Re: How do you keep your dogs teeth clean? Brush? ... - Page 2

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

My dog LOVES raw brocolli and after her meal I give her two nice pieces of it. All the chewing she does seems to clean off her teeth!

athenian · ‎03-18-2012

I'm another Petrodex user. My rescue was a year old but has been good about brushing, though she does tend to suck the brush for the flavor. Glad to hear about not worrying too much about the inside surfaces, because they are a challenge.

goldensrbest · ‎03-10-2010

My oldest golden is 13 and a half, never had any teeth problems, brushed his for all those years,now many years ago ,in the 80's ,we had a old english ,i did not know to brush their teeth back then, i think i started on her when she was 6 or so.

When you lose some one you L~O~V~E, that Memory of them, becomes a TREASURE.

doxie1 · ‎03-09-2010

Goody1219

I posted about this quite a while back and got bashed by it so I am leary about the next bashing.

Some dogs do not ever have tartar issues and never need the brushing. Others do. I have one that does and I was not crazy about the dental cleanings. I talked with my vet and she said the teeth brushing. I asked about the water additives and at the time she said they had not been proven as effective. I told her the toothbrush thing was not working and she asked me to demonstrate. I did and she laughed and said I was doing it wrong. She said that I needed to get rid of the toothbrush and use a piece of gauze or bounty paper towel in a pinch. She eplained that the toothpaste causes an enzyme action which is different from people teeth brushing so you do not need to brush like that. You want to massage the outer edge of the teeth and gums and the dog will be licking the paste at the same time. You do not need to open the mouth. Instead slide the gauze with paste in the corner of the mouth and massage up and down paying attention to the back teeth. Once a day is all it takes because the enzyme action continues after you stop. I was skepitical . She said to do it at the same time every day such as before they eat or else follow with their daily treat. The dog learns that this is followed by something good. I tried it and the first day was not spectacular but I continued and followed with their meal. In less than a week they came running when I said teeth and they were fighting to be the firt to get their teeth done. They knew they were getting fed afterward and they liked the taste of the paste. I had a problem one day when I was late geting home and they had gotten the toothpaste to brush their own teeth and I had quite a mess to clean up.

She told me that the greenies and CET dog chews help as well but not as much as the brushing. She told me to do both.

One dog went 8 years with out a dental cleaning. Another has gone 6 years so far. A third dog does not look like she is going to have a tartar problem. I am good if it reduces the number of times I have to do this. One of them had some tartar buildup from before and it loosened it to the point the vet could use the tool to remove it while I held the dog on the table. Now that was nice.

For the people that do not have to this I have to say count your blessings.

The poster that uses a spin brush has me in awe! I would love to see a video but since your dogs accept it maybe it would be better to see a video of me trying a spinbrush on my terrorists.

doxie

Scooby Doo · ‎03-14-2010

@doxie1 wrote:
Goody1219

I posted about this quite a while back and got bashed by it so I am leary about the next bashing.

Some dogs do not ever have tartar issues and never need the brushing. Others do. I have one that does and I was not crazy about the dental cleanings. I talked with my vet and she said the teeth brushing. I asked about the water additives and at the time she said they had not been proven as effective. I told her the toothbrush thing was not working and she asked me to demonstrate. I did and she laughed and said I was doing it wrong. She said that I needed to get rid of the toothbrush and use a piece of gauze or bounty paper towel in a pinch. She eplained that the toothpaste causes an enzyme action which is different from people teeth brushing so you do not need to brush like that. You want to massage the outer edge of the teeth and gums and the dog will be licking the paste at the same time. You do not need to open the mouth. Instead slide the gauze with paste in the corner of the mouth and massage up and down paying attention to the back teeth. Once a day is all it takes because the enzyme action continues after you stop. I was skepitical . She said to do it at the same time every day such as before they eat or else follow with their daily treat. The dog learns that this is followed by something good. I tried it and the first day was not spectacular but I continued and followed with their meal. In less than a week they came running when I said teeth and they were fighting to be the firt to get their teeth done. They knew they were getting fed afterward and they liked the taste of the paste. I had a problem one day when I was late geting home and they had gotten the toothpaste to brush their own teeth and I had quite a mess to clean up.

