Looking in my pups mouth today it appears he has 4 fangs in his bottom Jaw is this a normal part of teething or should I take him to the vet tomorrow? I have looked on the internet for information but nothing mentions too many fangs.  Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom.

Just found some info on the net and it seems this is serious I will phone the vet tomorrow.

It's quite common. Sometimes the milk teeth have to be extracted, but a lot of the time they fall out of their own -just keep an eye on them. See if you can feel if the milk teeth are loose at all.

Marianne

my pup had this problem it's called a malatrusion. he's whole mouth had two rows of teeth. i would take him to the vet to get checked out. My bots teeth showed no signs of budging so he had them removed. It can become quite painful if left too long. put malatrusion in dogs in google search and you will find lots of info.
Tanya

Vets are not keen on removing milk teeth.  My oldest dog had a few milk teeth which wouldn't budge and we were told to just leave them and they would fall out on their own.  Well, the bottom canine became inverted and grew into the roof of her mouth and the vet had to sedate her to file it down.  I would say it would be definately worth getting them removed.  Have you tried tugging games to try and loosen them?

we had one with 8 teeth like this all canines they all droped out by 8months i wouldnt worry about it at all!

Fiona

Give the pup a good marrow bone to chew.  We did this for our pup that was in quarantine when his new canines were coming through and the old ones were still present and they fel out within a few days with no problems with his mouth developing properly.

Retained teeth that won't budge though is quite common in small breeds so I would seek vets advice.

Cheers you lot I dont know what I would do without you all!!!!

This morning after a bit of breakfast he has now got a marrow bone to chew on and is chomping away happily.  I have phoned the vet and he told me that hes still young at 5 months and the baby teeth have still got time to fall out as the adult teeth are not fully through.  He is going in to be spayed at 6.5 months and they will have a look at them then and consider removing them during the operation. In the mean time im gonna keep my eye on him.  Like you have mentioned the vet said this is common in boxers and dogs with different shaped mouths and small breeds.  You all know you stuff!!!

Tell me why are you having him castrated?  Especially at such a young age? 

You do realise there are some negative consequences of this, and unless you have an entire bitch in the house or next door there is no real need to have it routinely done. 

I am sure you will not be leaving him free to wander the streets, so the chances of him siring unwanted litters would be negligible unless someone popped an in seson bitch over your garden fence?

Firstly it was because I thought it was safer, decreases illnesses testicular cancer etc. Then when he was having his injections as a baby the vet said he was very aggresive and probably be best to castrate him, if the vet suggests it you normally believe its right.  I was originally gonna have him done at about 1.  I have got 2 uncastrated GSD bitches next door.  

I always thought if you werent going to use your dog as a stud it was best to get them castrated?

Hi Leanne,

I think to be fair you're getting better advice on here than from your vet ;)  Recommending extracting baby teeth at such an early stage and advising castration at 6.5 months in such a slow maturing breed is poor advice at best but "diagnosing" agression! at a few weeks old is outrageous.

Please do a search on here re castration and also have a word with the breeder of your puppy - I think they will be disgusted at the advice your vet has given you so far.  He is clearly extremely naive about your breed but exceptionally astute at how to terrify inexperienced owners into parting with cash :(

regards, Teri

When I spoke to the vet today she said we normally remove these teeth at about 8 or 9 months when the dog is castrated.  But with the vet saying that Yorkies and small breeds mature quicker than larger breeds  he could be done at 6 months....    but now Im none the wiser..... dont know what to do.

Hi Leanne - I thought your dog was a Boxer :rolleyes:

Anyway, I still wouldn't castrate unless essential for "medical" reasons but if you're determined I would would wait for him to reach minimum of 18 months of age.  And I'd still be very concerned about the attitude of your vet to perfectly normal behaviour for most pups getting their first time vet experience at the end of a syringe :P

Regards, Teri

Sorry Teri thats my fault for mentioning boxers before.  If I do get him done I think I will leave it a long while before getting him done, I just worry its too much if thy need to sedate him to remove these teeth (but fingers crossed they will fall out on their own) and then sedate him to have him castrated..... I will play it by ear and see how his teeth go.  hmmmmm do you get the feeling im am one of those overprotective parent lol

but again thanks Teri its good to hear another opinion other than your vets, as like you say he will get a tidy sum for castration so his intentions may or maynot be impartial.

All you need to do is remeber that vets are expert in diagnosing and treating animal ilness.  

Canine behaviour, breeding, feeding, training are not part of their expertise, unless they are of course qualified in these areas by being breeders, nutritionists, trainers or qualified behaviourists :D

The only behaviour castrating can effect is that controlled by hormones, everythign else is down to training and socialisation and the dogs inate character.

How many little boys do you know that are castrated so that they do not get testicular cancer, and how many grown men have you known have this problem, it is much rarer than cervical cancer or breast cancer, yet girls don't have their reprodctive organs removed to prevent this.

Just a quick report on the pup with 2 sets of teeth....... Just been playing in the garden with his puppy kong and one of his baby fangs has just fell out!!!!! Whohooooo.  At first I panicked cos his tongue come out and he held his head funny but I looked in his mouth and the fang was pointing forward so I gave him his frozen carrot and out it came.  (Im keeping it is that sad?)

Edited: Sorry to you guys that are old hands at all this, it must be very tedious hearing me rave about a baby tooth.... lol

<Sorry to you guys that are old hands at all this, it must be very tedious hearing me rave about a baby tooth.... lol>

Well I've still got my Siamese cat's baby tooth and she's been dead for about 10 years ;-)

Anne

well Im as bad,I found my pups baby tooth on the kitchen floor and Ive kept it!Thinking about making it into a keepsake of some sort.That little teggy is very important to me!!

That is a very good point of yours Brainless about vets and what they know. I must admit I expect them to know a great deal about all aspects of animals but of course that would be impossible.
Ange