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A dog or cat’s baby teeth are also known as deciduous teeth or primary teeth. Have you ever felt those sharp little needle teeth when playing with puppies and kittens? Those are their deciduous teeth. Much like humans, dogs and cats have two sets of dentition: primary and permanent. Deciduous teeth begin erupting when your canine or feline is around 3-4 weeks of age. 

Occlusion is defined as the relationship between the teeth of the maxilla (upper jaw) and mandibles (lower jaw). When this relationship is abnormal a malocclusion results and is also called an abnormal bite or an overbite in dogs and cats. The mouth is split into quadrants: left maxilla, right maxilla, left mandible and right mandible. Each quadrant of the mouth in both dogs and cats contains incisors (I), canines (C), premolars (PM) and molars (M).  

After graduating from The Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1992, I spent the first 12 years of my career practicing in suburban Maryland outside of Washington, DC. In 2004 my wife and I decided that we wanted to continue to raise our four children in her native state of Colorado. So I sold my clinic, packed up the family and we headed west. 

Oral malodor (pet halitosis or bad breath) is a common condition noticed by pet owners and is often described as “doggy breath” in dogs, and “fish” breath in cats. Most of us are aware that bad breath in humans is considered a social faux pas. In companion animals, bad breath may lead to decreased interaction between pets and human family members.