Dry dog food brands, teeth, and allergy

MichaelR

Hello,

We have a 7 year old small dog, a terrier cross.

Up to a few months ago we fed him Leader food. He was eating really well, had good bowel movements, barely scratched. However his teeth, or rather gums, gradually deterioriated, and he had to have an operation to deal with the inflammation.

Because of this, the vet told us that the food had to be replaced, and we had to change to Hills Vet Essentials. According to the vet it has the kind of shell that cleans the dog's teeth as the dog bites into it.

But the dog does not like eating this food. And moreover the dog started scratching vigorously. Any steroid courses give only temporary relief. The vet claims this is seasonal, but it's going on for a few months already and never happened to such an extent before. The teeth/gums appear to be all right now.

I am thinking of going back to Leader food, to see if the scratching ends. However might this mean that the teeth go bad again? What can we do here?

MichaelR

MichaelR wrote: »

Hello,

We have a 7 year old small dog, a terrier cross.

Up to a few months ago we fed him Leader food. He was eating really well, had good bowel movements, barely scratched. However his teeth, or rather gums, gradually deterioriated, and he had to have an operation to deal with the inflammation.

Because of this, the vet told us that the food had to be replaced, and we had to change to Hills Vet Essentials. According to the vet it has the kind of shell that cleans the dog's teeth as the dog bites into it.

But the dog does not like eating this food. And moreover the dog started scratching vigorously. Any steroid courses give only temporary relief. The vet claims this is seasonal, but it's going on for a few months already and never happened to such an extent before. The teeth/gums appear to be all right now.

I am thinking of going back to Leader food, to see if the scratching ends. However might this mean that the teeth go bad again? What can we do here?

Go back to the vets. Dry food is better for dental health than wet food.

It's unlikely an allergy to the food but that can be checked for a lot cheaper than a dental.

MichaelR

Leader is also a dry food. It's just that the vet says its shell is not hard enough to be cleaning the teeth.

How can the allergy be checked for, though?

DBB

Dry food is better than wet food for keeping teeth clean. But dry food actually isn't *that* good to start with, according to the research I've read anyway.
The trick for clean teeth is that the dog has a good, long chew on things... One of the reasons dry food doesn't do the job as well as seems to be bandied about. Dry food is barely chewed by most dogs, it's gulped down too quickly.
So, you need the dog to chew. You know, the sort of chewing where the dog lies down, clasping the chew between his paws, and having a good old chew with the sides of his mouth, using those big, bone-grinding carnassial teeth?!
So, things like raw chicken wings or legs (depending on size of dog), dried meat treats such as cow's ears, tripe sticks, pizzles, beef scalp, beef lips etc etc... Really fab at keeping teeth clean and gums healthy. Even carrots if the dog likes to chew on them.
You can also get a powdered food additive called Plaque-Off which is really good for keeping newly cleaned teeth clean.
If the new food isn't agreeing with him, it's a no-brainer to go back to what always worked for you. Just add alternative, and demonstrably better ways of keeping his teeth clean!

MichaelR

MichaelR wrote: »

Leader is also a dry food. It's just that the vet says its shell is not hard enough to be cleaning the teeth.

How can the allergy be checked for, though?

It's normally the protein source, but it normally involves a specific diet regime to see what the cause is. But also recommend going back to the vet as it might not be the change in food.

Spanish Eyes

Are humans as well looked after these days!

Hope it works out for you.