Caring for Puppy Teeth

Video Transcript

"Again the teeth don't start to come out in a puppy between, until about three to four weeks of age. And then we start getting the incisors and the premolars start developing at four to six weeks of age. That's really the best way to tell the age of a puppy, is by looking at their teeth. When you get in a puppy like this, first of course, you want to look to see if it's a male or female and this guy is a little male. Okay, you want to examine them completely just to see that they're really healthy. I'm going to look again, like I said, at the teeth and I'm going to see that all the teeth are in. I'm going to see that the, the, the gums and the mouth is really a nice pink color. That's important, if they, the color is a light white color, they're not getting enough oxygen, so you want to make sure that they're having nice color to them. You also want to look at the behavior and that they're active and they're playful like a puppy, and this guy definitely is, very happy puppy. Now if he was just laying here and not energetic, that, I would be concerned, because puppies really should be playful and happy and excited. I also want to look at his eyes, okay, and if he'll let me, okay, and I'm going to see that there's no discharge or goo around the eye, that the eyes are nice and open and bright. And that I'm not seeing anything suspicious around those eyes, they look really good, clear. I'm also going to look at the ears. Hi sweetie. I'm actually going to look in the ears, and unlike the other puppy that we had, whose ears were closed, this puppy's ears are open because he is now a big puppy and his ears have opened up. They look really good, they're nice and clean and nothing, I don't see any problems in those ears. You will sometimes see dark, darkness, which could be ear mites or an infection if it was bright red. These puppies definitely like to teethe, so it's a good idea to give them a toy so that they can chew on it rather than your hands. I'm also going to look at the nose and see that there's no discharge in the nose. And the nose looks nice and clear. Okay, so that looks great. Then we're going to go down and I just take my hand and go all the way down the body. Okay? And feel for any sign, anything that's, any scabs, lumps or bumps. And I don't feel anything. The coat is nice and soft, okay, and I'm not feeling anything out of the ordinary. Okay, and I'm going to go all the way down to the feet. Going to look at the feet and the pads, see that nice clear colorful pads? If they were hard and any any crusting that would be concerning, but these look like very healthy pads. I'm going to look at the feet, the toenails and all of them. And then I'm going to just look at him while he moves and make sure that all of his limbs are working well and he's not limping. Okay? And then I'm also going to check the tail and the anal area and see if there is any discharge there, any signs of diarrhea. And he doesn't. This is a very very healthy puppy."