Dental Health

Hm. I have broken a tooth over a hoofie. I love them! What would be a better alternative? I become a real butt when there are rawhides around, they're ALL MINE. Grrrr.

We had Andy's(Yorkie mix) teeth cleaned every year until he got the Cushings. For Daisy we use OraVet. Every Sunday we brush her teeth and then put the Oravet on her teeth/gum line. So far her teeth look great. She has her yearly check up in April and I will see what the vet thinks. It will be 1 1/2 years since she had her teeth cleaned.

A couple of months ago I started using Plaque and Tartar Control for the dogs. It's an odorless, colorless liquid that goes in the pets' water. Sydney's breath had started to get bad, and her teeth looked less than healthy. Within about a month her oral hygiene had improved significantly. A few weeks ago I started working with both dogs about accepting a toothbrush and some chicken flavored toothpaste. It's been slow going, but I am now able to brush their top teeth daily, and they happily come to have it done. Do you have any tips on how to brush or even see their bottom teeth? They kind of draw the line there, and I don't want to undo the work we have done by making them afraid of or aggressive toward the toothbrush if I insist on doing the bottoms.

I've always found that pressed rawhide (not compressed) is very effective at knocking off built up tarter, particularly if your dog enjoys chewing. I used to scrape my dogs teeth with a dental tool--yes my dogs just let me do it. I've found this year that offering raw meaty bones keeps teeth sparkling clean, even on little nasty chi mouths! The difference is remarkable. When the dogs chew through the connective tissue it flosses their teeth and the texture of the raw bone knocks off all tarter. Kid you not, it's amazing.

I might take Sugar to get another cleaning, she had to get a root canal last year *sigh* poor baby wouldn't take her meds either! LOL. But she has a appointment pretty soon so I'll see what the vet can do.

speedy needs to get a dental in the next week or so. i had been putting it off, because of his age (he's 14) but decided to do it now, rather than his teeth get worse, and then his bloodwork not be good enough for being put under. i wish cats would chew raw bones like the dogs will! all the dogs have nice clean white teeth, because they have always chewed those. they aren't hard like cooked bones or hooves.

While dental disease is a huge issue, I think there are other alternatives to surgery. The boys all have great teeth because they get RMBs (supervised, of course) as well as other chews like rawhide (sparingly). These work great and help keep tartar away, an are less risky than surgery. That's just my opinion, though.

We LOVE our Chicken toothpaste on our SpongeBob toothbrush!