How often should I brush my dog's teeth?

tommy21

I brought my 4 year old border collie cross to the vet recently, having never brushed her teeth before (I know, I know, otherwise our care of her has been impecable). He said she had heavy tartar, and they put her under to remove it. No permanent damage done thankfully. I have now started brushing her teeth every second day (once a day). Is this enough? I bought via ebay dog toothbrush and a special brush to get to the back teeth. Thankfully my dog is a saint when it comes ot this and generally lets me do it with no resistance. Is once every two days enough? She eats basically the same as ourselves (obviously not chocolate or anything like that) I mean if its meat and potatoes for dinner she gets this, and chicken regularly - vet said this is fine. He did recommend we get raw bones from butcher for her to naw on. We've avoided this until now as I always thought the bones could splinter and injure a dog?

We also have a vicious tom cat - he goes mental even trying to put flea drops on him, I shudder to think how we could possibly do his teeth. He does eat a lot of dry food though, so hopefully this will assist. Any thoughts on either animal?

Many thanks

Tail Wagger

Do You mean with your own toothbrush or did you buy him a special one?

tommy21

Tail Wagger wrote: »

Do You mean with your own toothbrush or did you buy him a special one?

:eek:
Dog toothbrush

TooManyDogs

I have to say I was never great about brushing my dogs teeth, major battle ground. She has bitten regular toothbrushes in half and when I got one of those plastic ones you put on the top of your finger she tried to bite that one in half too, not realising my finger was in there! :eek:

I moved them onto a raw food diet and never had to brush their teeth again! Happy days! The amount of chewing they do on the bones cleans their teeth so no work for me

star-pants

Tail Wagger wrote: »

Do You mean with your own toothbrush or did you buy him a special one?

Infracted - make helpful posts or not at all please

OP - every two days sounds ok - did the vet give any advice on how often?
The likes of potatoes might get stuck in his teeth so perhaps if he has had something mushy like that to eat make sure you brush those days too.
Raw bones are usually ok, cooked bones can actually sometimes be more dangerous because they're more likely to splinter. Proper big bones should be fine for your dog to gnaw on. I personally won't give chicken bones ever to a dog, though some say if they're raw they're ok.
Dry food for the dog can be good too.

Regarding the cat - I don't have experience brushing a cats teeth but I can't say it'd be easy!! some dry cat food will help, but hopefully others with more experience in that area will be able to give advice

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

OP: our 6 year old Rough Collie has never had her teeth brushed and passes on the tarter front at every annual vet visit. We give her chews, denta stick etc and she gets dry dog food.

TooManyDogs

star-pants wrote: »

Proper big bones should be fine for your dog to gnaw on.

If you mean those big beef bones, they need to be limited, they're actually very hard so if you have a dog who loves chewing you have limit the time they spend on the beef bones, it can actually wear down their teeth. It happened to one of my dogs and it was ages before I twigged that it was the beef bones doing it.

Whispered

TooManyDogs wrote: »

If you mean those big beef bones, they need to be limited, they're actually very hard so if you have a dog who loves chewing you have limit the time they spend on the beef bones, it can actually wear down their teeth. It happened to one of my dogs and it was ages before I twigged that it was the beef bones doing it.

That is a very good point and something I would have never thought of! Do you know if there is a recommended time a day they should be allowed chew on a cow bone?

star-pants

Thanks TooManyDogs for that - sorry I guess it wasn't a very specific statement on my part. I guess I meant bones bigger than chicken bones, but apologies for misleading.

TooManyDogs

helena.ryan wrote: »

That is a very good point and something I would have never thought of! Do you know if there is a recommended time a day they should be allowed chew on a cow bone?

I let mine have 10 minutes twice a day with the beef bones, most of mine will chew for a while and leave them but my collie is obsessive and would chew all day long. I happened to mention to a vet that her teeth were getting worn down and I figured she was chewing rocks or something when the vet asked if I gave her big beef bones, that they're just as hard as teeth so can result in teeth being worn down.

Jules

You should brush your dogs teeth EVERYDAY. It's the gold standard and nothing, nothing can come close to it. Every second day is ok, as long as it's a good brushing. Any less than that then there is no point at all. It is the mechanical action of brushing that gets plaque shifted. If you could get your dog to put up with a toothpaste an enzymatic toothpaste is best. Best thing i find are finger brushes, like a thimble they fit over your index finger, great instead of a brush.

You should really start doing this when they are puppies, get them used to being handled around the mouth. This will also help with giving medications and vet checks later in life. If your dog as a tartar build up already then no amount of dental sticks or bones or chews will keep bigger problems at bay. Your pet will need a descale and polish and then you start from scratch!



A dog with severe tartar build up, gingivitis which leads to peridontal disease!