Tooth Brushing
I don't brush my dogs' teeth.
I once toyed with it- I bought a strange round-handled dog toothbrush, and CET chicken flavored dog toothpaste. Despite my slow, cheerful patient approach, Sage thought this was silly, and I kinda did too. He bit the brush like I was offering him a toy. Sage has fantastic teeth to this day despite me giving up on brushing his teeth. Reilly has horrible teeth- stained and worn down to nubbins- which is what prompted me to try brushing Sage's teeth in the first place. I found out that greyhounds (and thus presumably some of their mixes, like Rei) frequently have soft teeth and dental issues and decided that the whole issue was genetic. Sage looks awesome- his teeth are large and white. They eat and enjoy the same foods and toys. Whatever.
Juno has some staining on her back teeth, so now I am revisiting the issue, because she is young and I can work with her. She will let me handle her mouth and touch her teeth with my finger, and probably one of those dental pads you wrap around your finger and wipe the dogs' teeth. She may tolerate a finger brush- like a thimble with bristles? but the long handled toothbrushes seem too much like toys and they just bite at them. I could get a child's toothbrush. I mean, really, what makes a 'dog' toothbrush? a child's brush is soft.
Are the pads any good? What have you tried and disliked or liked?
I have soured a bit on nylabones, I dont feed enough raw bones to make a difference, and we do feed greenies but not like every day, or even every week. I feel silly brushing a dog's teeth- I am old school that way- but me feeling silly pales in importance to keeping Juno's teeth clean and her healthy and happy.
Tell me: what do you know?
I once toyed with it- I bought a strange round-handled dog toothbrush, and CET chicken flavored dog toothpaste. Despite my slow, cheerful patient approach, Sage thought this was silly, and I kinda did too. He bit the brush like I was offering him a toy. Sage has fantastic teeth to this day despite me giving up on brushing his teeth. Reilly has horrible teeth- stained and worn down to nubbins- which is what prompted me to try brushing Sage's teeth in the first place. I found out that greyhounds (and thus presumably some of their mixes, like Rei) frequently have soft teeth and dental issues and decided that the whole issue was genetic. Sage looks awesome- his teeth are large and white. They eat and enjoy the same foods and toys. Whatever.
Juno has some staining on her back teeth, so now I am revisiting the issue, because she is young and I can work with her. She will let me handle her mouth and touch her teeth with my finger, and probably one of those dental pads you wrap around your finger and wipe the dogs' teeth. She may tolerate a finger brush- like a thimble with bristles? but the long handled toothbrushes seem too much like toys and they just bite at them. I could get a child's toothbrush. I mean, really, what makes a 'dog' toothbrush? a child's brush is soft.
Are the pads any good? What have you tried and disliked or liked?
I have soured a bit on nylabones, I dont feed enough raw bones to make a difference, and we do feed greenies but not like every day, or even every week. I feel silly brushing a dog's teeth- I am old school that way- but me feeling silly pales in importance to keeping Juno's teeth clean and her healthy and happy.
Tell me: what do you know?
Comments
I do have one of those finger-cover bristley things and I brush the dogs' teeth occasionally. Rakka loves it, and Sosuke seems okay with it. I started when Sosuke had some weird spot on one of his teeth. I still don't know what it was, but it's gone now and they both have good, clean teeth.
I have a dog toothbrush as well, but I don't use it. They think it's weird, whereas they don't mind me sticking my finger in there.
I tried to read about brushing dogs' teeth to find out what exactly was necessary and everywhere I read said to brush them every day... which I find completely ridiculous. I've concluded that since I can't get a reasonable answer, I'll just do whatever keeps their teeth clean and free of plaque. The vet looks at their teeth at their check-ups and says their teeth look good.
(Hana's teeth are pretty clean despite the recent cavity discovery. Her mouth doesn't stink at all, and I make it a habit to check how her mouth smells... for fun.... cause I'm gross like that... -I also like to smell the inside of her ears-..... I know, I'm SOO gross... please don't judge me!!
*confession* I really love the way dogs smell!! And Hana is weirding me out because she has NO smell *end confession*
Hana is pretty okay with letting me handle her mouth, and the vet suggested a technique: lightly pinch the cheek and pull slightly to give room for my fingerbrush and go in blind so I'm not over-stretching her mouth.
(Hopefully SOMETHING from my rambling is helpful)
If I manage to get into tooth-brushing, I am sure it will be at most on the frequency of nail trimming, which is weekly, or every other. I think chewing is important for dogs, and I lament that they eat their non-bone meals so quickly, but the nylabones were part of Reilly's problem (though Sage is unaffected, but chalk it up to 'dogs are different, know your own dog' I guess) so I dont know...does a bully stick impart any dental benefit?
