Dog - teeth cleaning

tryu · 09-05-2009 10:46am #1

I give my dog a Dentastix every night but checking his teeth yesterday, he has tartar build up on his back teeth. Any suggestions?

caspermccormack · 09-05-2009 10:58am

Yeah, i give my dog one and still has plenty of build up also.

star-pants · 09-05-2009 12:08pm

I noticed this too on my dog Lily, so I asked the groomers did they know how we could clean it? We got toothpaste for dogs etc. He said dentastix are actually not good for them, he said one of the top ingredients is sugar. The ad says good for 'GUMS and teeth' not the other way around apparently. So I've stopped giving them to her.
He said there's this stuff called Plaque Off for dogs (theres a human version i think too) that you can get online, put a tiny bit in their food once a day for a while & that helps. So I bought it and we're trying it, I'll let ye know how we get on.

tryu · 09-05-2009 12:53pm

Thanks - please do let me know. My pet shop is pretty good and I will have a chat with them too especially re the dentastix!

Do you know if apples help at all? I have never given Bertie Bassett any fruit and there might be too much acidity in apples?

Blueprint · 09-05-2009 1:01pm

My fellow gets a bit of dried beef tripe after his walk every day, which seems to be working very well. He was in for his boosters last month and the vet said his teeth were outstanding. He's also fed on a high quality dry food, which helps a lot, especially as a lot of the wet foods actually have sugar in them.

I tried the Plaque Off on the dog and the cats before, but couldn't really see much difference, but then their teeth weren't bad to begin with, so I might just not have noticed.

tryu · 09-05-2009 1:11pm

My guy had his booster a couple of months ago and likewise his teeth were great with no tartar showing. Also, I feed him very good quality dry food and he doesn't have too many dog treats. The only "human food" I give him is meat and that's not too often as we don't usually have many leftovers!

Beth · 09-05-2009 1:53pm

Dentastix and chews etc dont do much for teeth cleaning.

You can brush their teeth and remove the tartar yourself but if there's a lot of tartar buildup its probably best to get the vet to clean them and then start from a clean set of teeth.

We give/gave all our dogs bones and one of them is fed on complete raw - with no problems with his teeth. The puppy wont be put on raw yet (gotta use up the food

) but she will also get bones to help with teeth.

If your dog doesnt want you to clean his teeth and you dont want to take him to the vet for a descaling, there's a product called Logic. Its an oral gel for dogs- you wipe it on their teeth with a finger but you can also put it on chews and when the dog chews on them, the gel wipes off onto the teeth and the dog doesn't notice his teeth are being cleaned

With high quality dried food, minimum shop bought treats, healthy scraps can help minimise teeth getting into bad condition.

Blueprint, be mindful of those dried tripe sticks (if it is the stuff in packs). They can stain the teeth, and it states it on some of the packaging as well.

Sigma Force · 09-05-2009 5:35pm

My little dog especially had really bad tartar build up, I was debating wether to have her teeth cleaned by vets again, she had it done once before when she was younger she's only five. Wanted to avoid having to have her sedated etc. so I thought I'd try chewy stuff first in general she's not given chewy treats because her tum is a bit sensative. I tried her with those white bones filled with stuff (dog knows what it's filled with but it's not much) you can get them in Aldi now as well as tesco etc and pet shops.

Then I also started getting her those Aldi small beef strips instead of the larger pigs ears. They make the dogs mad thirsty and they aren't given every day. I just supply them in a plenty of water once they drink lots after it's fine.
However I have noticed in the couple of months I started this her teeth are almost pearly white again. I really wish I'd taken a photo of her teeth before hand.

I tried Logic paste and all that Logic does work but it's not cheap was charged €21.00 for the last tube!

I never found dentastix effective they are soft and can't see how they scrape the tartar off the teeth, they might work as a preventative but I find the more natural treats work so much better.

My oulds dog is the same age as my little dog and she gets bones all the time and is always chewing on something her teeth are gorgeous wouldn't mind them meself lol. Spotless.

I swear, if you try a combination of aldi beef strips, the occasional pigs ear (once a week mabey) and those white filled bones it will work. Take a pic of your dogs teeth the day you start and take a pic 2 weeks later.

Oh and I thought feeding dry food would help my dogs teeth but they had been on dry food ..high quality Burns for over 4 years and the dry food just sticks to the teeth it's not any better than tinned food when it comes to teeth care in my opinion. Although is better in general more solid poops etc.

tryu · 09-05-2009 6:13pm

Thanks for the latest post. Bertie is approx 3 years old. It's just his back teeth and I do give him the dried strips, pigs ears, bones tripe products even though I hate the smell etc. Maybe he is not using his back teeth. Next time I am at the pet store I will ask what they think is best for this I know the Logic is expensive but I might give it a try.

macshadow · 09-05-2009 11:20pm

A wet cloth with a little salt on it between your thumb and forefinger.

tryu · 09-05-2009 11:29pm

Don't know if Bertie would like that. Is this tried and tested by you and if so how does the dog react?

macshadow · 09-05-2009 11:56pm

I never tried it myself, i read it in a book.
You could try a kong with the rough texture on the outside, stuff it with mince and treats it should clean his teeth and keep him busy:)

tryu · 10-05-2009 12:09am

To be honest with you, I can't imagine any dog sitting quietly whilst this is being done. He has rough kongs also but the back teeth still have the tartar. Next stop pet shop.

Dog - teeth cleaning

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