Which dog food

Rocket19

Our dog is a lurcher, and has always been fed Burns (lamb and brown rice). She has a bit of an issue with her teeth, and has quite a bit of tartar on the teeth. We have had them cleaned before under anaesthetic, but looks like it needs to be done again (she's 5).

My mum had her with vet last week, and to combat the tartar, the vet recommended we switch her to Hills Vet Essentials (chicken). I am unsure about this. Can anyone recommend which is the superior food? I feel like we should keep her on the Burns.

For the record, we tried her on better foods like taste of the wild, but she refused to eat it. Raw isn't an option also, as I don't live at home, and parents won't go for it. Opinions are much appreciated.

Millem

Rocket I am in a similar situation....would love to feed my girls something like taste of the wild (higher meat content food) but burns is the only thing they will tolerate. I end up having to bring them vet!!!

I buy my burns from amazon as zooplus took too long and courier had a very bad habit if leaving it with random people in my estate!!!!

We subscribe and save to burns "alert". It's basically normal burns but targeted at assistance dogs. We get either lamb and rice or chicken and rice.

DBB

Any difference any brand of dry food would make is negligible op... The action of chewing something... Like.. Really getting down and having a good old side-of-mouth chew, is what will help control plaque. Dry food just isn't chewed for long enough to get that effect (although it has been shown to be marginally better than wet food for dental cleanliness). If Burns works for her, I wouldn't be rushing to change it
The saliva generated during a good old chewing session also helps, as well as the physical sloughing effect of chewing.
To this end.. Will she eat dried meat treats, and I mean big yokes that she has to lie down and really get stuck into? I have 2 foot lengths of dried beef scalp here that's going down a treat with my GSDs, also rawhide "bones" stuffed with dried tripe or pizzle, or pizzle itself (pizzle being a euphemism for a dried bull's manbits... Maybe best not to go tmi on this one with your parents ), or dried tripe? There's a fabulous range of dried meat treats on the zooplus websites.
You can also get mildly abrasive powder to add to her food, called Plaque-Off.. I know some posters here have had success with it cleaning off plaque-y teeth... I found it worked best if used after the teeth had been cleaned, to keep them clean.

Latatian

Brush her teeth! You can get dog toothpaste pretty easily and you're not getting the calories that the chews provide. If she's doing well on Burns otherwise, feed Burns.

peasant

Out of four dogs that have always been fed the same food (kibble) two have perfect teeth (including the 16 year old) one has a bit of plaque and the last one has awful dental problems.
I'd say plaque is more genetic than food related.


Raw duck necks now and then do a good job at scouring off some of the plaque. Just don't overfeed or you'll get constipation problems

aonb

A family member has told me about a product his company is going to start to produce in Ireland, well established in Scandanavia, which is for plaque control in dogs. Its a product that is added to the dogs food I believe, which causes plaque to not build up... I'll find out more and post on here. (Cant believe its not available for humans too - though I use some of the horse 'medications' - might try this too!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

In the meantime, theres this:

http://www.plaqueoff.com/animal/ProDen-PlaqueOff-Powder.html

muddypaws

aonb wrote: »

A family member has told me about a product his company is going to start to produce in Ireland, well established in Scandanavia, which is for plaque control in dogs. Its a product that is added to the dogs food I believe, which causes plaque to not build up... I'll find out more and post on here. (Cant believe its not available for humans too - though I use some of the horse 'medications' - might try this too!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

In the meantime, theres this:

http://www.plaqueoff.com/animal/ProDen-PlaqueOff-Powder.html

This is an Irish product, sounds like its the same principle as the Plaque off

https://seaweedfordogs.com/products/canident-clean-dogs-teeth-naturally

Hooked

Big meaty brisket bones if you know a nice butcher.

My eldest Hugo, is 6 on Thursday. He gets a brisket bone (as does Jack, 3) once every 3 weeks or so.

Their teeth and gums are immaculate.

tk123

Some dogs are just prone to dirty teeth. My two get exactly the same (raw) diet yet Lucy's had plaque on her teeth pretty from the time she was a puppy - she was in for her puppy check in the vets and she pointed it out to me! I can usually scrape it off with my finger nail so not really a problem for us - I just keep an eye on it.