Dog oral diseases are not uncommon. They are even more common than all other ailments. In many ways, this situation is due to oversight of the owner or improper behavior of the pet itself. Any owner of a four-legged animal should understand what periostitis is in an animal, what are its symptoms and treatment methods, and how to prevent the appearance of an unpleasant ailment.
What is a dog tooth flux?
Flux in veterinary medicine is called periostitis. This is an infectious disease, manifested by inflammation near the periosteum. The word "periostitis" itself came from the Greek language and is translated as peri - "near", osteon - "bone". That is, it is an inflammatory process "around the bone."
The formation of flux in a dog is visible with the naked eye, if you examine the jaw of the animal. When it appears, you should not postpone the visit to the veterinarian, since procrastination threatens with dangerous consequences - deformation of the jaw bone, tooth loss and even sepsis.
Causes of the disease
The primary cause of gum disease in dogs is poor oral hygiene. The animal needs to brush its teeth, as well as monitor their health, if a stone appears, contact a veterinary clinic to remove it in time.
Flux can also be a complication of other pathologies: gingivitis, pulpitis, periodontitis.
One of the causes of flux in dogs is considered a secondary infection after the removal of a diseased tooth. After surgery, proper care of the dog's oral cavity is required so that there is no infection and the periosteum is not inflamed.
In addition, any trauma in the face of the face acts as a cause of gum disease in dogs - bone, pebbles, and other hard and sharp objects.
Varieties of pathology
Dog flux can be:
- Serous - occurs due to mechanical injury. A pet can fight another dog or hit its jaw while playing. This is a relatively easy type of pathology and, as a rule, goes away without consequences with appropriate treatment.
- Purulent - this type of flux is diagnosed if its initial stage was missed. Pus begins to accumulate in the periosteum. In this case, immediate treatment of the pet is required, which begins with the opening of the abscess.
- Diffuse is a severe stage of the disease. It is considered the most dangerous of all considered. Its course is extremely difficult, and sepsis may develop.
- Chronic. Such a development of the disease is rare and is diagnosed in dogs with significantly reduced body defenses, especially after serious illnesses.
If adequate treatment does not arrive on time, the flux can develop into an abscess (the second stage of inflammation, when the infection captures deeper tissues) or phlegmon (the most severe degree of the disease when other organs are involved).
Symptoms and signs
The owner of the animal may suspect the development of the disease when the dog wants to eat, but can not do it. A hungry animal restlessly walks around a bowl, tries to chew food, but experiences severe pain and spits out food. It also happens with water. At the same time, the entire jaw hurts the dog.
The pet is sleeping restlessly, whining, constantly jumping up. Examination of the jaw reveals loose teeth. Blood may remain in the bowl. It smells bad from the mouth, the animal is drooling, and there may be nosebleed.
With a serous form of pathology, the jaw swells, the periosteum swells. In a dog, one part of the muzzle becomes larger than the other, but this is not a mandatory feature. In this case, the pet can behave as usual, without experiencing pain.
With purulent inflammation of the periosteum, wounds on the gum are visible. The body temperature of the animal rises, the oral cavity swells and turns red, profuse salivation is observed.
With diffuse flux, the dog feels hard. The dog can lie and whine plaintively, constantly flicking its face. Body temperature is very high, salivation is elevated, blood often flows from the mouth.
First aid at home
If the dog’s condition is not serious, first aid can be given to the animal at home before going to the doctor. First of all, you need to give an anesthetic so that the dog calms down and can eat.
Food for a sick dog is given warm and soft so as not to injure an even more affected oral cavity.
Then you need to examine the jaw of the dog. If periostitis is in the initial stage, you can give an anti-inflammatory and rinse the dog's mouth with a decoction of sage and other anti-inflammatory herbs.
How to prepare a decoction for washing the jaw?
To prepare the medicine, take 60 grams of sage, St. John's wort and oak bark, brew a liter of boiling water, insist for at least two hours, cool and treat the affected jaw with moistened gauze dressings every hour.
