[susie15032]

My dog is a 7 year old american cocker spaniel and she won't close her mouth. She doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, she just won't close it. It doesn't seem sore; I don't know what's wrong.

[Alty]

What did your vet say? Did they do an x-ray to make sure her jaw isn't out?

[susie15032]

they didn't do an x-ray. They gave her some medicine to see if it would help her, but it hasn't so far.

[Catsmine]

Can she still eat and drink?

[Alty]

Susie, what did they say the problem was? What kind of medication did they prescribe and how long has she been on the medication?

[susie15032]

She can still eat and drink, but it just takes a longer time to eat than usual. The vet had us switch her to soft food, so that's easier for her to eat. They couldn't figure out what the problem was. They didn't see any loose teeth, or any problems in her mouth. They felt around, and she didn't seem to be hurting anywhere. They gave her a shot of what I think was something like morphine for dogs on Friday, and it was supposed to work for 24 hours, but we didn't really see any change except that she's acting more perky and more like herself. But her mouth is still open. She'll only close it when she's lying down or sleeping. She hasn't been back to the vet since then, so she hasn't had any more of the medicine.

[Alty]

I really think it would be best if they took an x-ray. If they couldn't feel anything by doing an external exam, it's time to see what's going on internally. Her jaw could be out, or there could be an abscess that wouldn't show up on normal exam.

Since there's no change it's time to demand that they get to the bottom of this.

Please keep us posted.

[KISS]

Nice work Detective Altenweg. Bravo?

(Have to spread rep. Oh well)

[Aurora_Bell]

Are you in an area where she cold have eaten or been bitten by something venomous? Snake or scorpion?

Jaw cancer is pretty rare, but is always a possibility. Once you get the x-ray and excluded foreign bodies stuck then you would be left with neurological reasons or rare muscle diseases of the facial muscles involved in closing the jaw. Has the vet suggested an anti inflammatory of some sort?

[shazamataz]

A stroke can often cause this, might be worth looking into that.
If she is eating and drinking fine and it doesn't seem to be bothering her I would say it isn't anything too worrysome.
However if she paws at it or rubs her face all the time I would be looking into things like something lodged in her mouth or bad teeth as above posters suggested.

[susie15032]

Aurora_Bell: No, we don't live in an area with any venomous creatures. We'll try to get her in for an x-ray, and no, the vet has not suggested any anti inflammatory yet, but we'll see when we take her in.
She's acting completely fine now. She's eating easily and drinking like normal now, and she has plenty of energy. She's completely back to her normal self, acting as though nothing is wrong, so nothing seems to be bothering her. She isn't pawing at her mouth or rubbing it. Her mouth is actually not as open as it was earlier, and it will be completely shut when she lies down. Some people have thought that it may just be the heat, but if that was the case wouldn't she be hanging her tongue out as well, and panting? We'll try to get her in for x-rays as soon as we can. When we brought her in to her vet the first time, they didn't seem to be too worried about it. He said that he may just want to do some x-rays to make sure everything was all right, but he didn't seem to think that it was anything serious. Thanks for all of your help, and I'll keep you updated!

[susie15032]

I'm so sorry I have not updated you for a while. Here's what's happened:
We were going to wait a few days to see if Sadie didn't get better before taking her in for x rays. We were finally planning on taking her in, but the next day she closed her mouth!That was exactly a week ago, and she hasn't hung it open since. She is completely better now. She closed her mouth the day that my parents came home from a long trip. She's actually their dog; I had just been watching her. We had been speaking about Sadie, so they knew what was going on, and we were planning on taking her in for x rays the day after they got home. But we're wondering if maybe them coming home had something to do with her shutting her mouth? Because she started having problems after they left, so I don't know if maybe there would be something there, or if it is just a coincidence. Anyway, thank you all for your input and advice, it really helped me out. :)

[Alty]

Interesting. I've never heard of something like that, but I do know that animals will do odd things when they miss their owners.

Thanks for letting us know and I'm glad she's okay. :)

[susie15032]

:) thanks.

[Cat1864]

I am so glad she is doing better. :)

Thank you for the update.

It will be interesting to see if she does it again if they have to leave her.

[susie15032]

Thank you so much for all your help. It will be interesting to see if she has anymore problems if they leave again. I hope she won't! :)