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First let me say that I am not a new animal owner, I have had dogs, cats, ducks, birds, gerbils, rabbits etc. my whole life.
My problem is I have a 7 month old Boston Terrier who all of a sudden will not use the right side of his mouth. When he licks, his tongue will only come out the left side, when he drinks, left side, even when we give him a "cookie" it has to go in the left side. I have already called our vet and can't get him in until Friday. I know in humans it is a sign of a brain tumor, but I have never heard of this in dogs. I checked his mouth and found no signs of a injury, his teeth are fine, breath does not stink, (well he does have doggy breath) I can't visually find anything wrong.
He has a great appetite, plays as much as ever, he even plays tug of war with us and the other dogs so there is no pain, nothing has changed but his tongue.
If anyone has any ideas/suggestions I would appreciate hearing from you. This is going to be a long week waiting to get him into the vet.
I checked all of that and saw nothing, all his teeth are normal, used a flashlight and saw no injuries, talked to my vet again today while waiting to get him in on Friday, and he suggested a "home test" of putting some peanut butter on his outer lip and see if he licks it off.
I did think about a head injury, he is a very "dumb" dog, don't get me wrong, he is as smart as can me, (potty trained, commands etc.) but he does run into tables, tries to jump while standing under the table, you know puppy dumb. I am going to go try the peanut butter test right now and see what he does. Next step I guess will be to wait till Friday and suggest a brain scan and hope there is nothing found there.
Thanks for your imput
I wonder if there's possibly a misalingment in his jaw...maybe an injury when he was young, or even something congenital. I'm pretty sure it's has nothing to do with his brain (I think you'd see other symptoms if it was).
There was a pup in my dog group who appeared to use only one side of her mouth. With her it turned out to be a puppy tooth that had never erupted, and had abcessed under the permanent tooth. It took some time for the Vet to figure out what was going on, tho.
I'm glad you're taking him into the Vet. If you remember, let us know what the Vet said...I'm very curious.
phrannie
Tried the peanut butter test and he failed :( Could not lick the peanut butter off the Right side of his mouth, he looked pretty pathetic but just could not get that tongue over to the right side. Talked to my vet and he changed his appointment to tomorrow so we will see what he has to say. Wish us luck and thanks
It's possible he has some kind of pain in his mouth that you just can't see - a cancor sore, a bad tooth maybe?
But really, it sounds like a stroke or head injury. Animals suffer these types of ailments just like humans do (we're animals too, don't forget).
Hi there - not sure when this was originally posted but my dog has the exact same problem. Did you ever find out what caused it? We have been to the vet and neurologist with no answers.