Hi.

I've noticed over the past few days that our Zak has been rubbing his gums against his paws in a rather viscious manner. I had a look at his mouth during the past few days and found no real obivous problems. Last night however, my wife noticed that his gums are rather red. Now, having a bit of a medical background, I reckon that he has got Gingivitis, and was reading up on common causes amongst dogs.

Weird thing is that the lad gets all the most appropriate toys/bones etc that would prevent such a disease occurring, and yet he appears to have developed it. I also thought that he was maybe a bit young to have an oral health issue.

I've bought him a dental chew thing today, but would welcome any other suggestions :@)

Is he not too young for this ??? :(

have you checked that he has lost all his puppy teeth. sometimes this can be a problem.

I agree.  Sounds like teething.

All his puppy teeth are out with nice clean white shiners there to replace. He did have a wee problem with a residual part of one of his canines, but that was removed easily - this was removed over 3 weeks ago - so that would not seem to be a contributing factor.

lel - I thought so, hence my question. :(

May be there is an infection after the removal of the tooth.

It is possible for a puppy so young to have Gingivitis despite your best efforts, I know because I've got one here.  By the age of 15 mths my bitch had to have her first molar on both sides of her lower jaw extracted because she started with Gingivitis very early, the teeth didn't develop properly and her X-Ray's are something very interesting to look at for those 2 teeth, the roots were joined together rather than spread for stability. 

My vet advised me that although unusual it was nothing I had done and does happen every now and again and can affect only a couple of teeth. Even with her molars gone and a very rigorous daily routine she will probably have problems all her life regardless of chews, diet, cleaning etc it is a part of her chemical make up.  I was given permission by the KC to continue showing her as they were removed for health reasons not cosmetic and am now looking for permission again so that I can have her spayed but I might not be as successful on that score as I want to stop that line rather than the bitch needs to be spayed for health reasons.

Just a thought, is it possible that it is not the teeth but the paws that are the problem?