Your puppy is in the throes of teething right now. Maybe you found a chewed-up shoe or your puppy’s toys are looking a little worse for wear right now.
By 4 months of age, most puppies have started growing in their adult teeth. Usually, this starts with the incisors (teeth at the front of the mouth) as early as 3 months, the canines (fangs) at around 5 months, and the premolars and molars (teeth at the back of the mouth) between 4 and 7 months. That means you have 2 to 3 months of teething joy as your puppy goes from 28 baby teeth to 42 permanent teeth! For some pups, chewing behaviors may persist for several months after their adult teeth have grown in.
A couple of important notes for you:
- You may find baby teeth on the floor. You also might not. Your puppy swallowing their own teeth is very common and harmless.
- A small amount of bleeding is okay. You may not notice it at all, but if you see a little red staining on a chew toy, know that this is usually fine. If you’re concerned by what you’re seeing, make sure to reach out to your VCA care team or download the myVCA™ app to Live Chat* with a licensed veterinary professional 24/7.
Chewing at this age is natural. You don’t want to discourage all chewing, but it’s important to direct your puppy toward acceptable items.
What’s not acceptable? Obviously household items that you’d like to keep intact like shoes, couches, tables or even the walls. But maybe less obviously, your hands and feet. It may be cute to let your puppy get mouthy with your hands, but you shouldn’t let them. We don’t want your puppy learning that putting people’s hands in their mouth is a good thing to do. It won’t be as fun when they have a full set of pearly whites!
When it comes to good, safe chew toys, you generally want to avoid anything extremely hard, such as nylon, bones or antlers. You run the risk of fracturing your pup’s nice new teeth! Instead, you want to choose chew toys that have a little bend or that you can indent with a fingernail. You can also freeze toys and treats to help alleviate inflammation and discomfort, like how people freeze teething toys for human babies.
If you find your puppy chewing something they shouldn’t, we recommend redirecting them to an appropriate object and then rewarding them with praise and/or treats when they begin to chew on an appropriate object. Giving your puppy plenty of appropriate items to chew on may reduce how much they chew on other items in the home.
Any item your puppy chews could become dangerous if they bite off parts of it and swallow it. These items could block their intestines or get caught in their throat. Make sure your puppy is supervised while chewing on toys. If you notice a toy is breaking apart or that pieces are missing, you should remove the toy from your pup’s chewing buffet.
Speak with your VCA care team for specific recommendations on safe chew toys.
You’ve likely heard how fussy teething babies can be, so you might be wondering if this is painful. We’ve got you covered. Check out this video: Is Teething Painful for My Puppy?
*Live Chat with a licensed veterinary professional is free for VCA clients through the myVCA mobile app, available at Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
