Extra teeth can cause stinky dog breath

Spike is our 2-year-old Pekingese. He’s a great dog, but he has
horrible breath. We’ve always known about some extra teeth in the
front of his mouth. The vet said we should have these removed.
Do extra teeth cause bad breath? Will he be all right if he has
these teeth extracted?
Q: Spike is our 2-year-old Pekingese. He’s a great dog, but he has horrible breath. We’ve always known about some extra teeth in the front of his mouth. The vet said we should have these removed.

Do extra teeth cause bad breath? Will he be all right if he has these teeth extracted?

A:

It sounds as though Spike’s problems can be solved with some dental work. Supernumerary teeth (it’s sometimes called hyperdontia) is a condition that isn’t uncommon in Pekes or a few other breeds. Occasionally, some puppies develop two full rows of incisor.

As you can imagine, this makes for a very “crowded” mouth. And all those teeth so close together can trap bacteria, the main cause of halitosis.

I bet Spike’s veterinarian is right; it’s time for some extractions so that he can have a normal mouth and more friendly breath.

Q:

Our labradoodle, Jammy, has really red eyes every day. He sometimes rubs them with his front feet, which really looks cute. We put Visine in his eyes once in a while and it seems to help with the redness. But he still rubs them anyway. It seems worse when there is a lot of wind. Is the Visine a good treatment for eyes like this?

A:

Redness is a symptom of many different eye problems. Some of these, such as allergies, might be considered minor. But others, such as glaucoma, are very serious. Visine only works to eliminate the redness in the eye by causing constriction of the blood vessels. It’s effective and the results look great. But this treatment does nothing for the underlying problems that Jammy seems to have.

Jammy should be evaluated thoroughly by his veterinarian to rule out any serious eye problems. Glaucoma and some other ocular disorders eventually lead to blindness, so his symptoms just can’t be ignored. If all he has is allergies, you’ll be able to treat with other medications that are far more effective than those eyedrops. He’ll lose his redeye look, and he’ll feel a lot better.

Q:

Our cat, Rowdy, came home last night with a foxtail stuck under his eyelid. It looked so painful, but my husband was able to pull it out.

Today, Rowdy looks normal except for a very small white spot on his eye. What gives with that?

A:

The white spot is a sign of some damage to the cornea, the clear surface of the eye. Any trauma to the cornea can cause this accumulation of edema fluid.

But corneal edema is a symptom that could indicate something more serious. If there is a scratch or ulcer on that cornea, Rowdy needs some treatment that you can do at home. 

So I’m glad you got that ugly foxtail out of Rowdy’s eye (we can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be to have something like that stuck under the eyelid). But he needs a quick visit to the vet to make sure there isn’t any serious damage left over from his escapade out in the garden.

Q:

We have three barn cats and all of them catch mice. But we also have possums in our barn that steal eggs from our chickens and (I think) have killed one of our hens. I would think that the cats would chase off these pests, but I guess not.

Any suggestions on how to rid our barn of possums?

A:

Wow, your cats are pretty darn smart.

Possums can be fierce fighters, and a cat might not win a battle with one of these nocturnal creatures.

So how to rid your barn of these pesky varmints? You might talk to an exterminator for suggestions, but here’s an idea to try first.

If you know where they are nesting, try putting some mothballs in that area. Possums and skunks hate the smell of this stuff and they’ll move on to another location.

I’ve used mothballs a few times and it almost always works. Trouble is, my neighbor (who taught me this trick in the first place) does the same thing.

So there have been more than a few times that we’ve “passed” the possum problem back and forth before those ugly critters finally went on down the road to someone else’s backyard! Good luck.