

Are these signs of teething and does this mean that this tooth is about to fall out ?

Any advice and anything I should be looking out for.

Thanks

Julie

If you have a saucepan with a metal handle (not aluminium) put it in the fridge and then encourage him to chew that as it might cool his mouth down - this has helped mine in the past

Christine

Hi Julie

It seems all 15 week old westies are the same :-) We posted this message to the Behaviour board at the beginning of September as part of an e-mail thread called Chew Everything Lab. Hope it helps :-)

"Our 15 week old Westie chews many things from soft furnishings to fingers He is teething, and it hurts him. Chewing eases the pain - but if he chews an arm, it simply causes somebody else pain instead We use Bitter Bite spray which works to protect the furniture. Also, he loves having an ice cube to play with. It is hard enough to chew, and is soothing for the gums. But the best bit is, the ice cube slides all over the kitchen floor, and the fun of chasing it takes his mind off the fact that he is teething and needs to chew"

Ian and Julie

Hi Julie again

Remember to pay your westie the going rate if you find any of his teeth lying around! Also, bear in mind that, if he is on hard food now, his teeth and gums may make eating difficult. Tempt your pup with some cold gravy on the food, or mix a few small pieces of cooked chicken with the food (no bones though).

Ian and Julie