Do you brush your dogs teeth?

[HeatherAda]

Or do anything else to keep their teeth clean?

Want to protect the pups lovely clean teeth and wondering if anyone had any recommendations, and find out what others do, if anything.

I have seen you can buy toothbrushes and special toothpaste for dogs which I'm tempted to get.

Any thoughts?

 

[sloulou]

I don't brush my dog's teeth - he keeps them clean by eating bones

I personally wouldn't buy toothpaste... but that's just me

 

[Acolyte]

I dont, but I should.... greyhounds/lurchers quite often have awful teeth, my lurcher needs to go in and have his cleaned at the vet soon

If you have the patience then using the canine toothpaste things does work, and the dogs dont seem to mind once they get used to it

I have also tried the denta-rasp chew things which Pedigree produce - the dogs loved them, bolted them down in about 2 seconds, and they did nothing towards cleaning their teeth

 

[HeatherAda]

my dog has bones too - is that enough to keep them clean?

I tried the denta-rasp things too Acolyte - she seemed to enjoy them but being so young her teeth have nothing on them yet so no idea if they do anything!

I might give the toothpaste a try - thinking prevention is better than cure blah blah. Any reason why you wouldn't use toothpaste Widget?

 

[sloulou]

I wouldn't personally waste money on toothpaste when a raw meaty bone will do a better job - that's all

People always comment on how clean my dog's teeth are - although he is young and I would expect that anyway!

Something like a raw rib bone (lamb or whatever) once a week would work

Obviously some people aren't comfortable with feeding raw bones - so I guess they might have to use toothpaste... but dog's aren't meant to have their teeth brushed... they are meant to eat bones which clean them (if they lived away from humans).

Is totally up to you tho

 

[HeatherAda]

ah ok... that's interesting. She has a bone from the pet shop once a month or so but happily chews on it for weeks on end.

Have to say I am reluctant about the toothpaste, which is why I ask the question - it's not cheap for a start.

She does love bones so maybe we'll stick with that for now. I didn't realise her love of bones was cleaning her teeth

 

[SunshineTallulah]

RAW bones are the way to go.

Not smoked and def not cooked.

My dog has lovely white teeth.

 

[sloulou]

Totally agree SunshineTallulah

Dandelion - bones from the pet shop are probably cooked/ smoked... I would got to your butcher and get some from them

I get mine free - stick them in the freezer and take them out as and when.

 

[HeatherAda]

thanks - that was my next question, as you're right, the pet shop ones do look cooked or smoked.

I'm going to give it a go - much prefer this to brushing her teeth.

thanks for the help

 

[CorvusCorax]

Never!
And we have to show the bite to a judge, never had any complaints.
We used to use soup bones, can you still get them from the supermarket/butcher?

I know there was some issue over BSE years ago.

 

[SunshineTallulah]

Also you dog has much better breath on a RAW diet!!! ;-)

Hi Widget - nice to meet another fellow RAW enthusiast.

 

[sloulou]

There are a few Raw feeders on here

Can't imagine feeding anything else now..

 

[SunshineTallulah]

My dog has been RAW feed since she was 5mths old.

It has made a huge difference to her energy levels (ie: more stable rather than highs and lows) and her skin / coat etc.

Also so many people think its pricey when in fact it costs me less per meal than it does to feed my cats!!!

 

[prose]

[ QUOTE ]
RAW bones are the way to go.

Not smoked and def not cooked.

My dog has lovely white teeth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it the splintering issue or something else with smoked bones? I've found an excellent brand of organic dog bones, and my dog pretty much gnaws away the coating, a bit of the bone, and then I throw it away. I give her two a week.

While I feed raw patties, I don't want to feed raw bones, being that we live in an apartment space.

 

[peter1959]

Tried the tooth paste, no good whatsoever, so i give raw bones now

 

[GinaB]

I Can just imagine The Beast's face if I tried to clean her teeth

 

[prose]

[ QUOTE ]
I Can just imagine The Beast's face if I tried to clean her teeth

[/ QUOTE ]

Stella goes bug-eyed and licks off the toothpaste before I even get it into her mouth. As a result, I don't bother.

