Brushing your Dog's Teeth?

Our Vet told us all the medical problems our dogs can have if their teeth are not brushed regularly. We got the doggie brush and toothpaste and now have started to brush their teeth. Not an easy job. Perrys jowels are so big they just flop down when you get your hand in his mouth. Daisy loves the taste
(chicken) and she just licks and licks your hand. I am curious does anyone else brush their doggies teeth or do you have your Vet do it? I was told the Vet puts the dogs under to brush their teeth and I'm not willing to do that.

I brush Graham's teeth 1-2 times a week. Cassie needs her teeth brushed daily or every other day because she has nasty breath. I use the toothbrush made for dogs, it's double ended. The vets do a very thorough job, with professional dental tools and the dogs are put under general anesthetic and it's a good thing to do, depending on what their teeth conditions are like now. If they have horrendous breath (like Cassie does) and inflamed gums/excess tarter they may need to have the vet do it. When Cassie goes to the vet this spring for her heartworm preventitive I am going to have the vet check her teeth and see if that smell that comes out of her mouth is normal or if something's wrong. I have never smelled dog breath like hers before, but yet her teeth look to be normal from what I can see and her gums are healthy and pink. But when that little dog yawns or pants.....watch out!! P.U.!!!

As for the floppy jowels, what I do is put her in the kitchen sink so she can't run away from me. I then grab (firmly) one lip (jowel?) then brush that side quickly but gently. I keep good hold of the jowel because it prevents them from shaking their head, if they pull away it does not feel good so they will eventually learn to hold fairly still. I then move to the other lip firmly and do that side of her mouth. Graham just holds his face up to me, he does not squirm or move so I don't have to contain him when I brush his teeth.

And yes, brushing teeth is very important for dogs' health and longevity.

A lady I used to work with took her fox terrier to the vet, she tried everything for her dogs bad breath. Finally they discovered he had rotten teeth and had to have them pulled. He was pretty miserable for awhile but I guess he is better now, I don't work with her anymore.

I brush Daisy's teeth maybe once a month... is that not enough? She, like your Daisy, Jackie, loves her chicken toothpaste and licks the toothbrush for a while until she calms down. Then she's a good girl and lets me brush her teeth. She also knows the sooner I am done, the sooner she will get a treat http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif

My little peanut, Tide, has been having his teeth brushed since he was a tiny puptart and he loves it. He will follow me into the bathroom at night and put his paws up on the counter waiting for his nightly "snack" of chicken-flavored toothpaste!

Simba has his own doggie toothe brush and paste it is beef flavored ( he doesnt really like it that much) and if the vet did it he would probly end up getting bit 'cause
Simba wont let anyone else except me mess with his mouth.

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*.KayAnn.*&Simba*RuFf*

The vet told me to give our dogs an uncooked chicken wing every week. He said that it would help keep their teeth clean & healthy.

Angels, that astounds me. My understanding is that any kind of chicken bones are extremely dangerous as they could puncture the intestines.

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Originally posted by RachelJ:
Angels, that astounds me. My understanding is that any kind of chicken bones are extremely dangerous as they could puncture the intestines.

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It astounded me at first, too, RachelJ. But apparently, chicken bones (& other bones) are only dangerous when they're cooked. It's the cooking that makes them dry & splintery & then they are sharp and are likely to puncture the intestines. The raw chicken (& other) bones are what dogs would 'naturally' eat in the wild.
All the vets here have recommended raw chicken wings for some time now. First time I gave them to our dogs, I was very nervous because I, too, had thought them dangerous. Now they've been eating them for years & so have our friends' & neighbours' dogs (all on vet advice).
The vets tell us that cooked bones of any kind are dangerous...especially those chop (rib?) bones & chicken bones. Being small, they're very likely to splinter into 'needles'. Somebody gave our sheltie a cooked chop (rib?) bone recently & she swallowed it before I could get to her. So I got 3 thick slices of bread (spread with Vegemite...a product we put on toast here) and gave her that to eat in large lumps. I was told this was a good first aid if a dog eats anything sharp...like decorations off the christmas tree. Fortunately, she was OK.

I must stress that it is raw chicken WINGS that the vets recommend. They never seem to recommend any other part & I don't know if there's a reason. But I sure stick with the wings, as advised.



[This message has been edited by Angels3 (edited February 24, 2001).]

I used to brush my dogs teeth but I got out of the habit. But Herc loved the tooth paste; one time he ate the whole tube