Hello Everyone:
Very recently my young male (almost 10 months) started to develop bad breath. I checked his teeth and there is no tartar build-up, I have not changed his food (I feed solid gold hunden flocken). The only thing that is different is that we have been having a very hot couple of weeks and he is drinking more water, but other than that, he seems fine. His stool is ok, and other than the bad breath, he is doing ok. Any suggestions or thoughts?
Thanks,
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Brandon

Hi Brandon,

Do you brush your dog's teeth? If not, it's a good habit to get into because dog's can develop the same types of problems with their teeth and gums that people do.

On the other hand, bad breath can be caused by something more serious. It can be a symptom of a serious underlying health problem such as diabetes (especially with the increased drinking), renal failure, or a host of other problems. Here's a link to one article on bad breath at Pet Education. Just to be on the safe side, you should probably take your dog to the vet to make sure it's nothing serious.

Good luck and let us know what you find out!

Hi and thanks:
I do brush his teeth, but only about once a month or so. The vet checked him about about a month and a half ago when we got his rabies shot and everything seemed ok? I will check that link and once again, thanks for the info.
Regards
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Brandon

I'm not familiar with the food you use but I know my son's dog had terrible breath until he put him on BARF.

We use these things called "greenies", they are toothbrush shape chews that are made to get rid of bad breath. They have worked for our dog they might work for yours.

The dogs love the greenies! It's one of their favorite treats.

I think it's best to be absolutely certain that there's no underlying problem though. It's always better to be safe than sorry. There could be something going on that wasn't apparent a month ago. Solid Gold is pretty good so far as kibble goes, and if Brandon hasn't changed the dogs food, it's odd that this bad breath just started happening.

I had a Samoyed puppy who developed juvenile diabetes at 9 months of age, and the symptoms came on very quickly. By the time they figured out what it was, the dog was so sick that he had to be put to sleep. He had bad breath, he was drinking & urinating a lot, but he also began throwing up bile.

I'd just hate for Brandon not to have the dog checked out because everyone's assuming it's nothing, and then find out later that there's something seriously wrong with the dog. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just saying that it's better to check it out in case something's wrong, because it's always easier to treat something if you catch it early. It's always better to err on the side of caution.

On the otherhand common things occur commonly, so anything serious is unlikely.