I’ve noticed that my 5 month old Parson Russel Terrier puppy has been having trouble eating his kibble lately. Yesterday I found what appeared to be an intact puppy tooth on the rug in my office. If he is shedding his puppy teeth that would certainly explain the tenderness and his trouble eating.
I have two questions:
-
What, if anything, should I do to make it easier to eat his food? Should I add warm water to his kibble until his adult teeth come in? I can buy wet food for him, but I was hoping to avoid getting him used to eating wet food.
-
How long does it normally take for a puppy to shed their baby teeth? In other words, at what age should all of his adult teeth be in?
I didn’t really do anything different when my dog (a chihuahua, now full grown) started losing his teeth, but I am putting some water on his dry food anyway, just because I’ve heard that it’s good to get more moisture in a dog’s diet to prevent kidney issues. Several times a week I will just sprinkle a bit of water on his food and wait a minute for it to soak in. I think with mine, he stopped losing teeth around 6 months, but they also say small dogs mature faster, so depending on your dog, it may be later.
One thing that I heard can help with teeth pain is to wet a washcloth, then put it in the freezer and once it’s frozen, let the dog chew on it. It’s supposed to soothe the teeth. My dog didn’t have any interest in it, but that may be because he didn’t seem to have much pain.
You can wet his kibble and make it mushy - just know you can’t leave it out as long as you can with dry stuff, it will mould.