HORRIBLE Breath--help me think through some ideas.

[irkenequine]

BLEEEEGH. I am totally OK with poop smell, vomit smell, breath etc but my Bull Terrier’s breath is RANK all the time.

And I dont mean “yuck wet dog breath” I mean, it smells like blood and crap. I don’t have a way to be delicate about it.

When he was under for his neuter we picked over his teeth and they looked fantastic. He’s only a few years old. At his yearly again I mentioned his breath being gross and my GP looked one more time–teeth look great!

I can’t stand it anymore. It is CONSTANTLY awful. I know he didn’t just eat something–the smell radiates from his mouth when you open it. I am planning to do a dental in March if there’s no identifiable cost but he does miserably under anesthesia (has to be ventilated, he gets too deep VERY easily) so frankly I’d like to avoid it.

Anyone had any MEDICAL issues that have resulted in foul breath? My vets I work with are surgeons so outside of the orthopedic realm, they weren’t very helpful diagnostically.

Armchair vets, have a go.

[lovey1121]

No solutions, just commiseration. My 10 mo. old JRT has odd stinky breath. Its metallic smelling, like blood, and strangely enough my dearest departed heart dog, a 6 y.o. JRT, had the same unfortunate breath, though both dogs had great teeth. None of my other 4 have this stink. Curious to see what might come up.

[Milocalwinnings]

I was thinking about posting a thread on the same topic and then I saw yours. We have a rescue Bernese Mtn. Dog / Shep. mix who has awful breath. His breath has always smelled a little bit, but recently in the past 2 months it’s gotten so bad. I don’t even know how to describe it. He can be standing in front of you panting and you can smell it without being super close.

My first thought was maybe a bad tooth, but IME those usually smell like sh*t and thats not what his smells like. I can’t describe what his smells like. He is 10 and his teeth are warn down pretty far and not in the best shape due to neglect… One of his canines looks like the outside has been chipped off. He is due for vacciness this month so I guess we will have them check it out and see if that’s what could be causing his terrible breath.

[Simkie]

Does he go outside and eat his poop? I’ve known dogs that do, and their breath is FOUL.

[Emryss]

…or cat poop. Ack.

[irkenequine]

He is a poop eater dog and cat poop. (I love this kid but god is he disgusting. If he’s not eating poop, he’s burping, farting, barfing, eating barf, marking something or digging through the trash. Nasty boy to the core.) We did the feed through which stopped him eating his own poop, but it doesn’t help us much at the dog park.

Would that cause constant, residual, always and forever bad dogbreath though? I mean no brainer, eating poop’s not going to make his breath taste great…but even on days that I KNOW he hasn’t had any (been at work with me, leashwalked in the morning and then come to bed with me) he’ll crawl towards me in bed and his rancid bloodcrap breath will wake. me. up.

Lovey and Milocal, you have nothing but my sympathy. I can take farting all day long but I have had enough of this kids face! I don’t even want him to lay near me on the couch half the time. Which is a shame, because its a pretty cute face.

[equidae]

Funny- I was just going to start a thread on the same thing

Except my dog is a 6 yo Chi. Honestly- it is RANK. It smells like she just passed gas. Her teeth are pretty yucky looking (like GREEN yucky), but I just got her so a vet visit and cleaning are in store.

In the mean time- EW. I’ve never smelled breath this bad at ALL. Other than that- she’s the cutest cuddle bug ever.

[irkenequine]

Yeah when I’m intubating at work, elderly dog teeth produce some of the most noxiously bad smells ever…but there’s something deeeply satisfying about doing a dental and chipping all of that crap off their teeth. When I worked my previous jobs, techs would fight over doing them. Your problem should go away equidae when your kid’s teeth are shiny white again :yes:

Honestly I wish Catfish had some plaque to chip off, so I wouldn’t feel like this dental was a massive waste of money, but I have GOT to try somethin’.

I just wondered like with humans and diabetes etc, if there was any medical condition out there that caused bad breath.

[arabiansrock]

sinus infection?

[alto]

Try searches on some of the b.i.g dog forums - I’ve seen it discussed on the old German Shepherd Dog forum (pre-corporate takeover days so it won’t be in the archive any longer unless someone’s been “keeping” it).
I’d spend the money on an internist rather than a dental if his teeth are that good …

[equidae]

[QUOTE=irkenequine;6064809]
Yeah when I’m intubating at work, elderly dog teeth produce some of the most noxiously bad smells ever…but there’s something deeeply satisfying about doing a dental and chipping all of that crap off their teeth. When I worked my previous jobs, techs would fight over doing them. Your problem should go away equidae when your kid’s teeth are shiny white again :yes:

Honestly I wish Catfish had some plaque to chip off, so I wouldn’t feel like this dental was a massive waste of money, but I have GOT to try somethin’.

