Dental problems can wreak havoc on your Border Collie’s health and wellbeing if left unchecked. As part of your Border Collie puppy’s grooming routine, make it a habit to check and clean teeth. One of the biggest problems can be when temporary teeth do not fall out when the adult teeth come through....
From between four and six months old, your Border Collie puppy will replace its Border Collie puppy teeth with adult ones. Normally as the adult tooth comes through it pushes the Border Collie puppy teeth out. Sometimes this does not happen and the adult tooth comes through beside the temporary tooth.
When this happens, your Border Collie puppy may eat less and have slightly swollen gums. This can cause infection with food build up between the two teeth, and gum and periodontal diseases can develop. The temporary tooth will need surgery to remove it. If the tooth is not removed all sorts of problems can occur including a crooked bite, which can make it difficult for your Border Collie to eat and be painful.
Have your Border Collie’s teeth checked by the vet at around eight weeks old to make sure everything is developing well. If you find an adult tooth coming through next to a puppy tooth keep an eye on it. Give it up to 7 days for the puppy tooth to drop out. If it does not fall out, take your Border Collie pup to the vet for possible removal.
If you leave it too long, even a Border Collie puppy of 6 months old can have problems. If a tooth wobbles a little bit it means the root has dissolved where it attaches to the crown. Eventually the crown will break away and leave only the root behind and cause infection. The infection can damage the tooth enamel as it emerges. Leaving the root behind will stop the adult tooth from moving into its proper position and you Border Collie can develop bite problems.
Border Collies are much like humans. As they age they can suffer from tooth decay. If you follow a routine of good dental hygiene from the time your Border Collie is a puppy your dog’s level of tooth decay will be limited.
Depending on how bad your Border Collie’s tooth decay is, it is likely it will have to undergo an anaesthetic to have the plaque removed. All this is unnecessary if your Border Collie’s dental hygiene part of your daily grooming routine.
Talk to your vet about dental hygiene and they can recommend a good doggy toothbrush and dental paste to start caring for your Border Collie puppy’s teeth. Do not use toothpaste made for humans on your Border Collie. If you start cleaning your Border Collie’s teeth when it is young, it will be easy as it grows into an adult.
Other good things to help with dental hygiene are good quality chew toys and raw, soft meaty bones. Never give you Border Collie cooked bones and avoid raw bones that splinter into sharp shards.
Use care and commonsense and your Border Collie will remain healthy for many years.
Elkana Border Collies