Hello all, I'm new to the forum and new to Vizsla ownership. We have just got our 8 week old home and been for our first visit to the vet for our first lot of jabs, the vet said he has an overshot / over bite of his jaw (about 5 - 7 mm) He didnt seem worried and just said to leave it and be mindful that we shouldn't breed from him. I have been doing quite a lot of internet research since but not a lot is Vizsla related so I thought I would join a forum and ask a few questions. So they are as follows: Is it true it may correct itself as the lower jaw is the slowest to grow? Could it be due to him being a large puppy (biggest of the litter by far 8kg at 8 weeks)? can playing with balls and chewing bones help? Does having the lower incisors remove help stop the teeth locking and help jaw growth? Thanks in advance for any help and advice Vic
Yes the lower jaw is the last to settle, so don't worry to much about it now Can't see size has anything to do with it, but his breeding might, what did his breeder say about it. Be careful with toys no pulling on toys till his jaw has finished. No, do NOT remove any teeth, his jaw will settle in time, if he has a slight overbite as an adult, it will not hinder him at all Wait and see , he is only a baby .....a photo might help for us to see what you mean, he should have a scissor bite, which means his top teeth should very slightly overlap him bottom teeth.
I agree with all Jackie's advice above. If you didn't buy him as a show prospect, don't worry about it, just wait and see. Even if it doesn't close up to be a scissor bite, it shouldn't be a health problem.
Hi, thanks for the reply. The breeder says they have had one before and it rectified itself. The vet didn't seem as positive but I doubt he wanted to get our hopes up. His bottom teeth are dead level with his upper canines and making two holes in the roof of his mouth, I will try and take some photos, I will also take them at regular intervals to seek if things are moving in the right direction. Cheers for the help
If his bottom teeth are level with his upper, and his lower jaw is not finished growing, he will have an undershot not overshot jaw. I'd also be worried that my vet does not know the difference between the two .
Maybe I didn't explain that properly, I was only on about his large canine teeth, they are level, the top row of front teeth are 5mm over his top teeth, hence the vets overshot diagnosis.
As long as pup is eating & drinking ok I wouldn't be to bothered as jaws as 6 plus months to grow into line. Personally I wouldn't give him any hard bones, balls or tuggy toys until his jaws have lined up.
That pic shows your pup has a sever underbite , you would normally see such bites in breeds such as Boxers/ bull breeds, as stated earlier the under jaw is the last to stop growing so it could very well get worse. I can see what you mean by the canines diving in to his gum, I'm surprised your vet does not know the difference between an overbite and underbite, Don't play with any tuggi toys or let him pull on anything,till the bite is finished, it will all beeped on the finished bite as to if and what problems it may bring to the pup.
Hi, Erm I think you are looking at the photo the wrong way up, it's an over bite (3 vets can't be wrong) his nose is on the right in the photo, top teeth are over the bottom,
I feel I am being misunderstood, I am after advice on overbite, my pup has teeth like the bite on the left of the attached photo.
At just 8 weeks old everything will be growing at different rates so you will have to wait and see how he grows, because it is impossible at that age to know whether his lower jaw will grow sufficiently to correct itself at such a young age.
Sorry, yes your right on looking again I see it's an overbite, and the problem with the teeth, what has your vet suggested, if you have seen three, then hopefully they will have given you advice on what to do. The bottom jaw can still continue to grow but considering the extent of the overbite it might not correct itself enough to stop any issues with the teeth , you can only wait and see.
Just out of interest, given the extent of the overbite, how did your breeder explain it to you, did they point this out to you when you bought the pup. Over/ Under bites can be heredity and given the extent of your pups, ( extreme) I would be interested to see if it's genetic. Bites can correct themselves to a point once both Jaws have finished growing, but that's a extreme bite and I'd be worried it may not sort itself out. Some dogs can be fine with incorrect bites, so hopefully pups not effect him to much, but if he's already having problems with canines cutting into upper/lower jaw, I don't know what to suggest. It's also worth remembering, this might effect your insurance for the future, as it will be classed as pre existing .....born with it. Your breeder should have pointed this out .
Hi, the breeder did point it out, and said we were free to back out, but we had already named and got attached to him after a few visits. They have quite a few Vizsla's and have been breeding for a while, their only advice was that they had heard of a friends litter of V's with an overbite pup and it grew out. They also reminded us that if it didn't grow out we wouldn't really be able to breed from him. Sad really as he is a fantastic looking dog, and almost twice the size of out Weimerana at the same age. I have been trying to contact someone from his blood line but as his parents are from Hungary the language barrier make it impossible. I take it I will have to wait and see, unfortunately all advice has been different (both from vets and breeders) some saying movement is possible up to 12 months and some saying the jaw is set at 4 months. I suppose I will just have to wait and see! . . . . Thankfully he looks like he will be quite big so the other Vizsla's won't make fun of his bucked teeth!
So sorry to have seen your post so late. I bred 1 litter in Spring of 2015 and had 2 overbites. They did not correct themselves. I intervened at 9 weeks or so and had the lower canines removed because they were growing into the upper paletes of the pups' mouths. Also, to hopefully allow the lower jaw to grow. The jaws did not grow and so at 1 year I had the adult lower canines reduced. Please let me know how your Vizsla is doing.