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my yorkie/poo

20 11:37:52

Question
QUESTION: I have a 7 months old yorkie/poo mix a wonderful dog to our family. We are getting him neuter next week and the vet suggested at the same time to declaw him and pull what ever baby teeth that needs to.  My question to you is that normal? I have concerns as to why? and will he be in a lot of pain with the neutering/teeth/declaw all at the same time? Would you recommend having the tooth pulled out?  thankyou for your time

ANSWER: Susan,

Since I am not a vet and have not seen your male I cannot answer your question with any certainty.  I always defer people back to their vet for medical questions.  What I can do is tell you my opinion and what I would do if it were my dog.

Dew claws are usually removed at the same time as their tails are docked.  The tails are usually docked between birth and one week of age.  The purpose of removing the dew claws is two fold.  One because dogs that are AKC registered usually have the dew claws removed (as opposed to mutts) and two because they serve no purpose.  The dew claws usually grow in a circular direction and if they are not cut regularly can actually grow back into the leg.  Obviously this can be very painful for the dog.  Since your dog is not considered "show quality" and since he is already seven months old I see no reason to have the dew claws removed.  The reason they are removed at such an early age is because to do so later is more painful.

As far as the teeth, baby teeth can take up to a year to fall out.  I see no reason to have them pulled unless they are prohibiting the adult teeth from coming in.  Also, if your dog has a full set of adult teeth and still has a lot of baby teeth that have not fallen out you may want to consider having them pulled out.  The reason I don't answer this type of question is because I do not know the status of the adult and baby teeth.  If the baby teeth are close to the surface it will probably not be very painful to pull them.  But then again if they are close to the surface they should fall out on their own. Baby teeth are usually pushed out by the adult teeth.  It is also possible that the baby tooth has not fallen out because there is no adult tooth coming in.  In that situation I would not pull the baby tooth but allow it to remain and serve in the same capacity as the adult tooth.

As to your question on pain the answer is yes.  Dogs are no different than people when it comes to being in pain.  The only difference between dogs and people is that dogs do not show pain as humans do.  If you can tell that a dog is in pain then you must assume that it is excruciating pain.  So, if you had a hysterectomy, your fingernail removed, and teeth pulled would you be in pain?  You bet you would.  Most vets offer pain medication now but if your does not then you should request it.

One last thing to consider is that the reason your vet has suggested having all of this done at the same time is because surgery of any kind is potentially dangerous.  He probably feels that having to put your baby under anesthesia more than once would be riskier than having to only do it once.

The bottom line is that only you and your vet can make this decision.  Communication between you and your vet is vital to the health of your dog.  Do not be afraid to ask questions.  Ask your vet why he thinks the dew claws need to be removed.  Ask him about the teeth and why he thinks they need to be pulled.  Only after you have all the information that you need can you make an informed decision.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou for replying back so quickly... You are a life saver. My next few questions from your answer is this.. I am seriously thinking of changing my vet doctor. It seems  that its all about $$$$ My first encounter with the vet was a chip tooth when he was 3-4 months old we found that out while he was getting is vaccination done and she suggest right away to pull this top tooth out (not sure what tooth you call it but it was the biggest and longest sharp tooth on maybe 3-4 tooth away from the front tooth(possibly the eye tooth) but anyways I didn't want to do it thinking it well fall out since it is the baby tooth but the doctor kept saying it will cause infections and on and on. Me thinking the doctor knows best went ahead and it took poor Jasper over 1/2month to to adjust to eating (his getting habit went). I've been to the vet to pickup flea program and the doctor is standing there at the counter but would not even say a hello to me (only customer in the store) this happened 2 times.. So to say the least it a $$$ that is appealing to her not the care she gives to our pets. But here are the questions again, I've seen small dogs with funny looking teeth (older dogs) possibly overcrowding and i do not want my dog looking like that so this is why I am debating on having what ever teeth that needs to be pulled when he is getting neutered. I will ask the question on the day of his surgery about what you mentioned above if the adult teeth are all coming in and if there is lost of baby teeth still there then I would have them pulled out. As for the declaw it was more easier having it taken out so the risk of groomers pulling at it. She suggested it, now with the pain issue I think I will not have them done.
Once again thankyou for your time and I look forward again to your answers.

Answer
Susan,

The tooth you are referring to is the canine tooth.  Every dog has four of these.  The purpose of the canine teeth is for tearing and ripping.  This came in handy when they were in the wild and had to catch and kill their own food or fight off a predator.  Obviously they don't need them for that reason anymore, but another reason they are needed, which is little known, is the canine teeth keep their tongue in their mouth.  I found this out when one of my yorkies got old and the canine teeth fell out.  She looked really goofy with her tongue hanging out all the time.

The vet was right about not wanting the tooth to get infected because if a canine tooth gets infected it can cause major problems.  The canine teeth have the longest roots of all their teeth.  Because they are so deeply embedded pulling one can even break their jaw.  Because this was a baby tooth and was going to fall out soon anyway, I think pulling it out was an unwise decision.  It's true that as the adult teeth grow in the root on the baby tooth becomes shorter which minimizes the potential for a broken jaw but why take a chance.  I would have waited a bit longer to see if the tooth was going to fall out by itself.  Did your vet take an x-ray of the tooth to see if there was an adult tooth coming in underneath?  If not then she pulled a tooth that could have been used as an adult tooth.

I don't understand what her thinking is about the groomer pulling at the dew claw.  Unless the groomer is stupid they know about dew claws and how to work around them.  You would probably be surprised to know that most dogs have their dew claws.  In fact the majority of the Yorkies I have had over the years have not had their dew claws removed.

From your description of your vet I would highly suggest that you try to find a more personable vet.  The fact that she is not friendly does not mean she is a bad vet, but that she has no bedside manner.  My vet is a man and it cracks me up because he talks baby talk to my dogs.  That is one of the things I love about him, he truly loves animals.

Since you have so many doubts about your vet you might want to consider finding a new vet before you have your baby neutered.  There is no rush to get him neutered, anytime after the age of six months is acceptable so a few more weeks or months won't matter either way.

Lastly, I am not a big fan of typing.  All of the things I have told you here are available on my website free of charge.  I also have written a book about Yorkies that is available as a pdf download for those who would like to know everything and have it as a quick reference.  If you want to download the free word document you can go to www.petremembrances.com/Yorkie%20Advise.html and it is available there.

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