Maltese teething/loss of appetite

Pepper is just about six months (4/1/97). We have been finding his baby teeth laying around over the last week or so. Additionally, he does not seem to have much of an appetite (unless of course its human food). Is the loss of appetite connected to the teething process? He doesn't seem to be interested in his dog food (Eukanuba), but will hunt around the kitchen floor looking for any crumbs etc. that may have fallen & if anyone in the house is eating, he will stare at you with his big black eyes until you offer some to him. His dog food seems to be a last alternative. I just wondered if anyone can give me an idea of what their dog's eating habits are on a normal day i. e. number of times dog eats, & quanity at each feeding etc.? Also, whether or not teeting is in anyway associated?
Lydia/Pepper

• We live in Australia and also have a 6 months old Maltese, Cosmo. He is also in the middle of his teething process and his back teeth are cutting through very red and swollen gums. I too feed him Eukanuba Puppy food but he went off his food completly a few weeks ago. Human food would have been his prefered choice but I wasn't going to give in (my mother gave him some of our chicken and some ham once and it took me several day to get him to eat his dry food again). What I am doing at the moment is soaking his dry food which makes it easier for him to chew (he looked like he was in pain when he was eating it dry. He is still not as keen on it as he used to, but as this is a very good dog food I will persevere. I leave the food out for him to eat for a lot longer than I used to and he eventualy finishes it. Naturally I will put him back onto the dry food as soon as his permanent teeth come though. The quantities are about 1 1/2 oz of dry Eukanuba soaked in a bit of water twice a day and Cosmo seems to be thriving. So don't worry about Pepper, he will be fine. I have been following his progress for some time now and I have been using some of the advice for myself but this is the first time that I actually poste something. Pepper is about the same age as Cosmo(11/10/96) so the growing pains (if any) are quite similar.

  There is only one question that I have for anyone that can help. Cosmo's two top baby canines are still stongly embeded in his gaw. The aduld canines howerver have already come through and are in close contact with the baby canines. I read on this page that with show dogs the baby teeth are pulled out before the new ones grow. The trainer at Dog Obedience told me that I would have to take him to the vet and have them pulled out. I don't want to put him through that unnecessary trauma if they will eventually fall out on their own without damaging the adult teeth. If I ask the vet I know that he will have them extracted (vets around here are very much into surgical procedures). Maybe I could do it myself with a piece of thread like I used to do with the kids teeth?
  Deb

• Hi Deb, Thanks for your help. I am interested in the responses you recevie regarding Cosmo's teeth as Pepper has the same situation. I too didn't want to have them extracted unless absolutely necessary.
  Lydia/Pepper