How Many People Here Brush Their Dogs Teeth?

[jazawayaya]

?

[Sandra777]

Nope - that's why God made animals with bones

[Guest Ams]

Of all my pets I have one dog and one cat that have to have their teeth brushed. For some reason they have gingivitis regardless of how many bones I give them. All the others are fine.

[anniek]

mine get bones every day, but have terrible teeth -

I wipe along their gum lines every night with a chlorhexidine solution

[WreckitWhippet]

Nope, God have us roo tails for that very purpose. I do check them on a regular basis to ensure that they do not have any problems

[aussielover]

I also use bones.

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

when my previous dog got old i brushed her teeth because for some reason no matter how many bones she had there was tartar on her teeth

[Staranais]

I use bones and brush teeth.

[Skitch]

I use bones and brush the teeth of one of my dogs. He is an Italian Greyhound - a breed notorious for bad teeth! So I brush sort of as a preventative measure.. dont want expensive dental bills in the future. Lol

[sas]

No LOL I find the concept weird when we give them bones and other things that clean their teeth.

Edited to add, my dogs teeth are fine....maybe I'm lucky?

Edited September 22, 2010 by sas

[oakway]

Never....I let the dogs do that with bones.

[ellz]

I'm prepared to brush if need be, but thankfully a bone a day keeps the toothbrush away!

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

i wonder why some dogs, no matter how many bones they get have build up on their teeth?

my previous dog got bones every day and still needed her teeth brushed

[ellz]

Definitely some of it is shape of mouth and placement of teeth which can affect how the teeth come into contact with the abrasive surfaces of the bones.

[anniek]

My vet suggests that it is the differeing bacteria in the mouth.

Mine are fed a raw diet, bones every day, but both have gingivitis, and plaque gathers on the gumline of their canines if I don't wipe every day.

They also get large chunks of meat to chew on - ox heart, ox tongue, 500g lums of stewing steak, they are both very good chewers, but I still need to wipe daily to avoid plaque build up..

[SeeGee]

Yea Charlie has gingtivitus (red/bleeding gums arount tooth line?) occasionally. They are always red, only bleed when irritated, we feed raw as well.

I wipe his teeth of plaque every few days but dont know how to get rid of the inflammation,

Thanks

Jacqui

[HugUrPup]

I let chicken necks do the brushing for me

[Staranais]

Yea Charlie has gingtivitus (red/bleeding gums arount tooth line?) occasionally. They are always red, only bleed when irritated, we feed raw as well.

I wipe his teeth of plaque every few days but dont know how to get rid of the inflammation,

Thanks

Jacqui

Has she had a proper dental? I don't like sticking my pets under anaesthetic unnecessarily, but sometimes if tartar has already built up, I think it's better to get a dental done & then it's much easier to start from scratch to keep the teeth properly clean. Needs to be under a GA to get under the gumline, since this is what is causing the gingivitis.

[Skitch]

I think it has a lot to do with the shape of their mouths and the tightness of their gums. Greyhounds and iggies are bad for plaque build up because they are a breed that has very tight lips.. the bacteria gets held to their teeth and the way their teeth are positioned means that even chewing bones wont chip it off!

I have an 11 year old cattle dog X who has been given bones several times a week for her entire life and she has lovely shiny teeth . However after reading this thread I took a peek in her mouth out of curiosity and found a few funny looking lumpy bumps along her gumline! Wonder what that could be :/ We were going to the vets for her cartrophen injection tomorrow anyway so I will have him take a look.. I hope it's nothing serious! I wish I'd looked in her mouth sooner .

[Starkehre]

Bones generally do the maintenance cleaning adequately for us.

However, I always train my dogs from a young to accept me fiddling around in and inpecting their mouth. So from time to time if there is a small build up of plaque, I will scale them myself. I have never had to had a dog anaesthetised for a teeth scaling. They will lay there quietly whilst I do it.

One of my bitches recently had to 3 upper molars removed from one side as they were broken beneath the gums, trauma. So now the opposing lower teeth get a bit of build up every few weeks as she doesn't chew much on that side. I scale them when need be.

I inspect them all regular - every couple of days.

Edited September 22, 2010 by dyzney