Home Remedies For Sudden Excessive Drooling In Dogs

Excessive drooling of dogs is known as “hypersalivation”.

When it comes to owning a dog, people usually have to accept a little drooling here and there, especially if they have a breed which is more prone to it (I will cover these breeds later).

However, there are several types of drooling, some of which are concerning while a few of these are not a problem. Here are some of the symptoms and types of drooling :

Symptoms and Types of Drooling

Dogs drool for many reasons, to include:

Drooling around food: Dogs who are anticipating getting a meal many times start to drool, or if they see you eating something they also like, that too can cause them to drool. This is mainly normal, as saliva helps in digesting food, so just thinking of eating could make some dogs drool. Don’t forget the experiment done by Pavlov where he rang a bell when he feed the dogs in his experiment and they would drool. Eventually they drooled just by hearing the bell ring, so this is a strong indication that it’s common for dogs to drool around food.

Anatomy of a Dog’s Mouth: Many dogs drool more due to the way their face is shaped. Some dog types such as mastiffs, Saint Bernards, Great Danes, or Bloodhounds are examples. These kinds of dogs have a loose hanging lower lip, as well as hanging jowls that make it harder to hold in their saliva, hence they drool more.

Teething issues: Just like human babies, puppies tend to drool when they’re teething. This begins normally at about two months old. So, if you see a young puppy drooling, possibly while sleeping, it could be normal teething and will stop after they get the adult teeth.
Dental Troubles: Speaking of teeth, if your dog is not a young pup, he could be drooling due to teeth problems like a tartar buildup, periodontal troubles, or gingivitis and inflamed gums. If so, you need to get them checked out at your veterinarian.

Their mouth is irritated due to a foreign object stuck there: If your dog has gotten something stuck in their mouth like a stick or a rock or a toy, if can cause pain and make him drool, so be sure to check your dog’s mouth if he seems to have something stuck.

Hurt mouth: If you dog has hurt his mouth and has a cut, scrape or other injury, it may make him drool. Check for bad breath or purplish colored gums or mouth bleeding to check for this kind of injury.
Heatstroke: If a dog has been out in the sunshine for too long, they could get overheated and drool more. Other symptoms of heatstroke are being unresponsive and lethargic.
Strange Growths: If a dog has a bump, lump, wart or other kind of growth in their mouth, it could cause them to drool. You should have your dog checked for cancer as some of these growths could be a tumor.

Motion Sickness or Anxiety: Some dogs don’t travel well in cars and could get carsick. This can cause them to have anxiety and drool more often. Or they could suffer anxiety for other reasons and drool more.
Caustic substances: If your dog has gotten into something like household cleansers, or other acidic substances, this can cause poisoning and excess drooling. If you suspect poisoning get help quick and call a veterinarian for advice.

Gastrointestinal problems: These could include things such as gastric reflux where acid from the dog’s digestive system could come back up through the mouth and make them drool. It could require treatment by a veterinarian.

Infections of the Throat: Dogs with throat or sinus infections tend to drool more.
Drugs: Some drugs can make dogs drool, whether drugs properly prescribed by your vet or something your dog got into can cause this to occur.

Poison: Dogs may also get into various animals or plants that are poisonous to dogs and start to drool. For instance, flowers like tulips, azaleas or chrysanthemums, as well as if they eat spiders, toads and some kinds of frogs or insects.

Infectious illnesses: Some diseases cause dogs to drool, for instance distemper or rabies.
Organ Illnesses: Liver and kidney illnesses can also bring on excessive drooling.
Inflammation of the Salivary glands: If your dog has any kind of problem with an internal organ disease, this too can cause drooling.

Seizures: If a dog has a seizure, it can cause them to drool.
Cancer: Some kinds of cancers, such as squamous cell carcinoma can cause excessive drooling.
Allergic responses: IF a dog is allergic to something and comes in contact, this can cause more drooling.

