MOST Baby Teeth Retained!
 

:confused: Willow's adult teeth grew in but lots of her baby teeth have still not fallen out!! She's nine months now and nothing. I took her to the vet and he said she was too tiny to get put under so that it was best if I leave her as she is. She's 2.8lbs and he just doesn't think its worth risking it. And if HE doesn't feel comfortable putting her under, then I'M not comfortable putting her under. I would dieeeeee if anything happened to her!!! This of course means she won't get spayed... I was hoping she could get her teeth pulled and spayed all at once. I obviously don't plan on breeding her.

Has this happened to any of you? Suggestions? She literally has two rows of teeth on top. On the bottom it seems like some of them fell out but she still has some in there like her canines and such. I'm a worried mommy.

I forgot to mention that she doesn't chew her food. She swallows them whole, LOL. BUT her food pebbles are tiny. When I give her bones and hard treats she chews them fine. Seems so, anyway.

At what weight does he feel it would be safe to spay her? Maybe you need to look into other vets that have more experience with very tiny dogs that would feel the spay could be done safely. In order for a vet to be able to do the surgery they have to have instruments small enough and this might be one of his issues. What was is solution for the double teeth? Her teeth will begin to smell and rot if they are not removed leading to other issues. There have been others on the board who have had spays done on tinies.

The one thing that always concerns me when it comes to the very tiny ones like your baby is the chance they are ever lost or stolen. Without her being spayed she would be in danger if this were to ever happen. Whenever I hear of a lost Yorkie the first thing that comes to my mind is that I hope they are spayed/neutered :( No just never know what the future might hold and if it were me I would not be comfortable ever for fear of this possibility.

She sure is adorable :)

I honestly have no idea about what is the safe weight to spay or not but I do thinking leaving retaining teeth could be a big problem and could be uncomfortable.

Ahh!! That is SO scary!!! He didn't tell me any of this. I will definitely look into other vets, then. Not sure how to find one that specializes on tinies and not just says they do....

And thank yoooou!!!

I'm in the same situation. Bentley is 13 months and weights 2.5 lbs. The vet doesn't recommend we get him fixed. He also retained majority of his baby teeth ( with adult all growing in) until he was about one. He has about 2-3 left. The vet told that would happen so i'm sure Willow will be fine.

Omg, thanks so much. That made me feel a lot better. I was reading around and they say I should wait until she's about one to get her spayed anyway. Hopefully by then her teeth will be almost gone if not completely. Thanks so much.

Please give Willow until she is a year old before you decide to get her teeth removed. I also worried a lot when the vet kept reassuring me he would be fine. I brush his teeth and they are sparkling white now. It's not about the size of the instruments that worry vets ...its really about them not being at the body weight vets feel comfortable putting them under with. My babies have seen 3 vets and 2 specialists that said the same.

It is not okay to let baby teeth just sit in there. One or two -- probably won't hurt too much. Several retained, you are talking about bite issues, rotting, gum problems (that she will have to live with life long), adult teeth problems (also life long). She will almost certainly require a dental in her lifetime anyway. Not sure why the big push to not get it done... If this is something you and your vet are very concerned about, you could find a new vet or just go to a specialty hospital when she needs a surgical procedure done. There should be an anesthesiologist on staff...

Whether or not you want to spay is a personal decision. I would not let size stop me unless several vets said it was unsafe. Leaving her unspayed, you are risking mammary cancer and pyometra. And then you are talking about major surgery to take care of those things while she is very sick. Then suddenly her anesthesia risk goes up even more.

I would be deciding (with a qualified vet) just how long those baby teeth can safely stay. After that time is up, they need to be pulled... My dog's old vet wasn't too interested in removing baby teeth either. Set us up for a path of dental issues with her. She has lost many adult teeth now because her dental needs were not taken care of when she was young.

morgan just got neutered/he had 6 baby teeth pulled that were behind his front teeth

Have you ever be in an OR? :confused: They need to also use appropriate sized instruments and equipment to be able to operate on very tiny animals. This can be an issue. I still do not understand how your very would even suggest that leaving retained puppy teeth is acceptable. I would suggest that you find a vet that can properly address your little guys retained teeth before you too have serious dental issues. :( Yorkies are prone to dental issues and to have a breeding ground for bacteria is just not necessary.

Unless she has an underlying medical condition I still stand behind my original statement that you should look into other vets. As Ellie May suggested your vet is setting her up for future dental issues. If it were me I would try to wait until after a year old to see if she grows a little more but you really should not leave those teeth much longer. When I got Bogey he had a few retained teeth and was just a little over a year old. His breath was horrible and he was headed toward future dental issues.

You never know when you might need surgical intervention and I would want to make very sure that my vet was capable, equipped and competent.

As for the argument regarding size, there are premature tiny infants that are put under anesthesia every day in this country. The appropriate sized equipment as well as instruments and staff are all in place to successfully perform the surgical procedures. I'm not trying to scare you but when you own a tiny it's a very special situation and needs to be addressed more carefully.

We had a tiny guy who ended up with two rows of teeth also. Long story short he ended up with NO teeth by the time he was 7 from all the resulting problems. Please don't let it go on too long before you do something.