She told me that the greenies and CET dog chews help as well but not as much as the brushing. She told me to do both.

One dog went 8 years with out a dental cleaning. Another has gone 6 years so far. A third dog does not look like she is going to have a tartar problem. I am good if it reduces the number of times I have to do this. One of them had some tartar buildup from before and it loosened it to the point the vet could use the tool to remove it while I held the dog on the table. Now that was nice.

For the people that do not have to this I have to say count your blessings.

The poster that uses a spin brush has me in awe! I would love to see a video but since your dogs accept it maybe it would be better to see a video of me trying a spinbrush on my terrorists.

doxie

My vet gave me the same advice. I'm hoping it will work with the pom I rescued from the shelter last year. I got another pom a few months later, and all of her teeth had been extracted due to bad dental health. I was told that those bad teeth contribute to heart and kidney disease and an early death. I feel so sorry for the little pom because she has no teeth to hold her tongue in her mouth, so her tongue is always hanging out the side and it gets real dry. Then she coughs. She can eat just fine as long as I cut it up in tiny pieces.

sandraskates · ‎06-26-2014

@doxie1 - No bashing here! I can't thank you enough for this post.

2 weeks ago we adopted a 7 year old Rat Terrier who's teeth need some attention. I bought the special toothpasth and a doggie brushing set that includes finger brushes.

I've watched YouTube videos on how to brush a dog's teeth but this dog just squirms around. It has been a challenge to use anything but my bare finger.

I'm going to try your toothpaste with the gauze method.

Even just using my bare finger though I can already see improvement on her teeth. I also bought her some chew items.

JeanLouiseFinch · ‎10-03-2011

I really did try to clean my dog's teeth with one of those fingertip brushes and enzymatic toothpaste and didn't feel I was getting anywhere. Then I tried with the gauze and felt like I failed there too. I gave up. I did have him in for a cleaning a couple of years ago and now I give him a Greenie after every meal. His teeth still look good, but I probably should try the gauze and toothpaste again.

pggoody · ‎10-09-2010

Interesting discussion......thanks for sharing.. Over the past couple days I came up with a few ideas to " assist" with teeth cleaning. Obviously, they will not replace brushing, but I think will help.

#1. My dog likes " biting" at streams of water .She is trained not to interfer with my watering and on hot days we will sometimes cool her down this way. Also every Saturday after her day at the dog park she gets rinsed off playing in the water this way before coming in the house. Since I was instructed to feed her soft food for 2 days following her dental cleaning and not to attempt to brush the first day, I decided to " "rinse" her mouth and teeth by playing in the water, it worked great. We only "play" a couple minutes with me setting the hose to jet stream. She bites at the stream of water and my grass gets a quick drink.

#2. I bought a pack of children's short handled chubby type toothbrushes. I dip a couple at a time in a glass of cold water and let Lucy bite at them. I repeat the process a few times before she tires of my " game of biting the toothbrush."

I figure both activities will help .

doxie1 · ‎03-09-2010

@Scooby Doo

I hope it works for your new pom too. It took me a week of being consistent daily for me to see they were looking forward to it. I can say teeth and they come running. Thank you for rescuing a dog. How old are your babies?

doxie

doxie1 · ‎03-09-2010

@sandraskates

I had tried the toothbrush and the fingerbrush and had trouble.

You can just use your finger if you want and you will see results if you do it once a day. The goal is to massage the gums and get the paste on the outer edge of the teeth. The enzyme action continues to work.

I made the mistake of thinking I had to pry the dog's mouth open instead of slide my finger in the corner of the mouth with it closed. They do not feel threatened and now open their mouths for it.

CET makes some chews that have the paste on them and help.

Rat terriers are smart and cute. squirm is right since they want to be in control.

doxie