Matsu is the first of all my dogs to enjoy chewing on knotted toys...Nuts for Knots, etc. so I think that's nice, though I kinda doubt the supposed 'flossing' benefit...
We use crest 360 brushes because I get them for cheap.
I think even for humans teeth affects your entire health! Healthy teeth = healthy body = happier you
ps: I forgot to ask the dentist about bully sticks actually... I wanted to because Hana loves them, but flat raw hides are similar so.... possibly!
Not bad for an 8-year-old dog, huh?
Bowpi, as a sighthound, is significantly trickier. She came to us at about 5 years of age having eaten mostly soft foods and obviously never having her teeth taken care of. I started giving her PlaqueOff, a daily dental supplement, giving her hard food, dental chews, and eventually transitioning to raw and meaty bones, and that helped knock off most of the plaque. It was totally caked on though, so since it was SO bad, it was a lot easier to see improvement, I guess. She still needed to go in for a full dental. After that nearly $500 procedure (this is including a 20% discount and WITHOUT any extractions, mind you!), I was convinced that I should be more proactive about taking care of her teeth.
Ideally, I brush her teeth twice a week and offer some other dental-related thing at least three times a week, as well -- a raw meaty bone, a chlorhexidine coated dental chew (I get those Virbac strips too, the only rawhide we give anymore), or a dental rinse. There are a bunch of products out like Tropiclean gel that claim no brushing is required, but I'm not ready to accept that at face value. Some brushing is necessary for Bowpi, I think.
That said, she is really, really squirmy and it's STILL difficult after all this time to get her back teeth. She doesn't hate the process. The toothpaste is quite yummy, after all! She just has the most dexterous tongue ever and is really good about licking the toothpaste off before I even make contact. The finger brushes are too big and awkward for me, so I just end up putting the toothpaste right on my (clean) finger and rubbing her teeth. My vet said that contact was more important than scrubbing, so if I can just make sure the toothpaste touches her teeth, the toothpaste will do its job.
Bowdu is actually more tolerant of tooth brushing, even though he doesn't need it! I don't bother with him, though I'll occasionally smear some toothpaste at the base of his upper canines, because that's the ONLY place he has any significant gunk.
Dental care is important, though I don't think you need to brush every day.
Greyhounds seem to be really plagued by bad teeth.
Conker doesn't need his brushed as long as he gets something to chew on every now and then. Raw bones work really good, as do some nylabone things but I am wary of the nylabones and only let him have one every now and then. I don't use rawhide stuff, Conker reacts bad to it. If he needs it, I'll get out the tooth scaler but that rarely happens.
I do see an improved difference if a raw diet fed or partial raw vs. all canned meat or just plain kibble fed dogs. Meaty bones seem to help a lot.... We tend to use lamb shank bone with knee for the smaller sized dogs.
Use of tooth brushes appropriately sized for the particular dog's mouth helps also (itty bitty infant brush for the small jaws)….I just try to get the particular dog accustomed to using the brush as a chewy while holding the handle and rotating the bristles. Most dogs don't seem to object too much, apparently canine tooth paste has come a long way in the last 10 yrs and is yummy, so the dogs seem to indicate. Once or twice a week brushing seems what we manage to squeeze in here. Have had good luck with lamb ears too for chews.
Will depend if one has a local butcher or other home grown sources as to what way to go on the meats etc.
We have serious chewers and gave up on nylabones since one of the dogs cracked their teeth on them costing us $1100 in dental bills for fill-ins etc. In the end as the dog aged the tooth had to be pulled anyway soooo....moved over to gum bones.
Vet mentions hooves and hard nylabones contribute to most of their client business regarding teeth.
Snf
Mochi has really bad breath. We recently changed his food to orijen puppy. Any suggestions
Has Mochi finished teething? Meichan had funky breath while her adult teeth were coming in. We add a small scoop of ProDen Plaque Off with her raw green beef tripe in the morning and she gets dehydrated raw/kibble in the evening. Her breath smells like the ocean, mildly fishy but otherwise sweet :-)
http://www.international-dental.com/id/proden_plaqueoff_animal_faqs.htm
I was going to being switching him to raw because Bowdu's teeth inspired me. I'll try the plaque off. Thanks!
If you are going to switch Mochi to raw, start w/ grinds or dehydrated raw until he's got all his adult teeth in-- the milk teeth will wear out fast if you give raw meaty bones or antlers, and supposedly cause adult teeth to grow crooked (I have no proof, just hearsay)