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Could It Be A Tooth?


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I've noticed over the past week or so that Tough's eating habits have changed. He's typically a Hoover dog, but lately he's been eating slower and seems to be having a little bit of trouble. For example, this morning I noticed him actually chewing (!) some food and he let quite a bit of it fall out of his mouth onto the floor (which he then subsequently picked up and ate). He still eats everything, and wants to eat - but something ain't right. He seems a little more tentative when eating his Milk Bones too, though he still begs for them every time one of us gets near the jar.

 

Right now I'm thinking that maybe there's a tooth bothering him, though he did have a dental just a few months ago and everything was fine then.

 

I'm trying to book an appointment for him with the vet (which is frustrating - they are always booked, it seems, so I have asked them to call me if there is a cancellation tomorrow afternoon or Saturday), but in the meantime I'm wondering if it could be anything besides a tooth. He gets kibble (Pro Plan Select) and pumpkin. We have recently opened a new bag of kibble and a new can of pumpkin, but I'm pretty sure this behavior started before that. Both the kibble and the pumpkin look and smell fine (and the pumpkin is actually quite good, but it's also very thick, which makes the kibble stick together). I will be picking up a new bag of food on Saturday so we can always try that to see if it helps.

 

Otherwise, he's his usual bouncy self.

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Could try soaking his kibble till soft (it takes quite awhile and a lot of water) and see if that helps. Tooth or a sore or a foreign body in the mouth are the logical suspects.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Guest TheDoggfather

Possible he might have a chunk of kibble stuck in his teeth somewhere? It happened to Icee once and she acted the same way.

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I haven't found anything in his mouth so far - but I'll take him outside (hopefully I'll have some bright sunlight to help me out) when I get home from work and see if I can do a thorough inspection of the inside of his mouth. He's pretty good about letting us check the outside of the teeth and gums - the inside, not so much.

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Well, upon examination tonight, I found a swollen tonsil on the right side. Everything else looks fine - there's nothing stuck between the teeth and I didn't find any swelling or cuts anywhere else. I think this might point toward a tooth - not sure what other reasons would cause a swollen tonsil on one side only.

 

I'll call the the vet again tomorrow to see if they can find any openings for us. In the meantime, adding some water to the kibble to make the pumpkin less thick and sticky seems to work for him - he seemed to like that for dinner. I'm not getting any impression he doesn't feel well, so there's that at least.

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