I just wondered like with humans and diabetes etc, if there was any medical condition out there that caused bad breath.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I hope so!

[5chestnuts]

Are you feeding any treats? The chicken jerky treats (made in China) are the worst for creating rank breath.

[irkenequine]

Nope, I’m a mean mom and actually don’t buy or give treats…if I do its something like a cow hoof that they chew on, but nothing nibbly apart from the occasional chunk of a raw food log in the fridge.

[Kryswyn]

My dog Pinch had great breath until she had her first litter of pups. From that day, until the day she died, her breath was awful! Of course, she was the one who wanted to kiss you all the time. I love dog kisses, and I adored Pinch, but that breath was.just.too.awful.

Never knew what caused it. Never had a tooth or sinus problem diagnosed. Her heart went bad when she was about 12, and the breath was no worse.

What are you feed your dog (besides poop LOL)?

[irkenequine]

I mix Taste of the Wild dry with a locally made raw food log wet that I add on top (cut off a chunk and give a coin to each dog). Bull Terrier is the garbage compactor of them all and will eat anything with no problems (unlike my Aussie who bursts into hives and butt dragging at the sign of corn).

Although poop is a staple in his diet, certainly.

I never thought of sinus problems; a Bull Terrier probably has an interesting design in that department…

[PAF]

Although I’m sure they don’t have all the folds of skin like a basset hound, you might check for skin fold infections near the mouth. Sinus and cracked tooth are the other things that come to mind.

[JB]

Check for ulcers? Stomach, not mouth

Many bad breath issues are from the stomach. You can feed parsley which will act on the stomach and lessen the stench

[bdj]

[QUOTE=irkenequine;6064834]
Nope, I’m a mean mom and actually don’t buy or give treats…if I do its something like a cow hoof that they chew on, but nothing nibbly apart from the occasional chunk of a raw food log in the fridge.[/QUOTE]

I’m sure it isn’t the solution to the problem, but I don’t give my guys cow hooves because they stink when chewed! (Big guy was visiting at a friend’s house one day, and I started to smell pee… - but there’s no puddle… then I realize that the smell is coming from the cow hoof that he’s happily working on under the table… ugh.)

On the parsley idea, any possiblility of trying out one of the “Bad Breath” treats just to see if it makes a difference?
Foster & Smith has a house product: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19874
and Springtime sells spirulina, which has a bunch of chlorophyll in it (though they warn that the poop will go dark…): http://www.springtimeinc.com/product/spirulina-wafers/horses

My littlest has not so great breath (and less than pretty teeth) - so of course, she’s my one dog who doesn’t like nylabones! She apparently had a dental done very young (around 1 year) and my vet thinks that her enamel was probably damaged. I have to get serious about the toothbrushing, so we can hopefully stave off the need for full on cleanings in the future.

[Simkie]

@irkenequine;6064803

He is a poop eater dog and cat poop. (I love this kid but god is he disgusting. If he’s not eating poop, he’s burping, farting, barfing, eating barf, marking something or digging through the trash. Nasty boy to the core.) We did the feed through which stopped him eating his own poop, but it doesn’t help us much at the dog park.

Would that cause constant, residual, always and forever bad dogbreath though? I mean no brainer, eating poop’s not going to make his breath taste great…but even on days that I KNOW he hasn’t had any (been at work with me, leashwalked in the morning and then come to bed with me) he’ll crawl towards me in bed and his rancid bloodcrap breath will wake. me. up.

Well, maybe…I had one poop eater and her breath was really awful ALL the time, not just when she’s been snacking.

I don’t know about the BLOOD smell, though. I don’t remember that. I think stomach ulcers are an interesting idea.

You know, another possibility might be an imbalance in the bacteria in his gut? Perhaps that poop eating has knocked things out of whack enough to cause a smell. Maybe a really good probiotic would be useful? Does he have a clean fecal?

[bits619]

I know that smell well… My labrador just reeks of it! Nevermind when she’s panting, if she’s sitting next to my chair and opens her mouth to ‘lick her chops’ it sends me reeling. Of course, it didn’t show up when we took her into the vet to ask about it… There are times when it’s just regular icky dog breath, and then there’s THAT smell. Totally different leagues!

She’s also an excessively flatulent beast… I think a dollop of yogurt per day is in her future. Don’t know if it’ll help her odiferous emissions, but it’s a fairly cheap experiment to try!