Question:
Princess just turned 6 months old on Monday July 17th. She was spayed on the 10th and is doing fantastic! She had her post operative exam yesterday and everything looks great. She healed very nicely with no complications so far. Keeping her quiet for the last week and a half has not been easy! She has to stay relatively quiet for another week before she's allowed to play with Misty and Cookie in their usual ways again. She only had subcutaneous sutures, so nothing to be removed. The incision looked really nice and clean and has healed with almost no noticeable scar. I like this method better than the skin sutures actually.

We just found out though that Princess' canine baby teeth have not fallen out. I have been checking her mouth and everything looked good, I hadn't seen the adult teeth so I didn't panic. But now her adult canine teeth are showing but her deciduous ones have not fallen out. The vet stated that if they don't fall out on their own by September she will have to have them extracted.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get them to fall out on their own? I really don't want to have to put her through anesthesia again if I can prevent it. If we have to, then we will, but I would much rather have it done naturally. She is a very good chewer. Any suggestions on a really good chew toy to help them along? She is so good at chewing that she has even chewed a hole through the wooden porch at the cottage! There is something about wood that she finds extremely appealing.

Answer:
I don't think it's a great idea for her to chew on the wooden porch again, naughty girl (Q) When she was in being spayed, were her adult teeth not thru? If the vet saw that she had retained baby teeth why weren't they extracted during the spay? Does the vet think they will fall out by themselves? Do they have any suggestions to help them along? I would think hard crunchy things(sorry I haven't had a puppy for 12.5yrs) so my puppy 101 has gotten alittle foggy carrots, apples those hard bones (knuckle?)

Answer:
LibbyP, I definitely agree that it is not a good idea to chew the porch. We believe that we may have ended her appetite for the porch. There already was a hole there in that particular plank and it was supposed to be repaired, Princess thought that she would help speed the process up. She now knows chewing on the wood porch or wood anything including the kitchen chairs is a big no-no.

To answer your questions:
I spoke with someone at the clinic this morning regarding why her tooth was not extracted during her spay. She did inform me that the vets normally do look for that kind of thing while they are being spayed/neutered so we believe that it may not have been like that at the time. Her adult tooth may not have erupted yet or the vet thought that it was too early to pull it out. That it may just fall on its own. When I spoke to the vet yesterday night, he did tell me to keep an eye on it and see if it comes out on its own. If not by September, than she will need it extracted. I called this morning for suggestions on how to get it to come out on its own. Nylabones and hard chew toys were suggested. I'm going to try that. I will be buying one during my lunch hour for her. The last time I bought Princess one of these hard chew toys, she ate the whole thing! Luckily I bought the ones made of cornstarch so it is digestible! I was told not to use the real bones as it may chip or break her teeth.

Answer:
I agree with the real bones chipping teeth (my dogs don't get them) but I have been reading that acouple members here find them okay, what about a kong it still gives her a good chew but no breaking? What about a rope bone, just a thought. Yes I know all about hounds 'helping' with household repairs(hee hee hee)

Answer:
My previous poodle had to have his baby canines extracted. It was done at 7mos when he was neutered. With Den-Den, we played lots of "tug-tug". We didn't pull hard; just held on while he did the jerking and pulling. Don't know if this would help.

Answer:
Princess does have a kong somewhere. I believe she has misplaced it yet again. We do play tug with her. She also plays tug with Misty and Cookie. She has even dragged Cookie onto the couch playing tug and Princess has flown threw the air while playing tug with Misty. Misty swung Princess onto the couch from the floor using the tug rope. For a Bichon/Pom mix, Princess is quite strong! Of course, Misty (Beagle) does outweigh her by quite a bit and Princess is stronger than Cookie (Pom). There are two tug ropes in the house as all the dogs enjoy a good game of tug and they enjoy just chewing on it as well.

I will definitely be trying all these suggestions. I would much rather have her tooth fall out on its own than have it extracted.

Answer: