Dogs teeth cleaning

[Alley01]

Originally Posted by kayfouroh

Any suggestions about a dog that simply wants to lick/eat the toothpaste? We've tried desensitizing by removing the toothpaste/toothbrush when he starts to lick but he is apparently more focused on the toothpaste flavor than the fact we are holding his mouth open to scrub.

Start with tooth wipes first - many of the online sites like Dr. Foster and Smith have them and go from there. Eventually, the dog will put two and two together...but there is also liquid toothpaste that can work a bit better. If all else fails, stay away from the rawhide, it encourages plaque to form and get knuckle bones and femur bones. You can get them for better prices going to a local butcher. We found one and he holds bones for us every couple of weeks.

Whatever you do, never ever ever feed your dog cooked bones. They splinter and can equate to a very expensive vet bill or a very sick dog.

[gardener34]

FYI: dachshunds are prone to teeth problems. Just part of the breed. Maybe it is because they live so long.

[kayfouroh]

Originally Posted by Alley01

Start with tooth wipes first - many of the online sites like Dr. Foster and Smith have them and go from there. Eventually, the dog will put two and two together...but there is also liquid toothpaste that can work a bit better. If all else fails, stay away from the rawhide, it encourages plaque to form and get knuckle bones and femur bones. You can get them for better prices going to a local butcher. We found one and he holds bones for us every couple of weeks.

Whatever you do, never ever ever feed your dog cooked bones. They splinter and can equate to a very expensive vet bill or a very sick dog.

We don't feed rawhide, we give hard antlers so that should help with plaque. I'll look at tooth wipes and liquid toothpastes, thanks

[Global Friend]

Bringing this back up because we decided to bring her for a cleaning. I bought some of the products suggested but getting use to doing it every day is another story, plus they can't stand me cleaning their teeth. It's a battle but I know it's important to keep them clean so after I get it done from the vet I'll try even harder. She is only 3 yrs old but the vet said she needs it and her teeth do look dirty. I see it was suggested to have pre surgery blood work? May I ask what the benefit is? Also, is it really safe to have them do this? I would just die if anything happen to her, so I'm going to worry like crazy.

[dogmomof2]

I think it's pretty safe in most cases, but ask questions about how they monitor the dogs while under anesthesia. My vet recommends blood work if the dog is over 5. The blood work is to make sure there are no underlying health conditions so it's safe to undergo anesthesia.

My greyhound mix has maybe 4-6 teeth left. We've had multiple dentals for her, the most recent being in October. She is around 9 or so, and this time we opted not to do the pre-op bloodwork. This is because we'd just had routine bloodwork done in August and the estimate for her procedure was $600. I really felt that since we'd recently had bloodwork, and there had been no apparent health changes, it wasn't necessary. She came through the surgery just fine. For one of the surgeries where they had to do multiple extractions, her heart rate started dropping so they woke her up and we had to bring her back for another procedure to finish. Something different about greyhounds and anesthesia I think.

Our other dog had a cleaning the next day. He is 11.5, and his bloodwork was not as recent, so we had it done for him. He's had 3 cleanings in the past and has always come through fine.

Mine really won't let me brush their teeth, but i've had more success with gloves with little bristles than with a dog toothbrush.

[Global Friend]

Thanks. I use the glove, toothbrush, Biotene gel, mouth rinse and hard chews.