Retained puppy tooth

Kuchar is now 9 months old and still has one puppy tooth, a canine tooth, (fang). His adult canines (and all his other adult teeth) have come through fine with no signs of bleeding or distress. All his teeth are perfectly in line and don't bother him at all - it's just that he's got this puppy canine slotted in neatly between his adult canine and the further back teeth.

This little tooth is still white and firm in his jaw and shows no sign yet of departing, despite all his chewing on hard things, whether legitimate chewy things - or not!

I don't want him to have a general anaesthetic just to extract this tooth if it is not doing any harm (which it seems not to be). I'm not going to show him so that aspect is not important.

My question is - has anyone else experienced this and let nature take its course or, heaven forbid, run into trouble with a retained puppy tooth?

Sorry no haven't come across this before personally with a dog, I'm sure someone will be along shortly to put you at ease.

sorry no experience but sure there will be someone that knows along soon , best of luck

Thank you Kathy and Dave for your rapid response and best wishes, it is much appreciated. This goes to demonstrate what a great website this is - friendship and support are immediately available.

Is the adult canine taller than the puppy tooth, and is it on the inner side of the jaw/mouth or outer ?

If its on the outer there is a chance that a good hard game of tug on an old sock would help loosen it, even if the adult tooth is bigger and larger than the baby one.
But if its on the inner side of the jaw then i'm afraid its a trip to the vet to get it removed.

Thank you Denise.

Yes the adult tooth is much larger and taller than the puppy tooth, but is neither on the inner nor outer side of the jaw. The puppy tooth is just neatly tucked, perfectly inline, between the adult tooth and the rest of the hindermost (adult) teeth (it is small and narrow). It doesn't interfere with the other teeth, causes no bother to Kuchar, is still as lovely and white and healthy and firmly rooted as ever - just THERE! Good hard games of tugs (and by gosh do we have them!) don't make any difference, it's still there.

Do you (or anyone else) think that it's going to rot and cause the trouble that that would cause? Is 9 months too young to worry about it?

I just don't want to subject my little boy to a GA unnecessarily.

If it is a puppy tooth then, yes, eventually it'll rot because it doesn't have a proper root.

The tooth does need to come out, even thou his not going to be shown its needs to be done to stop food getting trapped in-between the 2 teeth.
Dogs dont floss, so the trapped food particles will over time start to rot and cause smelly breath and inflame the gums.

For the moment keep playing the games, and encourage him to pull the raggy on the side the norty baby tooth is.
As your playing try and pull the raggy or old sock side wards in the direction the tooth is out of his mouth, sooner or later your snag the tooth, causing it too bled but on the next tug game it should ping out.

Thank you Denise, I will continue his tugging games but perhaps with more violence on that side of his jaw than I have done heretoforward and hope it works. Obviously I don't want rotting troubles to spread to his neighbouring teeth (although no sign yet) and also don't want to subject my pup to a GA to extract what is after all a tiny, tiny tooth.

If you do decided one day to get him desexed and the tooth's still there, then it can be whipped out while his under to have his plums removed

Denise wrote:If you do decided one day to get him desexed and the tooth's still there, then it can be whipped out while his under to have his plums removed

That is a good idea if you are going to have him done

Denise wrote:If you do decided one day to get him desexed and the tooth's still there, then it can be whipped out while his under to have his plums removed

Yes I may get him desexed one day if he starts showing unwanted male behaviour (fighting, humping etc) and it did occur to me that I could kill two birds with one stone and get the puppy tooth whipped out at the same time (poor little soul, sore both ends at once! )

But I am hoping to delay "the chop" for as long as possible, at least until he is 18 - 24 months old (separate thread) and maybe not even then if it not necessary. But that is too long to wait for the puppy tooth. Back to the rag ...... Come on Kuchar - pull!

Thanks for your help Staffy people.

Dont play to hard with tug games as at that age the jaw is pretty weak. Rope toys have alwaysbeen good at removing those fangs. I found two of laskas teath this week after a session with a rope toy. The seem good at working the teath out as they rot bottom up. Never found any of marleys but he lost his on same rope toy by just knawing at it.

The tooth is OUT ! An especially crunchy rawhide knot did the trick!

Thank you all for your help, kind Staffy people.

new Staffy owner wrote:The tooth is OUT ! An especially crunchy rawhide knot did the trick!

Thank you all for your help, kind Staffy people.

Glad it's out at last!

Can I just make you aware of the dangers of rawhide, though? It swells in a dog's stomach, so if they chew off a large piece it could get stuck in the gut & cause a serious blockage. I never give rawhide to a dog because of this.

Thank you Caryll!

Kuchar LOVES rawhide knots ( I don't get those little shoe shaped things obviously, which are meant for toy dogs) . Sometimes rawhide knots are the only thing (after walks, playing with toys etc etc etc,) that will settle him down of an evening. If he's chewed bits of it and is still "hyper" I will plug the gaps in the chew with bits of cooked liver, and he goes for it again and then settles down happily.

The only problem I have ever had with rawhide is when I foolishly (many, many years ago) gave my half-grown Dobermann a rawhide chew that was too small for her, and she swallowed it whole and I panicked. However my vet told me that a dog's stomach acid was strong enough (stronger than ours) to break it down and sure enough she came to no harm at all. But I make sure now that I only give a rawhide chew large enough NOT to be swallowed in one go.

Rawhide is not broken down well in a dog's stomach, especially if it's a large piece.

I found that a stag bar satisfied Dempsey's chewing need perfectly & as it's 100% natural they're a lot safer!

Thanks Caryll

Kuchar has got a stag bar - I bought one after I saw them recommended in this forum. He chews it sometimes but unfortunately it generally lies abandoned, even if he's got nothing else to chew (yes, I've tried that one as well!) I've considered getting a nylabone, but my other dogs didn't like them so I haven't tried one for Kuchar - yet.

Thanks for your advice though, it's much appreciated.