Gum Disease in Your Furry Friend: Symptoms, Risk Factors, & Ways to Prevent
Periodontal disease is called gum disease, and is known to affect several animals, particularly dogs. Periodontal disease can be dangerous since it can progress rapidly and start eroding the bones and gums, holding the teeth firmly in place. When your pet’s gums develop issues, the teeth will be adversely affected, and your pet will experience discomfort, pain, and tooth loss. Moreover, your furry friend will experience issues while eating or chewing food.
Periodontal disease develops as food particles accumulate gradually at your dog’s gum-line and start forming plaque. The plaque gets transformed into tartar after combining with certain minerals that make up your saliva. Tartar is a yellow, cement-like hard substance that gets stuck or accumulated along your pet’s gum-line over a period. If tartar is overlooked, and the issue is not addressed promptly, it can cause major gum inflammation. It is pivotal to eliminate all tartar before it starts irritating your pet’s gums. Harmful bacteria may develop in your pet’s gum tissues. As a result, the gums develop inflammation and redness, and your pet will soon have foul breath. Harmful bacteria will get easily trapped in the pockets present in the tartar that gets accumulated all along your pet’s gum-line. His teeth will soon develop abscesses that are instrumental in releasing toxins and damaging bone tissues and gums. Teeth will soon become loose, and your pet will encounter missing teeth issues. It is pivotal to provide your precious pet with proper professional preventive care to keep periodontal disease at bay.
According to Web MD, periodontal disease is generally silent. When the disease initiates, there are no outward symptoms or signals. However, once a periodontal disease starts gaining momentum, it can progress quickly and devastate your pet’s oral health and hygiene. Periodontal disease may cause eroded gums, chronic pain, bone loss, and missing teeth. Luckily, your pet can avoid all these complications and issues, provided you take preventive measures to keep periodontal disease at bay and the pain or distress associated with it.
Symptoms of Periodontal Disease in Dogs
There are no initial symptoms of periodontal disease in dogs. Most pet owners do not observe any outward symptoms, until the issues are in an advanced stage. At this stage, your furry friend may be experiencing discomfort and chronic pain. Often dogs are experts in hiding their suffering or pain because they do not like to demonstrate their weakness.
Here are some symptoms of the periodontal disease once it has advanced drastically:
- Bad breath or foul odor
- Discharge or pus at the gums
- Bleeding and inflamed gums
- Loose or falling teeth
- Your dog experiences difficulty chewing or eating food, appetite loss, or a stomach upset.
- Salivating and drooling.
- Lumps and bumps are found in the dog’s mouth.
- Bloody saliva
- Nasal discharge
The Importance of Preventing Gum Disease in Your Pets Dogs
- Daily dental cleaning is necessary for maintaining good dental health and oral hygiene in your pet dog. You may take care of brushing your pet’s teeth every day. Moreover, if you wish to avoid gum disease in your pet, you may focus on providing routine professional dental examinations and cleaning. Pet owners should use a perfect toothbrush to clean their dog’s teeth thoroughly daily. You may use premium products and tools to maintain the perfect oral health of your pet. See a qualified veterinarian on a regular basis. Schedule routine checkups and cleaning sessions with a professional dentist to detect periodontal disease in the initial stages and address the issue right at the early stages.
- Brushing your pet’s teeth twice daily can be best for keeping gum disease at bay. You may opt for regular oral cleanings and exams. Whenever recommended, you may go for X-rays performed under the influence of general anesthesia for a comprehensive idea of what is going wrong with your pet.
- Feed top-quality food to your pet. Dental diets may prove to be immensely beneficial to your furry friend. They may enjoy having dog foods with additives to prevent periodontal diseases.
- Offer your favorite pet-safe treats and toys for everyday enjoyment and chewing purposes. Use safe and soft toys and treats that may not hurt your pet as they are soft and often with rounded edges to prevent broken teeth or fractures.
Risk Factors
Some factors are responsible for the rapid progress of the periodontal disease in your pet.
Diet You Serve to Your Pet: The diet you offer your pet can be crucial in boosting overall oral health. Often the wrong diet may lead to rapid progress in your pet’s periodontal disease. A well-balanced and healthy diet rich in proteins with low carbohydrates can go a long way in preventing gum disease. You may feed top-quality hard kibble made of proteins to minimize tartar build-up and plaque. Often veterinarians recommend a diet comprising raw meat because tearing and chewing raw meat help loosen and remove food particles stuck at your pet’s gum-line. Another effective way of loosening food particles, stuck at your pet’s gum-line is by providing your pet with chew bones. These chew bones provide adequate friction for getting rid of the food particles that lead to gum disease and other oral infections.
The Genetics or Breed of Your Pet Dog: Often gum disease occurs because it is common in some specific genetics or breeds of dogs. You may focus on choosing a pet from a trusted breeder who pays attention to minimizing health issues like gum disease in the animals under his care. If your pet belongs to a high-risk breed, it is better to focus on his oral hygiene. You should help him to brush his teeth at least, twice daily with a suitable toothbrush and premium quality toothpaste recommended by your vet.
Treating Gum Disease in Pet Dogs
The gum disease line of treatment depends on the stage of the disease.
In stage 1, you may notice slight inflammation or mild redness. You may start cleaning religiously, the gum-line to avoid the undesirable accumulation of food particles. In stage 2, periodontal pockets may develop between the tooth and the gum of your pet. At this stage, professional cleaning of the tooth root and gum tissues is mandatory. Treating the affected areas with a suitable gel may result in reattaching the tooth to the gum. At stage 3 of the periodontal disease, the pockets may become deeper and bone loss is inevitable. Professional cleaning and care are necessary at this stage to open gum flaps and clean or get rid of all the affected gum tissues. Stage 4 is marked by bone loss that is more than 50 percent. At this stage, there is only one way out and that is, tooth extraction.
Conclusion
You may take preventive measures to avoid gum disease in your furry friend. Focus on boosting the overall oral hygiene of your pet. Follow regular cleaning exercises and go for routine dental examinations to boost oral health and hygiene.
