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13 Mar 2013

Dogs Don't Get Colds or Cavities

This is my mostly-good dog Eddy.  He is my best bud and a wonderful companion despite some mischievious antics (he hates me cleaning his teeth!).  Dogs are enviable creatures for many reasons. Their lives are simple...

1) watch master
2) wait for master to do something .....anything!
3) eat anything master gives me
4) pee all over the world!
5) bark at everything
6) love you no matter what ....

My son has just gotten over a cold. At the beginning of it he  was a mess; snotty, sniffing, sneezing, plugged, raw, achey and ....well you get the picture. During one low and self-piteous moment, he exclaimed, "I can't even play with the dog or he'll catch my cold".

Good news! Dogs don't get colds and they don't get cavities.  How lucky is that?

Dogs do not seem to harbour cavity-causing  bacteria nor are they susceptible to catching a human common cold.

Interestingly enough, they are prone to periodontal or gum disease because they form tartar - lots of it! Dogs usually have to be sedated to have their teeth cleaned - for obvious reasons! Oh, and guess what? The cost of getting your own teeth cleaned at your local dental office is WAY cheaper than the vet bill for your pooch ...... seriously!

Take home message: some people take better care of their dogs then they do themselves. You need to keep your teeth and gums healthy for many more years than your pet.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

My family is contemplating on getting a dog this summer. Thanks for sharing info about dogs. Interesting to know that they don't catch colds and they're cavity-free all the time. Lucky ones! Love your picture here.

Philip said...

Hi, thanks for all the dental health posts ! I am learning a lot about making sure I have teeth until I am oder and greyer ! Haha. My dog used to have yellow teeth like that too, used to give him cow bones to chew on !

Unknown said...

Loni,
Thanks for the post.. I didn't know dogs couldn't get colds or cavities.
My Rufus, my chocolate lab is my best little pal. I never grew up with pets but always wanted one. My husband and I got Rufus at 8 weeks old and he is now 3. My life will never be the same. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

Tanya Allen said...

Ha ha, my dog hates me cleaning his teeth too! (I'm a dental hygienist so I scale his teeth, he puts up with it pretty well.) I want to say, however, that despite dogs being immune to colds and cavities, they do get oral cancer. My dog had bone cancer in the zygomatic arch and just lost an eye and the posterior right maxilla, 5 teeth, and part of his palate. So if anyone out there notices something odd in their dog's mouth or on it's face, and it doesn't go away in a week, go get it checked out. Hopefully it will be nothing, but you never know...we went from a small bump on his cheek bone to major surgery in just 3 weeks. Oh, and pet insurance is worth EVERY penny.

Molly Z. said...

I am a veterinarian, and my focus is dentistry & oral surgery. I can tell you, 100%, that dogs do get cavities. It is not common, but it does occur. They are treated similarly to how they are treated in humans, although often they are detected so late, and they are so advanced, that the teeth affected have to be extracted. (Just google "dog" and "cavity" to see some images.) Also, they do get upper respiratory infections, or what we might refer to as "colds." Just wanted to clear this up. There is a lot of misinformation on the internet, just hoping to help resolve some here.

Iwishdogscouldliveforever said...

My senior dog (14 years) has never caught one of our human colds. However, he has had dog equivalents of a cold. There are sites like this one that talk about what kinds of 'colds' dogs can catch: https://www.rover.com/blog/does-my-dog-have-cold-in/

As for cavities, I wish it were true that dogs don't get cavities. I've had two dental cleanings done for my fellow. I wanted to avoid a third time, but I looked at my dog's teeth yesterday and saw clear formations of dark cavities. I can't have him suffer in his golden years. I want him to be able to enjoy some of his hard treats, but I hate the idea that he may be suffering every day due to tooth pain.