Annie has stinky breath

Annie has never had stinky breath, to me anyways...but for the past week it has just smelled horrible. She's still on her same food, Nutro Natural, and I can't think of anything else that has changed. It did start just before we went down to Texas for Easter and we've been back home since Monday. Any ideas what's causing it or how to make her smell better?

 

for starters give her mouth, gum, and teeth a thourough look, something may have happaned like an absess or maybe food stuck. or something because its so sudden, me always being the worry wart, I would then do a trip to the vet. just because she has never had it before . hopefully delauk can give some good input since he is vet tech

 

Im a she...but thats okay :lol: . sudden onst of stinky breath, pretty much as honeybears said, something stuck inbetween her teeth, an abscess maybe. Bad breath can also indicate kidney problems although she seems a bit too young, we'd be looking at something like that if she was maybe 8 years+. You say it started before you went away, could just be a build up of tarter, there are pet toothpastes available (flavours like beef, fish etc). Was she with you while you were away? If not did the people you leave her with feed her her regular diet.? I would have the vet check her out in case there are any abscesses or cavities, both can be painful, abscesses, same as with people can go down for a while but then they flare back up again if not treated.
Hope that helped a little.

 

"Im a she...but thats okay " oops

wow fish tasting toothpaste. bet ttheir breath smells great after that :shock:

jake recently had the foulest smelling breath for a few days and I found impacted turkey poop :-& way in the back of his mouth, he just loves that stuff, not to mention rolling in it

 

actually its not THAT bad....doesnt smell like a bad fish or anything but it makes it easier to clean their teeth because the like the taste. :lol:

 

Ill try and post a pic on the 'sticky' thread.

 

Ok...thanks. She's just about due for her shots, so I'll have the vet take a look when I take her in. I looked in her mouth and didn't see much, She hasn't had bones lately, so it may be tarter starting to build up. I took her with me and she ate her food(except a couple bites she stole for my parents German shepherd's bowl), so, that shouldn't be the problem. But, we'll just get her checked out to make sure nothing's up!

 

if it turns out to be nothing, and she just has bad breath, then i would reccommend greenies. i dunno if they have 'em where you are, and they are kinda expensive, but even after just 1 ranger's breath is a LOT better. I don't know about snickers though, since i don't let her give me kisses. She likes to smother, ranger only does it on command.

 

No...not the Greenies!!!!! :lol: no seriously though..I dont know what is in them Greenies but my dogs will literally 'kill' for them, I was told its the 'thing' thats in grass......Im wondering exactly 'WHAT kind of grass ??? :shock: I swear Ive seen dogs act so wierd around those things....but yes...they do make a difference to the way the breath smells.

 

ranger and snickers go CRAZY for the greenies! lol. they will do nething for those. i have had htem do tricks and commands for 15 min. just for a greenie. im like 'hey, if you'll do it...' lol. sure beats trying to give them so many of those milk bone things! they're also really possessive of them. once i give them to them, they won't let me come near them, and they both go to opposite sides of the yard to eat them,lol.

 

All I can say is greenies will probley help. Nicco used to have really bad breath i mean it was some god awful smell I hated his kisses lol. He was just 2 years old at that time and i took him to the vet about it. He said it wasent anything medical really he just had alot of backed up stuff going on in there. He recommened greenies along with a prescription doggy tooth paste but he mentioned that alot of dogs don't like them and it would be a good idea to try and get my other dogs into it. Nicco absolutly LOVES greenies his brother Rowdy not so much Lava likes them alot too and I havent tried them with Pound Puppy yet but i swear by them their awsome.

 

Ok now you all have me worried again. Dowser's breath has become foul in the last 2 weeks and it's like a rotten smell. Will have to pry open the jaws of death and see what's up.
Never new what greenies were and heard a customer at the feed store asking for them last week but just ignored the conversation. Will have to see about getting some after work today. All three dogs have been protecting a clump of new spring grass in the yard last week so I guess they need some greenies.