 

[haycroft]

i feed give mine raw and bones and even my 7yo teth are still white...you can feed raw and bones to pups aswell

 

[MillionDollar]

No, never have and all our dogs have never ever had teeth problems, even the 2 that lived till 16.

We feed only dried food and they have ALL of our bones from our food. I don't care what anyone says about chicken/fish bones, we've never had any problems with feeding them.

 

[Cop-Pop]

I've never cleaned my goldies teeth but she has bones and the denta sticks. She's 12 this year and her teeth are still white - not as white as they used to be but a lot better than some dogs half her age

 

[sloulou]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
RAW bones are the way to go.

Not smoked and def not cooked.

My dog has lovely white teeth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it the splintering issue or something else with smoked bones? I've found an excellent brand of organic dog bones, and my dog pretty much gnaws away the coating, a bit of the bone, and then I throw it away. I give her two a week.

While I feed raw patties, I don't want to feed raw bones, being that we live in an apartment space.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not bones if you live in an appartment? Don't see how it makes a difference?

Smoked is two reasons.. one because it is more likely to splinter as with cooked bones (the smoking dries them out and makes them brittle, like cooking does) - I also thought you weren't supposed to feed dogs smoked anything (eg. bacon, salmon)? Although can't remember why now....

 

[prose]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
RAW bones are the way to go.

Not smoked and def not cooked.

My dog has lovely white teeth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it the splintering issue or something else with smoked bones? I've found an excellent brand of organic dog bones, and my dog pretty much gnaws away the coating, a bit of the bone, and then I throw it away. I give her two a week.

While I feed raw patties, I don't want to feed raw bones, being that we live in an apartment space.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not bones if you live in an appartment? Don't see how it makes a difference?


[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't it really messy? And smelly? The bones we use now don't splinter at all and have zero smell. If there are detrimental factors to using smoked bones--other than splintering, which doesn't apply to this type--then I'll be willing to change, for sure.

Off to google smoked foods and make myself paranoid...

 

[ru-fi-do]

Theres no way I would be able to brush both my collies teeth, roat bones work a treat though and the 'seem' to enjoy them!

 

[brightmount]

I found brushing my dog's teeth great in theory, totally impossible in practice. I recognise the reasons for it, especially as my last dog had really bad teeth (and breath) towards the end of her life.

I give both my dogs dental chews, there are various kinds available and we ring the changes. It keeps them occupied as well. I especially like the ones like white strips that last a long time and allow me to read the newspaper without my Yorkie insisting on jumping on it.

My Springer Spaniel who is the elder of the two is now 6 years old and her teeth are as clean and white as they were when she was a puppy.

 

[chester1]

Raw meaty bones will do a wonderful job of keeping the teeth clean. Crunching, tearing the meat off ... great for keeping teeth clean and breath fresh.

If you keep the bones in the freezer, remove it if the dog wanders away from it, and wrap it before putting it in the bin you shouldn't get any smell. Mine has all her bones indoors because if I let her outside with one she will bury it straight away 'for later'.

I've also found a completely Raw diet has resulted in small sweeter-smelling poos and helped to empty anal glands. Coat and all round condition is better too. Some Raw feeders go for a totally Prey Model diet and some prefer Barf. It's worth looking into IMO. There is stacks of info on the net and dedicated forums if you want to go down that route.

 

[chester1]

Hmm, my last reply was headed up "Re:Tamz". It wasn't specially directed at you Tamz, I just can't get the hang of the whole replying process. The other thing, if anyone can help (sorry for off-topic) is how to view new posts without having to go through the whole forum. The right-hand column of latest posts on the forum isn't even in date order on my screen. Confused and bewildered.

 

[Tinkerbee]

I used to, had a little toothbrush and this "meaty" toothpaste

i soon got bored, they just get bones these days.