I just learned my dog's 'smiling' tongue-out photo might mean something bad

My vet told me after his checkup that if their tongue hangs to one side in pictures, it could be dental pain or nerve damage, not just being cute. She said a third of dogs with that 'derpy' look actually have hidden mouth problems, so maybe watch for it in your blooper shots too.

2 comments

2 Comments

theas9417d ago

Actually, that 1 in 3 stat your vet gave seems way off to me. I had a long chat with my own vet about this after my pug Bella had the same tongue thing. She said most tongue hanging is just anatomy like small mouths or missing teeth, not pain. The actual number of dogs with hidden mouth issues showing that sign is more like 10 percent, not 30. I checked with a couple online vet resources too and they backed that up. So don't panic over every derpy photo, but yeah, do check if they seem off in other ways too.

leohart16d ago

I actually read a study from a vet school that said the 1 in 3 number is probably based on older data where they counted every dog with loose gums too. My own dog has a little tongue out thing and the vet told me 10 percent sounds way more realistic for actually needing treatment.