Last week, I was brushing the dogs' teeth. While I was working on Gigi, I was spot cleaning an area with the brush. I heard a click that sounded like something cracked. As it turned out, she did have a small crack in her teeth. I immediately called the doctor and set up an appointment.
As it turned out, she had a slab crack. It's a rare occurrence where a dog has a cracked tooth, as in Gigi's case. It's even rarer when the dog is as young as she is (two years old). Tuesday, I'll be taking her in for a teeth cleaning, where part of the process is putting the dog under anesthesia. As part of the preparation, I have to give her 1.5 tablets of Clavamox (amoxicillin trihydrate clavulante potassium is the scientific name) two times a day with food.
It turns out that smaller breeds such as the Chinese Crested, Poodles are prone to having bad teeth. Hairless dogs like Chinese Crested and Xoloitzcuintle have a gene mutation that causes them to be hairless. It's that same gene mutation that causes their teeth to be weak. With smaller breeds like Lhasas and poodles, which Gigi is a mix of both, it seems that it's due to the teeth being spaced more closely together and as a result, plaque builds up in greater amounts.
Strange as it may seem, Greyhounds are also prone to having bad teeth. Many Greyhounds are given soft food as their meal during their racing days. As a result, they are going to have more plaque and future teeth problems. When they retire, some of them will have weakened teeth.
For those of you who may want to learn more about oral hygiene for canines, you may want to check out:
Dental Hygiene
Greenies
Thank you all for stopping by. I will write a follow-up post to let you all know how Gigi's surgery/cleaning goes. Bye for now.
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