How to Stop Excessive Dog Drooling

Follow the tips to stop excessive dog drooling:

Rinsing Out their Mouths with Coconut oil or Herbal Tea
Ginger

Dog Bibs or Bandanas
Brushing your Dog’s Teeth
Feeding a Treat Prior to Car Ride

Lemon Extract
Keeping a Dog hydrated
Prevent Stress

Checking a Dog’s Mouth for a Foreign Object
Dry the Dog’s Mouth
Thuja

Get Protectors for your Furniture
Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Slippery Elm Bark Powder

Chamomile Tea

Checkout the post: Everything You Need to Know About Dog Jowls

Best Home Remedies For Dog Drooling

If your dog suffers from excessive drooling, here are a few possible home remedies to help them stop:

1. Rinsing Out their Mouths with Coconut oil or Herbal Tea

If your dog drools due to a hurt mouth, these two things may help. They are known to have anti-inflammatory properties and thus help to get rid of pain and itching that could cause drooling. Plus the coconut oil is great to help fight bacteria, yeast, fungus, parasites or some viruses that could cause drooling.

2. Ginger

If a dog drools due to getting carsick, sometimes feeding them some sort of ginger can help. It is best given in ginger tea, powder, tincture, or pill form. Ginger is known to soothe the digestive system as well as have anti-inflammatory characteristics.

3. Dog Bibs or Bandanas

These won’t stop the excessive drooling but can help contain it and soak it up.

4. Brushing your Dog’s Teeth

If the drooling is caused due to bad oral hygiene, you can help prevent it via brushing your dog’s teeth to get rid of tartar, debris, plaque, etc.

5. Feeding a Treat Prior to Car Ride

Sometimes if the dog is drooling due to being scared of riding in a car, you can start giving them a treat when they go for a ride, then this makes them think of a car ride as a way to get a yummy snack.

6. Lemon Extract

If you mix up lemon extract by putting several drops of lemon juice in water and giving it to them. However, beware since this actually makes some dogs worse.

7. Keeping a Dog hydrated

Be sure your pet has access to nice clean and fresh water, especially in the summer. This helps to prevent over heating issues that can cause drooling.

8. Prevent Stress

Try to keep your dog from getting stressed out. Do this by making sure their environment is safe, secure, they have room to exercise, and they aren’t subjected to loud noises, danger, etc. And make sure they have proper food and water.

9. Checking a Dog’s Mouth for a Foreign Object

If your dog is drooling be sure to check their mouths for anything stuck.

10. Dry the Dog’s Mouth

If your dog drools a lot, you can carry around a towel and be sure to wipe their mouths when needed or put on a bib on the dog.

11. Thuja

This can help if the dog drools due to a wart or other mouth issue. Talk to your vet.

12. Get Protectors for your Furniture

If the dog is drooling a lot, and leaking on your furniture, then put down a blanket, towel, etc. to soak it up. Be sure to rule out any medical issues as well.

13. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth

You can try this as it is an anticoagulant and will break down fibrin (a kind of protein) in a dog’s body so it stops making too much drool.

14. Slippery Elm Bark Powder

This is something else you can try to stop drooling that is put into their food or made into a drinkable tea.

15. Chamomile Tea

Here is another tea that helps to break down fibrin, and that lowers saliva and drool protection as well as helps aid the immune system.

Final Thoughts

Drooling is one of the most common and troublesome problems in dogs. It can occur for a variety of reasons and can be caused by many different conditions.

Dogs that drool excessively may be suffering from some type of health problem, so it’s important to see your vet as soon as possible if you notice any changes in your dog’s behavior or physical appearance.

There are a number of home remedies that you can try on your own to help stop excessive drooling, but seeing your vet is always the best course of action.

Do you have any tips on how to deal with a wet dog mouth? Let us know in the comments below!

Read about How to Massage Gas Out of Dog?

FAQs:

Sudden excessive drooling in dogs:

Many people worry about this particular thing when it comes to dog drooling, so here are some answers to that situation.

Why would a dog suddenly start drooling excessively?

