The role of dog tongue:
Eat and drink
As The most important part of the mouth, the tongue is responsible for eating and drinking, of course, is the first.
Do you know how dogs drink water?
Of course a dog can’t raise a water bowl to drink like we do, relying on its tongue. Is it a little bit of dipping?
In fact, when they drink water, they curl their tongues back and bend them into an arc, like a big spoon, scooping up the water and sending it into the mouth much faster than a little dip.
The tongue muscle of dogs is more developed than humans, and its flexibility is stronger than ours, so it is often seen that dogs’ tongues are placed outside their mouths and can grow a lot.
Heat dissipation
When it comes to the function of the tongue, we have to mention the heat dissipation. Dogs don’t sweat their entire bodies to dissipate heat like we do.
Dogs also have sweat glands, but the sweat glands on their torso are apocrine sweat glands, and only those on the footpads
are eccrine sweat glands.
Simply put, they can’t form sweat all over the body and expel them from the body like humans, but can only excrete a small amount of body fluids through the soles of the feet, and the cooling effect is much worse.
What role does the tongue play in dissipating heat?
When it’s hot, dogs open their mouths, stick out as much tongue as possible, and gasp for breath.
Tongue heat dissipation actually takes away heat by evaporating saliva to dissipate heat, so they will try their best to stretch their tongues, secrete saliva desperately, and increase the area of evaporative heat dissipation.
But whether it is the heat dissipation of the soles of the feet or the heat of the tongue, it is negligible in the hot summer, so you must pay attention to avoid the heat when you go out in summer.
Like people seeing Chinese medicine, you can know your physique and physical condition through the color and texture of the tongue coating. The same is true for dogs. By observing the color of the tongue, you can also preliminarily judge the health of the dog.
Dog Tongue Color:
Red
Normal dog tongue color is bright red/pale pink in quiet condition. After exercise or when the temperature is high, blood vessels dilate, which will make the tongue appear bright red.
But if it is in a calm state and it is also bright red, it may be a fever, that is, there is a possibility of inflammation.
Purple
Some dogs have naturally purple tongues. Like the Chow Chow, so you can’t say there must be something wrong with the purple tongue.
But if the tongue is usually pink and suddenly turns purple after strenuous exercise, you should pay special attention. Generally, the tongue suddenly turns purple and it is related to the dog’s heart.
If this change is observed, it is best to take the dog to the hospital for further examination. After all, the sooner the heart disease is detected, the better the treatment.
It may also be heat stroke or poisoning, which needs to be judged in conjunction with the dog’s living habits and what happened.
white
Generally, the dog’s tongue is whitish, and the blood is not enough to be observed by the naked eye , may be related to anemia, malnutrition, parasitic diseases, or the body is already extremely weak.
The white tongue is also a symptom that needs further examination. It is best to go to the hospital to find out the cause of anemia and treat it in time.
Yellow
Yellow tongue, more common in jaundice, usually more than It is the yellowing of the tongue, the yellowing of the eyes, oral mucosa, and the skin. There will also be clinical symptoms such as drinking a lot of water, vomiting, lack of energy, brown urine, and lethargy.
The symptoms of jaundice indicate that there is a problem with the bilirubin of the dog.
Generally, it is a disease that indicates liver and kidney function. Jaundice disease can be large or small, and it can be life-threatening if left untreated.
It is also worth mentioning that dogs have a well-developed sense of smell and hearing. Would anyone think that dogs have an equally good sense of taste?
We all know that the sense of taste is identified by the taste buds on the tongue. There are more than 9,000 taste buds in human beings, so we can feel and distinguish between various tastes.
Although dogs can sense the same sense of taste as humans, they only have more than 1,500 taste buds, and their sensitivity is far less than that of humans. They prefer to use their nose and taste to distinguish food.