 

I just went through this with Witt. He suddenly had bad breath..and I mean bad! It smelled like something dead crawled into his mouth. I checked his teeth, and mouth and could find nothing. When I called the vet she(tech) said to bring him, she said it could be somthing stuck in a tooth, an abcess or that sometimes it signalled kidney issues.
I took him in and the vet searched his mouth..while he was doing this I told him I also thought Witt might have a UTI going on...well he pulled the sheath back from his penis and ACK! Turns out he had an infection and was licking it..so his breath was bad. The vet said it looked like an injury that got infected. I suddenly remembered Witt and Annie playing and Annie bit Witt in the willy pretty hard...this was a "funny story" I had actually repeated at work..wasn't so funny anymore! I am actually taking him back into the vet this week because even after two rounds of antibiotics..it has come back. I am not thrilled with using antibiotics in the first place, but when they aren't even working....ughhhh
Also...check out a product called Oxyfresh, you put a couple tspns in their water and it keeps their mouth healthy, helps prevent the formation of plaque and tartar. There is another brand called Kiss, but I haven't tried that.

http://www.oxyfreshww.com/pet/petoralhygiene.asp

 

I got the Kiss brand and some greenies for them. But now that you mention it Dowser did have an UTI a while back. I wonder if it has returned? Will have to check I suppose (yuk).

Best way to cure UTI anyone?

 

In the beginning I gave Witt cranberry powder on food, some frozen raw blueberries, and encouraged him to drink water frequently, hoping that would kick it in the butt...but I didn't realize then that it was an injury that got infected. The vet said that "these are often hard to clear up" and at the time I thought...heck Witt has only been on an antibiotic once, he'll clear up quick. WRONG...we can't seem to get rid of it! I am sure Witt thinks I have lost my mind because I keep looking at his hoodlehoo. He also doesn't underdstand why everyone freaks when he tries to kiss them.

 

Dowser's halitosis has cleared up. 2 Greenies and some kiss brand water additive, plus putting him back on the antibiotics because his leg abscessed again.

 

"Witt's hoodlehoo" - LOL, Maisey!! Is he getting any better? Can they culture the infection to get a better idea of what antibiotic to try next? I would imagine it would be hard to clear something up in such a nice protected place...

Before we started feeding raw, I used Oxyfresh in Nala's water and fed greenies and dentabones. I was starting to try brushing her teeth. But now we feed raw (bones and all) and their breath stays fine and their teeth are clean. It was really neat to watch Bonnie's teeth become cleaner after we got her. The vet didn't see her until we had her for a month and all the tartar was gone from her teeth by then. He was about to tell me that she was a lot younger than I thought she was when I mentioned the old tartar. It was fun.

Does anyone know what age a dog eating kibble will normally start getting tartar build-up on their teeth? Bonnie was about a year and a half old when we got her and just had some tartar around the base of all her molars. Nala was still a baby (about 8 months old) when we started her on raw so she never did get tartar on her teeth.

 

Ive only had one dog in recent years from when she was a puppy(BJ), all my others were adults and already had tartar, BJ was probably about 3 and half before I ever saw any tarter on her back teeth.

 

Did BJ get regular tooth brushing or other preventive care like that? What age does a dog usually get their first dental cleaning?

 

I had her teeth cleaned when she was around 4 years old. I didnt brush her teeth but she did chew on raw bones and Id got her some of the Gumabones (I think its Gumabone) that have the small bumps on that are suppsed to help keep the tarter down, shes coming up to 5 now but she lives with my daughter in California, I moved to Germany at the end of last year so Im not sure what condition her teeth are in. They were looking good when I left.
I have used Prescription Diet TD in the past, that worked great for a Cocker Spaniel I had and a Whippet. I had them both booked in for a dental but thought Id give the TD a go and see how good it was, the Cocker ended up not needing a dental, the Whippets tarter was a lot worse though so she still got one. I never used it as their food as such, they both got about 6 biscuits (the large) a day as a treat.
I do think that dogs and cats should have their teeth brushed.