You can take in equal amounts sage grass and green tea and pour boiling water (2 tablespoons of the mixture per liter of water) and let it brew for a day. A little salt is added to the finished broth and the jaw is also treated. Of course, the dog will not be able to rinse his mouth with a solution, so they just wipe their mouth with medical wipes soaked in the finished medicine.
When should I contact a veterinarian?
If the pet's periostitis is quite large, and the condition is serious, the temperature is high, you need to immediately take the dog to the doctor. It is the veterinarian who knows what the flux looks like in an animal, and will not confuse it with other pathologies. Only a doctor can assess the condition of the pet, make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment.
If the dog has flux on the upper jaw, this is fraught with complications up to meningitis, so contacting a veterinarian is extremely necessary.
Diagnosis and treatment
When contacting a doctor, they first perform an x-ray of the jaw and conduct laboratory tests.
In uncomplicated forms of pathology, conservative treatment with antibiotics and antiseptic solutions and ointments is performed.
In severe cases, surgical intervention is used. The abscess is opened under anesthesia, the oral cavity is treated with antiseptic solutions. If necessary, put drainage.
If the cause of the flux in a diseased tooth, it is removed. If the dog has tartar, it is also removed using ultrasound.
Flux antibiotics
Antibacterial drugs are drugs that help fight bacterial infections. It is bacteria that most often causes inflammation on the gums of an animal; therefore, the administration of antibiotics for flux in a dog is quite justified in this case.
With periostitis, the doctor prescribes drugs with a wide spectrum of action. Among them: Tsiprovet, Amoxicillin, Ceftriaxone. They may be in the form of tablets or injectable solutions.
Antibacterial drugs can prevent the spread of infection throughout the body. However, their reception is not a panacea. And, as soon as the condition of the pet improves, you need to do the treatment of teeth and gums of the animal.
Antibiotics treat a dog’s flux in the case of an initial stage of pathology in order to overcome the disease. If the condition is neglected, surgical removal of the abscess is first performed, and then antibacterial drugs are prescribed.
A course of antibiotics should be prescribed by a doctor. Self-medication of the dog in this case is dangerous, the necessary doses are not so easy to calculate, so you should not risk the health of the pet.
Care Features
If the pet is diagnosed with periostitis, the owner should reconsider the features of animal care:
- First of all, to provide rest to a sick animal. Any types of activity and training are minimized. Of course, this does not mean that the dog should only lie; nevertheless, it is worth restricting its movement.
- Provide the animal with healthy medical nutrition. The amount of vitamins and minerals should be sufficient. Calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D must be present in food. This will help to overcome the disease faster and avoid complications.
The owner needs to be attentive to the condition of the pet, because sometimes a good word can alleviate the suffering of the animal.
Prevention
Most often, the appearance of flux can be avoided if you carefully monitor the health of the four-legged. Since periostitis occurs where there is plaque and stone, you need to engage in regular brushing of the animal’s teeth.
If the stone is formed, you should immediately contact your veterinarian to remove it. It is not difficult to notice it: in this case, the teeth darken at the base or acquire a yellow color.
To avoid stone formation, you should pay attention to the following points in pet care:
- The dog should eat solid foods that can be nibbled every day. Thus, dental formations are brushed off.
- The dog's teeth should be brushed with a special brush, which can be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy.
- There are also special pastes and gels for dissolving plaque, which can also be used for prevention.
- Removing tartar in a veterinary clinic is the most guaranteed way to prevent periostitis in an animal.
In addition, at home, you can periodically wipe the gums of the four-legged with a solution of tea soda (a teaspoon in a glass of water), as well as give the dog gnaw “sugar” bones to grind teeth and cleanse them.
If the animal’s nutrition is too soft, this can lead to caries, untimely treatment of which causes various complications, including inflammation of the periosteum. Sometimes dog owners ask what a tooth flux is. This is inflammation at its root leading to gum swelling.
So, periostitis (flux) in a dog is a pathology dangerous, but with careful attention to the condition of the pet is completely removable. Timely detection of the disease and contacting the veterinarian can help the animal. The main thing for the owner is to monitor the health of the dog's oral cavity, and then it is quite possible to avoid problems in the form of flux.