Talk to me about Oral care/hygiene for dogs please!

[arwenplusone]

Just doing a bit of a project/research for a job - sadly I don't have a dog atm, so don't know much about oral care/dentistry for dogs.

Can you tell me whether it is something that you place a lot of importance on?
and do you buy those chews that help clean dog's teeth.

Do you clean your dogs' teeth?

Thank you - any help much appreciated.

 

[TinChicken]

my terrier can't have the chews as they are full of colourings that make her itch. i don't think i would use them anyway. my dogs both have raw marrow bone and their teeth are brushed every other day. they are also fed dry food.

personally i see dental hygeine as very important in animals (and people) you only get one set of teeth! also it's important to have a good routine in place as GA for de-scaling is more dangerous as they get older. good teeth are important for maintaining weight and also we all know how bad an old dogs breath can smell.

hope that helps

 

[BigRed]

I had 5 dogs at one point. I never cleaned their teeth, ever. Occasionally they had bones to chew. I never buy dog chews, never mind dental chews. One dog, age 11 got bad breath. I was persuaded by the vet to have her teeth descaled. They looked great but the bad breath stayed the same. None of my dogs ever lost any teeth or needed any pulled out.

My sister owned the litter sister of one of my dogs. My sister bought all the chews and brushed her dogs teeth. By the time the dog was 7 the vets had yanked out most of the dogs teeth in 3 sessions. Very sad.

I think it is mostly hype from the vets and a way from the food companies to get more money out of dog owners.

 

[FestiveSpirit]

Greyhounds + oral hygiene = AAAAAARRRRRGH

Greyhounds have notoriously bad teeth (no idea why, perhaps connected with their diet when they are younger???) and TBH I have given up as nothing seems to work

My older greyhound (6 yrs old) had approx 20 teeth out earlier this year, she now has her canine teeth but no teeth between them in front top & bottom, at the left side top & bottom, and on the right top only...

I have tried the Pedigree Dentisticks, cleaning the teeth, raw bones, cooked calcium bones, some rather odd Dental Gel chews which my vet recommended... the dogs either hated them, or they had no effect whatsoever

 

[arwenplusone]

Wow - thanks guys - this is all helpful.

Poor dogs to loose all these teeth!

 

[CorvusCorax]

My Mum has had dogs for 40 years and I have had them all my life, never brushed a dogs teeth and only ever gave around one knuckle bone a week, all dogs teeth remained intact.
B has a Nylabone ball on a rope type thing which is supposed to keep the teeth clean as they chew it but I notice it makes his gums bleed.
We had one bitch with a missing tooth but that was because she decided chewing a brick would be a good idea.

I think GSDs must have quite strong teeth to begin with, if they didn't, they wouldn't be so good at bitework/protection work, which involves a lot of hanging off hessian sacks and padded sleeves.....

 

[FestiveSpirit]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow - thanks guys - this is all helpful.

Poor dogs to loose all these teeth!

[/ QUOTE ]

Its really common in greyhounds, I met another one at Blenheim horse trials which had even fewer teeth

Ironically my toothless one eats far faster than the one who has all her teeth, and is still an avid murderer of passing wildlife so I dont think she misses hers

 

[camilla4]

I have to say that I never clean my dog's teeth either! We have had dogs in the family my whole life and we never did this. We also never had any dental problems. My Lab is now 8 and at her last vet check a month ago they did actually comment on how remarkably good her teeth are. She is (now) on a raw food diet and has a marrow bone most weeks. She also enjoys her Kong toy whcih I stuff with vegetables but she's only had this for a couple of years so I'm not sure how much effect this has had..

 

[Gooby]

My mum will sometimes buy the denta stix for my dogs as a treat and we will give them to them as a reward but in general I dont go and specifically buy them. I have never cleaned any of my dogs teeth and have never had a problem. All of my dogs have healthy diets and have toys around the house to chew on which can help "clean" their teeth. Although my old girlie used to prefer the use of sticks! naughty girl! I did however used to have to clean my cats teeth for a period of time .

 

[CAYLA]

I have exactly 1 million dogs

and I have never had a dental carried out on any........EXCEPT my whippey x grey

ditto Splotchy, they get really bad teeth, I feed my dogs a dry diet and occassional hard treat, pigs ears, uncooked bones (big ones) I think a good quality dry diet goes far, dogs fed tinned meat and nowt else (yorkis and little cat dogs

tend to have rancid teeth as owners tend to feed them rubbish and foil packs of ceasar

and the likes off and no dry food at all

Obs barf is good as it involves lots of bone crunching, which is a great natural source of tartar removal

Oral hygiene is paramount if u want to avoid lots of GA's and kidney failure in later life.

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Have never brushed a dogs teeth in my life!!

My dogs have a good diet including fruit and vegetables, bones and pigs ears. Sweep had his teeth checked before his recent operation - vet was very impressed as there was no significant tartar build up. Max did arrive with a toothbrush but it went straight in the bin along with the Bakers - I gave him a nice big bone instead - he thought it was a great swap!!

 

[Delta99]

Same here, never brushed their teeth, no dental chews, just a healthy, natural diet.
Vets always comment on how good the dogs' teeth look when they go for their booster!

 

[Tinkerbee]

I used to clean Tinks teeth about 6 years ago, when I was young and doggy toothpaste was a novelty

Haven't been done since and she only gets the odd rawhide type chew or a bone. At her recent vets visit we were told she has beautiful teeth for her age

 

[fmay]

I have kept dogs for 30 years and have never brushed a single tooth or bought a doggy chew tooth product. I have also kept lots of greyhounds/whippets and lurchers and none of them has ever had tooth problems - I must be lucky

They are fed on a dry diet and have the very occasional bone (because they argue over them

)

 

[KarynK]

Mine have just spent over an hour cleaning their own teeth, on Pigs Trotters! Like others on raw or that at least feed raw bones regularly no need to clean their teeth at all!