# Help! Puppy broke his tooth.



## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

Let me preface this by saying I am calling the vet first thing tomorrow morning...

...however, I don't know the vet. It's the vet he has seen since he was born, but on the off chance she has an odd opinion, or whatever, I would like to hear what you all think in order to judge whether to get another opinion.

My eight week old pup, Quill, broke his canine tooth today. I believe he must have chewed on his kennel gate because his toys in there were soft. He was only in there while I ran to the store...hes been in there longer than that before and done so well! There was blood on the bed, but he isn't acting in pain whatsoever. He was playing, chewing, eating, etc all 100% fine. He didn't whine when I looked at it or touched it...but it looks terrible!! I found the tooth and it basically looks like a "cap" came off it. 

I read pulling it is a possibility to prevent infection, but that this might also mess up his adult canine? Any advice, experiences, etc with this? I'm one stressed out first time puppy mom!! Here is the tooth (and Quill, because he got his big boy ears today and is so cute!).


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## Hiraeth (Aug 4, 2015)

Don't be too stressed. I am sure your vet has dealt with this before. Quill is certainly not the first puppy who has lost a tooth by chewing on something he shouldn't!

My instinct would be that because of the severity of the break, pulling to prevent infection would probably be the solution your vet will offer. Not sure how/why pulling would effect his adult canine tooth? We have at least one vet on this forum, hopefully she'll see this and chime in to give you some more educated advice.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

Thank you!! I've calmed down quite a bit, though still a worried puppy mom haha. Ah the stress of a new puppy! Luckily the excitement and cuteness and fun outweigh the stresses! We spoke with a tech, now just waiting for the vet to call back and let us know her opinion.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

The vet (when I called yesterday) said isn't worried about it unless it starts to hurt him, slow down his eating/playing, or begins gettting red at the gum. So I guess now we wait and see if it bothers him at all!


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## Hiraeth (Aug 4, 2015)

Marvel said:


> The vet (when I called yesterday) said isn't worried about it unless it starts to hurt him, slow down his eating/playing, or begins gettting red at the gum. So I guess now we wait and see if it bothers him at all!


I'm glad to hear your vet isn't worried about it and I hope that the tooth falls out naturally and the adult canine looks just fine  Your puppy is absolutely adorable, by the way!


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

I was going to say Molly snapped both of her top canines off like that. The vet was nonfussed and we didn't do anything about it. Her adult teeth are fine.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

Oh good, I'm glad to hear from someone who had no issues with it! I was still a bit worried, despite them not being concerned. The good news is he goes in for his second round of shots in just over a week, so they can always take a peek at it then to be sure it still looks good to them. He's definitely keeping me on my toes. Little stinker! 

Do you guys think spraying his cage with some of the non-biting stuff would help prevent him from chewing on it again? I'm worried that next time he is crated he might try this again, and even if it isn't anything to worry about...I would prefer not to go through canine break, round 2.

And thanks! I've been hoping to get some better photos of him to share with you all. Right now most of my pictures are from me phone, so not the best quality. I'll have to take him out with the fancy camera and see if we can get some good ones!


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## Hiraeth (Aug 4, 2015)

Are you providing him with plenty of other things to chew on while in the crate and he's still specifically choosing to chew on the crate itself? 

In order to distract him from crate chewing, you could try a stuffed frozen Kong, which is probably much more interesting than a metal crate. I also provide my puppy with two Nylabones, a few stuffed animals, a few non-stuffed Kongs and some rubber toys so that he has a large variety of things to chew on.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Sadly this is the only picture that shows her TOP canines (well, one of them), but yeah, there was no issue at all though the vet did have us keep an eye open for infection. 

You can try the no-bite/bad tasting stuff. You might also consider an air-line type crate so there are fewer bars. Provide appropriate chews that are maybe softer than wire. Keep an eye on it, make sure he's not freaking out too much. And don't freak yourself out too much either. Puppies are kind of dorks and those puppy canines are ...snappy. Molly broke hers off playing tug with the other dogs.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

I realized I never responded to this! For anyone interested, he is still doing fine. No pain, no redness. It looks MUCH better. I still check it obsessively, and I plan to have the vet take a look when we go in for vaccinations, but I think he will be just fine! Thank goodness.

He is in an air-line crate, so it was (I assume) the door he was chewing on. Like I said, I can only assume he chewed on the crate as I can't imagine the toys would have broken it -- stuffed toys, a nylabone, etc. I hadn't gotten him a kong yet as our stores around here are very limited (I can only find small and medium kongs, and I wanted the large!). I have since gone down to CO and he gets a kong with peanut butter when crated. He seems to love that! He always gets a large variety of toys in with him.

He has been (and had been, up to the tooth breaking fiasco) doing great in his crate. A bit of crying for a few moments, then quiet and calm. I wonder if it was possible because it was his first time going in his crate for extended periods twice in one day (a few hours while I was at work and then again for an hour while I ran to the store). Usually I work at home or bring him to work with me, so he doesn't spend too much time in the crate. I had never seen him actually chew on it, just paw and whine before quieting down.

Either way, thank you guys again for the advice! Hopefully all goes well until his adult teeth come in!


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