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Dog Health News Articles
Page: 1
| Posted: 7th August 2004 |
| Tongue Talk |
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By T. J. Dunn, Jr. DVM
On a recent photo shoot with one of my dog trainer/hunter friends, I exposed four rolls of film while he put this three black labs through some off-season trainingWhen I placed the slides on the viewer I was curiously struck by how many action shots captured the charging subjects with their long, flexible tongues literally flopping out there in the breeze(I'm talking about the dogs here, not the trainer!)
Almost every photo displayed the dog's tongue completely extended with mouth open wide, fully exposing the airway to the onrushing breezeAfter seeing these photos, I was amazed that in my busy small animal practice I wasn't seeing more than just occasional tongue injuriesWith that fleshy, vascular flag waving around, frequent injuries should be expected - but in 25 years of practice in an area pleasantly infested with hunting dogs, tongue problems are just not very common.
Nevertheless, it has happened more than a few times that I would get a frantic call at home from a hunter wanting to rush his gun dog in because "she's bleeding from the mouth like a stuck pig!" So I'd rush in to the animal hospital expecting to perform some heroic surgery only to find the bleeding had stopped and the owner apologetic about all the fussUpon examining the mouth, I'd find one or more lacerations - sometimes not very substantial at all - that had clotted and nicely sealed.
"Keep her quiet today - turn her loose again tomorrow," I'd say to the relieved owner.
What has happened in this situation is that at the time of the injury, whether the tongue was traumatized by thorns or accidentally pierced by a tooth, barbed wire or other sharp object, the tongue was expanded and engorged with bloodA major source of heat loss for the exercising dog, the tongue's rich supply of blood vessels all dilate, causing the tongue to swell and extendEven a tiny puncture at this time will reward the insult with a flow of crimson. |
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