Question:
Our 8-month-old English cocker spaniel has a mild underbite. Our vet says his muzzle quit growing, probably due to calcification, but he doesn't think it will get any worse. His bite is good and he has no apparent dental problems.

I'm curious about what could cause his muzzle to quit growing. My first thought was that it was diet or nutrition related, but he's growing and developing well. It could also be a genetic defect but I know the puppy's parents and they have typical English cocker muzzles. I also wonder if this could be related to a cut he had on his muzzle as a puppy. Although it was a small cut, it took several weeks to heal because it became infected before we found it. What other things can cause the muzzle to stop growing and leave the dog with an underbite?

I think our puppy's underbite contributes to some problems:

1. He breathes through his mouth more than he did before his underbite developed.

2. He has problems with picking up food in his front teeth.

3. He mouths objects more than our other dogs did at this age. It seems like he's still teething even though his permanent teeth are in.

4. It seems like the skin on the outside of his upper lip is rubbed slightly raw, perhaps because his teeth occasionally rub against the outside lip.

Does anyone have ideas about what we should do now to deal with these problems? Is it too late to do something about his muzzle?

Answer:
Well, I don't know how to fix it.. (head gear? )
But I have some ideas about the rest...

1. Did it get warmer where you are? Maybe your dog is just hotter than usual and breathes through his mouth as a result...
2. What do you mean? Like if you drop food on the floor, it's hard for him to pick it up? My dogs would lick up food dropped on the floor, so to me underbite or not shouldn't affect that too much..
3. He could just be more of a chewer than your other dogs. Regardless of breed, some dogs just chew more than others.
4. That's definitely possible. When Boo has itchy anal glands and licks forever, his top lip gets raw and he only has a slight underbite. I think over time, the lip should toughen up...

hope that helps...

Answer:
If the bone in the nose was fractured could possible explain, there was a risk when I was 5 that my arm would stop growing below the elbow after I fractured it. In the case of genetics a problem can skip several generations before it presents itself again, so possibly it could be related to genetics.

My greyhound has a couple of missing teeth in front so it can affect the ability to pick out food, some chomp into the bowl rather that use their togues to pick up food. Try using a mixing bowl with a rounded bottom (eg pryex bowl rather than a bowl with a flat bottom, that way as they are eating, the remaining food in the bowl rolls down to the center making it easier to pick up the corners of the bowl is hard to pick food out of in a flat bottom bowl

Answer:
Prin and OntarioGreys,

Thank you both for your thoughtful replies and helpful information. I am constantly amazed at the quality of the responses I get here, and I can tell it's a place with people who know and love animals.

It must seem like I'm obsessing over this issue but I always try to do my best for our pets because they are as much a part of the family as our children. Thinking back, I wonder if this puppy may have had a muzzle problem for months. He has always eaten in a tentative way, using his teeth to pick at his food. He's never used his tongue to lick food like our other dogs have done. I knew he looked different when he ate but I never thought about why, only that it was funny and cute. I'm not sure if we could have done anything about it, but I wish I had realized this sooner.

Thanks again.

Answer: