Dental Care

[Guest Latch]

I am doing my best to keep Latch's teeth in good shape, but I feel like I should be doing more. He won't hardly let me brush his teeth (he will for a few seconds and then he fights me on it the rest of the way and they don't get brushed very well). I started using the wysong denta treat to brush his teeth with because he likes that better than the regular dog toothpaste.

 

Is wysong ok to brush teeth with?

 

How often do you brush your dogs teeth?

 

What else can I do to make sure his teeth stay in good shape?

 

Thanks!!

[RobinM]

I have 4 hounds. I HAVE to brush Polli's teeth everyday. I do. I brush Chloe and Teddy's teeth once a week. No problem. Beau. Forget it. I can not do it. Aint gonna happen.

 

I also give them CET chews which are chemically treated to help with teeth cleaning. I am dead set against rawhide for many reasons but I will break down and give them these supervised of course.

 

I also use the Aquadent water additive to help reduce tartar.

 

CET CHEWS:

 

http://www.healthypets.com/newlarbagcet.html

 

WATER ADDITIVE:

 

http://www.healthypets.com/cetaquadent16.h...__utmk=70548753

Edited May 7, 2008 by RobinM

[Guest Ally]

I got told, bones. Best and natural way to clean a dogs teeth. We get ours free from the local farm shop and it really works. I don't feel it's natural to clean a dogs teeth; not when you can use nature's way. There was no one around hundreds of years ago cleaning their teeth?

[RobinM]

I got told, bones. Best and natural way to clean a dogs teeth. We get ours free from the local farm shop and it really works. I don't feel it's natural to clean a dogs teeth; not when you can use nature's way. There was no one around hundreds of years ago cleaning their teeth?

 

Hundreds of years ago, a dog didn't live to be half the age a dog will today and if teeth went bad, they went bad.

 

If you could see and smell (I'm surprised you couldn't smell her breath across the pond! It was THAT bad) Poli's breath and teeth, you wouldn't say that.

 

Polli will not take a bone. She will lick it! My Beau will lick it, bite it, lick it.... etc.

 

Teddy and Chloe like bones and other "normal" things.

 

For someone like Polli, she needs as much "unnnatural" ways to tend to what's left of her teeth. If I didn't do that, she would lose them all, be uncomfortable and as you know decayed gums and teeth can lead to numerous other ailments and diseases.

 

It's just not that cut and dry. In a perfect world....

 

 

 

[Guest Ola]

Yes, unfortunately some dogs just aren't interested in chewing hard things. Also, for dogs with dental issues already present it may actually hurt them to chew. But for dogs that will chew, I think meaty bones are a great choice - turkey necks are popular among the greyhound folks, but there are many other choices. Quite frankly tooth cleaning are the main reason we switched to a raw diet.

[greyhoundlady]

I brush my greys teeth with Petrodex Beef Flavored toothpaste - then follow that immediately with Petzlife Oral Care gel. That does a beautiful job on the plague and tartar. I also dole out bully sticks. Their teeth look really good. Now if I can only tackle their nails with that much success!

[Guest dancingannie]

I brush my greys teeth with Petrodex Beef Flavored toothpaste - then follow that immediately with Petzlife Oral Care gel. That does a beautiful job on the plague and tartar. I also dole out bully sticks. Their teeth look really good. Now if I can only tackle their nails with that much success!

 

 

MY 8 YEAR OLD GIRL ANNIE HAS PRETTY BAD BREATH. SHE CAME TO US AND THE FOSTER HOME BEFORE US WITH DENTAL DISEASE. SHE HAD TEETH PULLED. WE BRUSH HER TEETH WITH THE PETRODEX BUT I AM AFRAID THAT HER LACK OF TEETH WON'T ALLOW HER TO CHEW ANYTHING ELSE TO HELP THE PROBLEM. WE ALL READY HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE VET TO MAKE SURE IT ISN'T SOMETHING OTHER THAN HER MOUTH THAT IS CAUSING THE ODOR. BUT WHAT ELSE CAN I TRY ALONG WITH THE PETRODEX THAT WILL ATTACK THE BREATH PROBLEM SPECIFICALLY.

[ahicks51]

I got told, bones. Best and natural way to clean a dogs teeth. We get ours free from the local farm shop and it really works. I don't feel it's natural to clean a dogs teeth; not when you can use nature's way. There was no one around hundreds of years ago cleaning their teeth?

 

Hundreds of years ago, a dog didn't live to be half the age a dog will today and if teeth went bad, they went bad.

 

While true, it's worth noting that many greys have particularly foul mouths even at relatively young age. It seems likely that carbohydrate-rich kibble is at least partially responsible for this. There is no nutritional requirement in the canine for carbohydrates; start giving them long-chain polysaccharides, and the next thing you know, there are calculus deposits impinging on the gumline. Next step- pocket formation, and then serious disease.

 

Bagged kibble is a relatively new invention. Our great-grandparents fed 'em table scraps- which isn't to say this was a balanced diet. But today, the over-engineered kibble (the "Blue Food" from the movie 2001, if you will), the all-in-one, no nutritional deficits, same-stuff-every-day-for-life food from who-knows-where, is- to the skeptical eye- perhaps not the best stuff for the teeth.

 

Simply put, oral flora do not do well on the Atkins diet; in humans, ironically, the Atkins diet causes tooth decay, probably from some weird metabolic acidosis thing. In the canine, it can do very nicely to keep the teeth white and shiny. It's partly mechanical, and partly biochemical. It could be that, as a prey-hunting breed, greyhounds were selected to have lower tolerance for carbohydrates in the oral environment. This may partially explain why greys tend to have rotten mouths, moreso than many other breeds.

[Guest Gingy]

I use Petzlife, and it's cleared up some tartar deposits and gingivitis in Lucy really well

[Guest paulamariez]

I use the Wysong DentaTreat sprinkled on Bueller's food, brush with the beef Petrodex toothpaste and smear his teeth and gums with OxyFresh Pet Gel. Using that Gel daily REALLY helps the smell, if there's nothing else seriously wrong with the teeth/mouth. I had to order the stuff online, but it's been worth every penny I paid for it. It can also be used on cuts, sores etc. to prevent infection. I swear by the stuff! I tried giving the raw bones, but ended with with sick hounds almost every time they ate it, so I finally gave up on that. But it was working quite well.

[Guest Mom2RooAndLexi]

Raw meaty bones here, even for the "old lady" who has lost most of her teeth before coming here. My 11 and 9 year old dogs that I've had since puppies have never had or needed a dental. Roo needed a dental badly when he arrived here, but the tartar and gingivitis cleared up beautifully with the RMB. Lexi had most of her teeth pulled 4 days prior to me adopting her. She chomps on those bones like a champ, and I have no worries about the rest of her teeth being able to stay put. LOL!