How old is my Chihuahua?

[mynameislola]

On August 21st of this year I brought home a Chihuahua. The AKC paperwork that came with him said his birthday was May 23rd, 2007. That would make him more than 16 weeks old, but he has yet to lose any of his baby teeth. I am wondering if any of the other Chihuahua owners have seen such late adult tooth development or if the papers are for some other dog and there is fraud involved. Or maybe he is a mutant with no adult teeth.

His name is Sparky, he is red with a brown mask and nose, and weighs 3.6 lbs. Any ideas on how big he might get? I'd like to start crocheting him a sweater and don't want to make it too small.

Any guesses?

[tiffers]

It's very, very common for Chihuahuas not to lose their deciduous teeth. Their adults teeth will start coming in around 5-6 months old.

[ferJenna]

I agree with Tiff. Chihuahua teeth are very weird compared to most breeds. Most dogs start getting their adult teeth at around 4 months. Chihuahua's are normally a little slower. I'm guessing that my little girl is about 8-9 months old and she just now lost her last baby tooth. It's not uncommon that the baby canine tooth will stay along side the adult canine.

[mynameislola]

Thanks for the input. He still has lost no baby teeth.

[tiffers]

Most small dogs have to have their deciduous teeth pulled when they're spayed/neutered.

[PeachFaceMom]

salsa took forever to lose her baby teeth..the age you have been told sounds about right ;)

[mynameislola]

With all our other dogs, they lost all or most of their baby teeth by the time they got spayed or neutered, but it looks like he will be neutered before he loses any of his puppy teeth.

There are other problems with his paperwork. His shot record says he is a girl and two of the places he supposedly got shots don't exist. The breeder and the pet shop owner did not fill out the transfer correctly so the pup can't be AKC registered unless I falsify documents which isn't going to happpen.

The important thing is he's a cutie pie and very patient about my looking at his teeth every day. He has outgrown his first sweater just in time since he tore a hole in it yesterday.

[tiffers]

When he gets neutered, your vet will probably remove the deciduous teeth.

[mynameislola]

We are going to leave the teeth in for now just in case he is a mutant and has no adult teeth.

It is interesting how his color is changing. He had black on his tail that is going away and he is becoming more black under his chin. It makes him look like his neck is dirty. His nose is less pink and more liver.

There is now a picture of Sparky on Rosita's Photobucket.

[mynameislola]

He lost two teeth yesterday, yay! His photo is here: http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/mynameiszita

[mynameislola]

Within three days of his first two teeth falling out, he had lost all the little front ones except one. It was still there when the adult teeth came in so I kept massaging it until it fell out. He isn't a mutant after all, yay!

The best part is that his ear tip that flopped while his teeth were falling out has popped back up. It would wobble when he ran, and he kept looking at it instead of where he was going.

[tiffers]

That's good to hear! His ears sound really, really cute! :)

[mynameislola]

Sure will be nice when those incisors fall out. A break from the pain of his bite inhibition training would be wonderful. Yesterday he sat on my lap for almost 15 minutes before the biting started. Woo hoo!

Bummer I don't need a tiny guard dog. His personality would be perfect for it.

[ferJenna]

Does he still have his baby canine teeth? Those might not fall out on their own.. Even when the adult one's come in.

[mynameislola]

He has not lost any more teeth yet and nothing is coming in. He got his rabies shot today and the Vet. said that he thought he saw the incisors through the gums.

The trash can outside the local Burger King franchise was overflowing, as usual, so we worked on the Leave it! command on the way home. The ravens were picking through the trash so we got to do some bird socialization too.

[mynameislola]

He lost his first molar, but the canines are still there. We are postponing his neutering, again.

[mynameislola]

Here is an update on Sparky and his teeth.

He was neutered today and they also removed three canines which were the only puppy teeth left. I am glad we waited long enough that they could do it all at once. We are guessing that he is at least five months old.

He is currently asleep in his Outward Hound frontpack carrier.

[tiffers]

Yay! Congrats! Glad everything went well. :)

[luvmychis]

Just be prepared when u take him to get his teeth professionally cleaned, he may loose permanent teeth. apparently its very common in little ones. my 6 yr old doesn't have many more she can afford to loose and my other 2 have lost a few also. Can we get doggie dentures???

just some food for thought lol.

and a ps, i brush their teeth twice a week. so i donno.

[tiffers]

Just be prepared when u take him to get his teeth professionally cleaned, he may loose permanent teeth.
This is common, but if you take care of the teeth, especially in small breeds, they may never need their teeth pulled, just cleaned.

my 6 yr old doesn't have many more she can afford to loose and my other 2 have lost a few also. Can we get doggie dentures???
Actually, there are doggie dentures. They're expensive, but they're out there. Unless you're feeding your dog live animals, they don't need their teeth. They can digest the food just the same...of course, they'll need to eat canned. But, we have a quite a few dogs without any teeth and they're living like any other dog.

[luvmychis]

omg that is too funny. they really have doggie dentures.!! haha that is too funny. yea, as far as taking care of the teeth, i don't really know what more to do. i brush twice/wk. and issue denta bones? i have heard it's pretty common tho.

[tiffers]

yea, as far as taking care of the teeth, i don't really know what more to do.

There are actually a TON of things you can do. Virbac/C.E.T. makes most of the dental products out there. It's just that the common person doesn't have time to take care of the pet's teeth like they need to be and that's totally understandable.