Excessive drooling is a terrible issue, as it is both messy and scary if you aren’t used to it, as some don’t know that some breeds of dogs are known droolers. But there are so many reasons this could b happening, some good and some bad. Here are the main ones:

Dog suffered Heat stroke
Dog was poisoned

Dog has foreign body stuck in their mouth
Dog has dental issues
Dog is nauseous

Dog has some form of mouth cancer
Dog is unable to swallow due to illness like rabies
Dog has a portosystemic shunt

Dog has myasthenia gravis
Dog has polymyositis

If you suspect any of these, your vet can do a complete exam and check the dog via screening for poisons, checking for neurological issues, doing blood tests to rule out illnesses, x-rays to check for tumors or foreign objects, checking the urine, doing an ultrasound of stomach, and doing serum biochemistry.

Why is my dog drooling in the car?
some dogs tend to get motion sickness, and this can cause them to drool a lot when you travel. It could even cause the dog to throw up, so if this is true of your pet, then it’s best to limit car rides and also not to feed them for a few hours prior to a necessary car trip.

Your dog could also just get over excited on car rides, and this can caused drooling. If they are not whining or crying and are acting happy, then likely this is the case and they are not suffering from motion sickness, but are merely excited.

How to stop a dog from drooling over food?

Another issue with excessive drooling is a dog drooling over the food, both yours and his! How can you stop this from happening? As stated earlier, this is a normal occurrence as the dog remembers how tasty the food is and is getting excited, so of course he starts to drool in anticipation.

If you first rule out a medical issue, then likely you can try the following ways to get him not to drool over food:

Feed the dog whenever you eat: Give him his normal dog food and he will associate mealtime with everyone getting to eat. You shouldn’t give him food from the table directly, but depending on the kind of food you could give him a small portion mixed with his dog food.

Above all, don’t punish the dog for drooling, as it is something they can’t control.

Why is my dog drooling out of one side of his mouth?

This type of drooling could indicate a neurological issue with a facial nerve problem. You need to get the dog checked out by a veterinarian. The facial nerves in dogs control the muscles of their entire facial region, so if there is an injury or numbness of these nerves, the dog’s saliva is going to leak out of their mouth uncontrollably.

This could be caused by some sort of trauma, or it could be caused by a low thyroid issue in which medication could solve the problem. Other things that could cause this include a middle ear infection or some sort of paralysis.

Can anxiety cause drooling in dogs?

Just like humans, dogs can suffer from different types of anxiety. This can be brought on by fear, pain, etc. The affected animal will drool excessively due to getting anxious. Stress causes excessive drooling. For example, a common cause is being afraid of storms.

If this is what makes your dog drool then you might consider a thunder jacket, which is a jacket that applies gentle pressure and is sort of like hugging the dog tightly. These are known to help calm the dog, and thus he would drool less.

When should I worry about my dog drooling?

So, the bottom line is when should someone be concerned? While drooling is normal for the most part, if your dog does this, as well as has other issues similar to any of the examples mentioned previously, i.e. lethargy, won’t eat, painful mouth, etc., then you should get them checked out by a vet.

What are the signs of poisoning in a dog?

As mentioned earlier, dogs could drool due to being poisoned. If you think this is the case, you can call an ASPCA Poison Control – (888) 426-4435 or the Pet Poison Helpline – (800) 213-6680.

Here are some signs of poisoning:

Being lethargic
Having a hard time breathing
Discolored gums

Acting strangely
Having burns or mouth sores
Their temperature is not normal

Problems walking
Face is swelled
Having seizures

Common things dogs get poisoned by include:

Chocolate (especially dark or baking chocolate)
Poison to kill pests (i.e. rat poison, insect spray, etc.)

Alcohol
Garlic or onions
Raisins and grapes

Corn cob
Seeds from fruits such as apples
Some plants (previously mentioned in this article to name a few)

What dog breeds drool a lot?

To end this, here is a list of dogs who tend to drool, so you can know before you adopt your pet:

Saint Bernard

Dogue de Bordeaux
Bloodhounds
Bulldogs

Newfoundlands
Mastiffs
Bernese Mountain Dogs

Bull Mastiffs
Boxers
Great Danes

So, dog lovers should know that drooling is usually a normal occurrence but pay heed to the facts in this article to find out if your pet is having a problem due to excessive drooling.

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