teeth cleaning

[Oldhag1]

My big dogs have always had great teeth, even my 16-year old pit mix who has never had his teeth done or brushed has no problems. We had a pappilon years ago who ended up only having two teeth left in head by the time he reached that age. It just seems to be an issue with little dogs. My daughter's 12-year old chihuahua/pug mix has to get her teeth done yearly and it looks like our newest addition, like all our little dogs through the years, will also have to get the yearly dental scraping, brushing or no brushing.

[Windwalker2]

Originally Posted by winterbird

Thank you all for the suggestions. I've tried over the years to get him to eat the grain free / dry formulas. He does ok for about a week then gets sick and won't eat them.

Try another brand, or another kind of meat or fish, and feed less, maybe much less, than you did with grain containing foods.

[hiero2]

I strongly endorse feeding raw meaty bones on a regular basis. Like, at least 3-4 times per week. I scald all the meaty bones I feed - to reduce the exposure to germs.

I use some beef neck bones, and some chicken backs. I hear that "crunch, crunch", and I know they are cleaning their teeth. Bully sticks work ok, also.

That said, I don't feed "raw" much. I cook the dogs "regular" food (it's cheaper than buying commercial kibble and canned).

Just like people, some dogs have more issues than others. Weak teeth need more care.

[NJDevil]

Glad I saw this post. That video would never work for our dogs, I cannot clean their teeth because the tongue is constantly in the way, pushing my finger away. I have switched to grain free dry but one dog eats more canned than the other. I really want to know if the "dental chews" are effective or not. Does anyone use them on a regular basis and has noticed it helping?

[hiero2]

Originally Posted by NJDevil

Glad I saw this post. That video would never work for our dogs, I cannot clean their teeth because the tongue is constantly in the way, pushing my finger away. I have switched to grain free dry but one dog eats more canned than the other. I really want to know if the "dental chews" are effective or not. Does anyone use them on a regular basis and has noticed it helping?

In my experience they aren't much help. I find bully sticks more help. Rawhide helps, but some people see it causing digestive issues - I've never seen it - but some say they do. Like I said about raw meaty bones - they help a lot.

If you don't like raw, and your dogs are not really large, you can cook beef marrow bones, and they do the same thing. If you COOK bones, you have to be ABSOLUTELY sure that your dog can not crush then or splinter them. You have to watch them the first time you give cooked bones. If they just chew off the ends a bit, no problem, but you DO NOT want your dogs crunching and splintering, and then eating, cooked bones. Cooked bones are more brittle and harder than raw. Raw bones still have flexibility in them.

The problem you get is that splintered bones will have sharp ends and can puncture the gut internally. It is for this reason that people say not to feed a dog chicken bones - because they are talking about cooked chicken and bones. You can cut raw chicken bones with a sharp knife. Cooked chicken bones are hard and brittle. When I give my 50 lb dogs raw chicken backs, I want them to crunch and eat the whole thing, bones and all. When raw, the bones are soft enough and small enough that this works. For the beef neck bones, I DO NOT usually give them small bits sawed up - I give them fist-sized or bigger sections that they can work on. Some of the bone gets eaten, but not much. It works. I did the same routine when I had 70 lb hounds.

Either way, the bones will get digested - they do not pass all the way through the digestive system. But you'll see white or whitish poop from the calcium, and it typically causes fairly hard poop that is a little hard for the dogs to pass. It's never been a problem for my dogs, just takes them a bit longer to TCOB.

I've tried the food additives that are supposed to help keep teeth clean, and the mouth sprays. They were a problem to apply or use, and did not seem to me to help any. The animals (dogs and cats) object to the sprays, and the food additives don't seem to make a difference. And trying to train the pet to tolerate the sprays or tooth brushing is a PITA. Bones and bully sticks work, and the dogs like them. For my cats - its a different story - and that story is for a different forum!