Bacteria in a Dog Mouth

Bacteria are single-celled organisms; those that cause disease are called pathogenic. There are many forms causing disease, and all are winsome way transmissible from one dog to another.

Since bacteria are too small to be seen without magnification, they must be studied through the microscope. There they appear as different from each other as they vary from one dog to another. Some are spirals, some are little balls, some have whip like attachments, and some look like baseball bats.

Coca bacteria are round. Streptococci are round bacteria that grow in strings. They produce such diseases as pneumonia and abscesses. Staphylococci are round forms that growing groups like bunches of grapes. They are notorious pus producers and abscess formers.

Bacilli are rod-shaped bacteria, which sometimes complicate other diseases. These rod-shaped forms, of which there are many, cause bubonic plague, tularemia, and some poultry diseases. Salmonella organ-isms cause food poisoning in man and other diseases in dog. Shigelloses cause dysentery in puppies; Clostridia cause lockjaw, food poisoning (botulism), and gas gangrene; Mycobacterium cause tuberculosis.

Spirochetes are corkscrew-shaped organisms that cause diseases such as trench mouth and explosions.

Since these are all comparatively large forms, too large to enter the cells of the body, bacteria float or propel themselves about in body fluids or remain stationary. Some invade the blood; some are specific for certain tissue, such as pneumonic types for lungs; others are found confined to the stomach and intestines.

Information on Bacteria in a Dog Mouth

• Many compare the level of cleanliness of a dog’s mouth to that of a human being. Staying so close to human beings often brings up the comparison in the forefront. But if we think prudently there very comparison of the mouths of two very different species, dogs and humans is quite abrupt. Colin Harvey, professors of surgery and dentistry in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine and an executive secretary at the American Veterinary Dental College comments to this comparison as ‘like comparing apples and oranges’. Though a vast number of bacteria of the human mouth overlap those residing in the dog’s mouth but there are many that can only stay in dog’s mouth or only in the mouth of a human being.
• Porphyromonas belonging to the family of rod shaped bacteria is responsible for causing the decaying of the gums and loosening of affected teeth in both humans and animals. A deep study of the bacteria has revealed that there are actually two branches of the Porphyromonas, P. gingivalis occurring in the mouth of humans and P. gulae in the oral cavity of dogs. Both the forms of bacteria reside in the periodontal tissues of the mouth.