Clicking jaw when 5 month old opens his jaw wide
I called our Vet yesterday, and the Vet Tech was going to talk with the Dentist about this. Any ideas what this is? |
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| I can't remember who else, but I know Stormi's boy Jack did this when he was about that age, or maybe a bit older. I think there were 2 or three others who had dogs do this, and if I remember correctly it was all males.
I have no idea what it is or why some do it, but I don't think there was a problem with any that did it. I would guess that his lower jaw is growing faster than his top jaw right now. |
| I'm a little confused -- the title of your post is "clicking jaw" while the body talks about chattering teeth.
The chattering teeth is something my guy developed at an advanced age. Stacey is right, Stormi had started a thread about it is here: http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=510 If on the other hand it's a jaw clicking, like it's getting stuck open then "cracking" when he closes it, I haven't heard of that in sheepdogs... yet. Good luck! |
Ron wrote: I'm a little confused -- the title of your post is "clicking jaw" while the body talks about chattering teeth.
The chattering teeth is something my guy developed at an advanced age. Stacey is right, Stormi had started a thread about it is here: http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=510 If on the other hand it's a jaw clicking, like it's getting stuck open then "cracking" when he closes it, I haven't heard of that in sheepdogs... yet. Good luck! It's his jaw that is clicking. As he closes his jaw, you can see it "catch" and "hang-up," and hear it click. This occurrs after he opens his mouth wide to yawn, and as his jaw closes about half-way. |
| Wow.
Sorry this is happening. HOPEFULLY, this will be something that he grows out of. Please be sure to let us know what the vet and/or vet dentist have to say. |
| Well, we've sorted things out as the day progressed.
Our puppy was an aggressive teether. He had eaten a puppy Nylabone to pieces within one hour in the last week. A nice lady at PetSmart had suggested a giant size, hard Nylabone. He seemed to like it, but we think it may have fired-up his tempero-mandibular joint (TMJ). He had a smaller, original, Nylabone, as well. Our Vet's Tech talked with the Dentist, and he said the first thing that we need to do is throw every Nylabone out, and never bring another one into the house. They were in the trash in minutes. The second thing that he suggested were a few x-rays. We learned that our puppy would require sedation for the procedure (which involves placing him on his back with his mouth wide open), and a few hours of monitoring in the recovery room. I asked how much the fees might be, and was provided an estimate of $660.00, including the Dentist's professional fee. Boy, am I glad that we have insurance! And no, they won't accept an old TV to defray the costs (even though it would look perfect in the Waiting Room). Later in the day, I talked with a friend who is a Veterinarian. He seemed to think that our pooch's TMJ was fired-up by the Nylabone's, which he says he despises. He suggested a more conservative approach; give the pooch a week without Nylabone's and see if his hot TMJ calms down. We opted for the less aggressive approach. Well, it's now 9:00 PM, and I have not noticed any jaw chatter this evening. Lessons learned: (1) No Nylabones; (2) Maintain an open "equity line" on the house to pay for the pooch's medical costs; (3) consider a stuffed animal next time, instead of a puppy (4) stuff the puppy (only kidding!) Thanks for your input. |
| Joan has TMJ issues, and I thought about those, but what do I know about Canine jaws?
Nylabones may be ok when he's older. Or I hope so. My 3 year old chews on them with a vengence. When he's not chewing on them, he'll chew on a rope which lets strings break off and then they have to be removed from the other end. If he's not chewing on either of those, he has, in the distant past, gone after our shoes... 
Thanks for the update! I look forward to hearing moer as the week progresses. |
| Thanks for posting - it's interesting information. I really hope that your pup will be okay without the surgery.
Beaureguard loves his nylabones. If it weren't for those things, he'd chew the remote controls. But, as I sit here thinking about it, I only started giving him those in the past few months since he was a year old - or close to it. So, maybe it really does make a difference as to how developed their jaws/teeth are before they get them? |
Glad to hear the night went well without the Nylabone!!! 
I hope that was the cause and everything will be A-OK!
Are you going to be driven to the brink of insanity without Nylabones? If my guys didn't have their beef bones to chew on...they would drive me crazy! If I forget to get them a "treat" they both stand and stare at me for long periods of time  I swear they are saying "AHHHH Mommy, aren't you forgetting something?" 
Here's hoping the jaw problem is solved! |
| It is possible your pup might have TMJ issues. I know humans, dogs/cats and horses can have issues with their TMJ. It might be due to what some others mentioned earlier with the lower jaw growing faster. Your vet can take radiographs to see what the TMJ looks like. I would take my pup to the vet if I heard that but if the radiographs didnt know anything then I wouldnt be too worried and the pup might just outgrow it. |
| Thank you for your great comments and feed-back.
One week later, our pooch is better (no clicking). Within 24 hours of pulling the Nylabones the symptoms subsided. They were gone, entirely, by the third day. Having had a chance to look back on the past week, we suspect that the Nylabones (and our puppy's aggressive chewing) played a major role in the symptoms, but we discovered another potential cause - - loose baby teeth, and at least one fractured baby tooth, and ? an exposed nerve - - all or some of which may have played a part in the jaw action that we observed. Nylabones are gone. Baby teeth are going too. |
Willowsprite wrote: I can't remember who else, but I know Stormi's boy Jack did this when he was about that age, or maybe a bit older. I think there were 2 or three others who had dogs do this, and if I remember correctly it was all males.
I have no idea what it is or why some do it, but I don't think there was a problem with any that did it. I would guess that his lower jaw is growing faster than his top jaw right now. The dog may have a badly abcessed large tooth, and is then in terrible pain. Have it sedated and all teeth checked and cleaned by a real pro vet. The chattering in our 8-year old female dachs was due to that pain, not from anything she chewed. |
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