Worried about puppy drooling

[ltrent12]

Hi all, I am new here, have been lurking for 6 months and just got our little 4 1/2 month old male Yorkie, Jazzy, a little while ago (at 10 weeks old). Yesterday he woke up covered in saliva. His mouth, neck and paws were wet! I dried him off, my DH and I checked his mouth with a flashlight and didn't find anything unusual. He is eating, drinking and playing completely normally! I called the vet and she can't see us until Monday, but the vet tech said as long as he was eating, drinking and acting normal it was not an emergency and to bring him in Monday. She thought it was probably teething.

He has normal stool, no foaming at the mouth, no neurological symptoms, no vomiting, no new stressors. I did research on the internet and on yorkietalk (!!!) and found nothing that explains his symptoms except this from animalhealthcare.ca:

In young dogs, drooling is frequently associated with:

• Dental pain—teeth may become broken or infected or baby teeth may be retained, interfering with the new adult teeth. As well, normal teething and excess chewing may lead to salivation.
• Chewing on sticks or other irritating things, leading to damage of the gums or sometimes, a stick may become impacted between the teeth
• Bee or hornet stings in the mouth and throat—if a dog has put his mouth in a nest and received a number of stings, drooling may continue for some time due to the pain and swelling
• The feeling of nausea associated with development of digestive troubles (gastritis, pancreatitis, enteritis, stomach distension) can lead to drooling, though over the course of 2 days, other signs will likely be noted, especially vomiting.

There are other less common reasons for drooling. Sometimes by the time the dog is assessed, the evidence has disappeared, and no particular cause can be determined.

I gave him his anti-inflammatory/pain medication we had left from his neuter and that seemed to decrease the salivation by about 80% but it came back when the medicine wore off. When he's up playing and running around, he controls the saliva, but when he naps he wakes up damp.

Has anyone else's baby had this happen with teething? Is there anything I should worry about that I haven't thought of?


Any advice would be welcome!

[Darlene68]

I have no advice, I am awaiting my yorkie, but it sounds like teething..I just wanted to say welcome!! Good luck with your little fellow, I'm hope he will be okay! I'm sure you will get lots of suggestions and advice from experienced YT'er's

[capt_noonie]

This exact thing happened to Uni a few weeks back! And the DAY AFTER HER BATH! She waits for us to get ready to go to work on the back of our sofa. She was shaking and hiding her face like she didn't want me to see her gross saliva face. I cleaned her up but it just kept coming back. I had to put a bandana around her neck to catch the drool, like a bib, LOL.

After three days it didn't go away so i took her to the vet. She was eating, playing, pooping everything just fine. He said she most likely licked something slightly toxic to cause the mouth to salivate more to try to get it out, but not toxic enough to actually make her sick. Now that i think about it, we had thai curry noodles the night before, and one noodle fell on the ground. She could have eaten or licked it, in which there was onions and garlic in the noodles!

The vet said if she's acting normally, just wait for it to pass. He said no meds bc we didn't know what it was that she licked. Well the very next day she had a slightly mucous-y poop, and after that the drooly mouth was gone!

Maybe your pup licked something? Pups aren't very picky about what they lick or put into their mouths. When Uni was teething she did not slobber like this so perhaps your pup did lick something? If he's fine otherwise just wait it out. I know it will seem like forever with the constant wiping! Uni's lasted about 4 days.

[ltrent12]

Thanks so much for the reply's! It's so hard not to worry, even though it seems like something silly!

Now that I think about it, the day before the drooling started, we were at my oldest daughters orthodontist and were walking Jazzy around outside. He was picking and eating leaves and plants and who knows WHAT they put on their lawn to keep it picture perfect!?!? That makes way more sense then teething . . .

We will just watch him, wipe him off and hold off on the next bath until this passes!! He too had just had a bath the day before, I wonder if he licked too much puppy shampoo?!? Never thought of that either. Hmmmmm . . . he does lick his mouth alot when I bath him . . .

It's funny that Uni was embarrassed by her face, Jazzy seems proud of it! Just like a little boy to prance around filthy thinking he's king of the world!!! He'll rub his cold, wet, slobbery face against any exposed skin just to gross you out! He thinks it's funny to chase the kids around while they run screaming trying not to get slobbered!! I keep telling him I didn't get a big, drooly dog for a reason!!! LOL

Thanks again for the warm welcome and reassurance!!

[capt_noonie]

Oh no prob! Yea I was pretty freaked out too, i thought at first it was rabies??? but no foaming at the mouth. Thank god it wasn't that! It just may have been the lawn stuff he licked up. If it's the same as with Uni, he'll have a gross mucousy poop and it will all be better. Hope it goes away soon! : )

[Cinq1964]

Welcome! I kept my best friends puppy for their vacation last year and he did the same thing. After a while it just quite. Hopefully it will be the same. Good luck!

[capt_noonie]

How's Jazzy doing? Any improvement yet?

[ltrent12]

It is so funny!!! It is exactly as you described happening to Uni . . . he had a somewhat mucous-y poop last night before I put him to bed so I said a little prayer!! When I went in to get him this morning his face was DRY!!!! He is completely back to normal!!!! YEAH!!!! He spent the day chasing the kids down the slip 'n slide!! Rinsed off the last of the drool and wore out all the kids at the same time!!

Thanks so much for everyone's responses and reassurance! I feel so much better now. I know where to come for answers!!! YorkieTalk is WONDERFUL!!!!

[capt_noonie]

Yay!!! I'm very happy!

[manolos mom]

Welcome to YT...I would pass this on to your Vet just to make sure.