Tue 20 May 2008
Hi, I am new to this forum and have a question about the dental health of dachshunds. I do not own one, my mother owns a 7 yr old male. He went to the vet because he had bad breath and plaque on his teeth. The vet recommended removing the front teeth; he said it was common for dachunds over the age of 5 yrs to have their front teeth pulled because the teeth are so small that food constantly becomes lodged in between the teeth and it causes tooth decay. He said he did it often with miniauture dachshunds. I don’t know much about the breed… but this seems a bit extreme to me… can anyone please tell me whether this is normal for dachshunds? Any advice would be much appreciated.Â
My vet told me the same thing. My poor dachshund had a dental today, and had to have 13 teeth removed. Including all of his front top and bottom teeth. I hope he is going to be ok, and hopefully he wont miss his front teeth too much. Doxies just have really bad teeth sometimes. I brush his teeth almost every day, he’s only been eating dry dog food (which doesn’t seem to make a difference), and still his teeth are in horrible condition. If your vet says they have to come out, then do it. Bad teeth can lead to so many health problems. Good luck.
It actually happens a lot in small breeds. A Pomeranian will start losing teeth at 4 years of age, Chihuahua anywhere 3-5 years. It is one of the flaws in breeding. The down breeding of dachshunds has caused several difficulties with oral care, some as severe as losing teeth (or having to have them pulled) to something not as severe, but still disappointing, as halitosis(really really bad breath with no external cause)