[alexander42]

Hey guys - Just a little help - my dogs lip keeps bleeding. It'll stop for a few hours or if I'm lucky a day, and then he'll rub up against me and I'll see I have blood on me again - I check his mouth and it is always on the side of his lip where the crease is from the top jaw and bottom meeting. It is both sides, usually occurring at different times though. He constantly is smacking his lips - IT NEVER ENDS, and his breath smells so bad. The cut is like I said by the crease where those bumps are on his lip. I just don't know what to do about it. I know I should probably call the vet, but I was wondering first if anyone else has had this problem. He has been to the vet a lot since I adopted him, and has one problem after another - The shelter lied about all of his conditions, and when I called and complained they said for me to bring him back but I'd NEVER take him back to that place. He is a German Shepard / Collie Mix. I adopted him from a shelter in February, no vet has been able to tell me his age even closely - the shelter said he was 1 1/2 years old, the first vet I tool him too said, 6 - 7 years old, and the 2nd vet said 2 - 3 years old. After having him for about 6 weeks, I found out he has seizures, the first time it was 6 in 24 hours, every other time has been 1 every month usually around 4 AM. He used to be in a crate at night, but after the first seizure episode I didn't have the heart to keep him in there in case of another one - it can't be fun slamming into a crate repeatedly and uncontrollably. I know he does bite his tongue sometimes during a seizure I've seen it bleed and have a hole but it heals within 2 days at the most, these cuts that keep bleeding on his mouth though I'm getting concerned about. He tested positive for heartworms at the vet, and then positive for wisp (sp?) worms. He was on medication for those wisp worms, and is on heart guard for the heart worms. I;m debating on whether to put him on seizure medication but I'm torn because I don't think 1 a month is too bad, and the vets can't agree on whether they even think he should be. Any suggestions?

[KISS]

I wonder if you take hunches, not answers?

Hunch:
The cuts are caused by the constant licking because it gets dry.

The licking is an artifact of the seizure problem, dort of like what I think is called a tic in humans.

Seizure meds might help that issue too.

If you treat symtomatically and this was a human problem, I would moisturize with Vaseline. I can't see any harm using it as a preventive.

I would urge seeing a vet and discuss seizure meds with him again and see if he agrees that it may help the cut issue.

Again, it's a hunch or guess.

[shazamataz]

KISS's answer is good, it could be caused by dryness.

Best thing to do obviously is consult your vet for treatment (we can only offer suggestion, not a solution without actually examining the dog)

Another thing I would say is to get some anitseptic liquid to make sure it does ot gt infected if it is always open and bleeding.

I really like betadyne (it is the orange liquid they use when doing surgery) you can find it at pharmacies and it is used for humans as well so it's very handy to have around the house.

I recently took my poodle to my vet because he always gets clipper rash when he is groomed, the vet gave me a product that acts as both an antiseptic and a local anethetic to stop the itching.

For his breath try adding a little parsley to his food, it helps to remove the odor.
I'm not a huge fan of brushing dogs teeth, when given the right diet it isn't necessary. Make sure your dog get plenty of hard things to chew on such as dental sticks or hard dog biscuits to clean his teeth naturally.

Another thing that could be causing the bad breath is bad teeth, he could have a rotten tooth and you wouldn't even know it, get your vet to check it out when you go :)

For the seizures... if they are not frequent and your vet has not suggested to put him on the medication I wouldn't.
The medication for epilepy has a lot of bad side effects on dogs and should only be used for frequent attacks.