Dog Tongue

The base of the tongue and surrounding areas are subject to infection from foreign bodies such as needles, splinters, and vegetation such as foxtail which penetrate the surface of the area and migrate as porcupine quills do. The seed fronds of some grasses when eaten penetrate the mucous often at the junction of the two jaws. As the foreign body migrates, it may lodge in the area of a nerve, causing great pain and the inability to open the jaws wide. Some of these objects migrate upward,producing an abscess over an eye, or downward, producing an abscess under the jaw that resembles human mumps before it ruptures. If the foreign object does not slough out in the discharge the abscess heal sand reforms.

The tongue can be lacerated from a dog's licking sharp objects. If it so happens that the tongue becomes impaled by the sharp edges of an open can's lid that's been pushed into the open can, an anesthetic is sometimes necessary in order to remove it if the dog is difficult. The dog should be seen immediately by a veterinarian, as should any dog whose laceration continues to bleed for more than twenty minutes .Tumors of dogs' tongues are rare.