Teeth brushing

[Dani]

Do you brush your dog's teeth? If so, how often? I've been thinking it might be good for Bear. My family doesn't really seem to think it's necessary. Her teeth are pretty clean, but it wouldn't hurt to brush them I suppose.

Thanks for input.

 

[Zoom]

You could brush them or you could give her some good raw bones to chew on. Personally, I'd go for the bones.

 

[Dani]

She gets bones sometimes... however, they are cooked pork bones (with meat still on it sometimes).

I'll try giving her raw bones. I've heard that's good for their teeth Thanks.

 

[Zoom]

No! No cooked bones, and no pork bones ever! heat-treated bones can splinter and do harm to your dog. Always stick with raw bones, like knuckle bones, neck bones...chicken and turkey necks, backs and wings are ok SO LONG AS they are RAW.

You're welcome...I don't mean to sound mean, by the way. Just concerned for your dog.

 

[Mordy]

pssst - raw pork bones are fine. in fact, pork ribs are some of the softest bones that are even suitable for very small dogs and puppies.

just never, ever feed any bones cooked though.

 

[Dani]

I will tell my parents not to feed Bear cooked bones . If it helps... they're not the really fragile types... they're pork neck bones. We make soup sometimes and give her a piece of bone and meat. Anyhow, she won't eat them from now on

 

[neko12_48767]

what about soup bone, and I brush my dogs teeth once a month because I give him bones

 

[Mordy]

dani - set one aside for her before you use the others for cooking. i'm sure she'd appreciate it!

neko - it depends what kind of soup bone. if it is just one of those "o-shaped" slices with marrow in the middle, i wouldn't feed them because they are cut from the hardest part of the bone in the body and can break teeth. if you are referring to the "knuckle" part of a whole femur bone, that's fine.

some more info here:
http://forums.ourdogsonline.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=care&Number=229

 

[Dani]

Sounds good. Yes, she would appreciate that, lol.

 

[PoodleMommy]

Being concerned about giving raw meat to our puppy. We have chosen the path of brushing her teeth and we do it every other day.
So far it has worked well, her teeth seem very clean.

 

[AusCatDogs_4Ever]

Dental health is really important. I brush Charlie's teeth almost every night before he goes to bed. He also eats raw hide bones. If you don't care for your dog's teeth, when they get older and plaque and tarter builds up, they can get gum disease which can spread through their blood to the heart, and actually kill them! Brushing your dogs teeth can help them live longer, healthier lives!

 

[corykins22]

i brush my dogs teeth once a week or two. i have heard once a week is healthier for the teeth. at work, we have poultry flavored enzymatic toothpaste. most dogs seem to like it, my dogs love it. and since its enzymatic, as long as you get it in their mouths it does the work for you. i squeeze a bunch into the bristles of the tooth brush so they have to chew on it to get it to the back teeth. i do that a couple times and let them chew on the brush.

 

[oriondw]

No! No cooked bones, and no pork bones ever! heat-treated bones can splinter and do harm to your dog. Always stick with raw bones, like knuckle bones, neck bones...chicken and turkey necks, backs and wings are ok SO LONG AS they are RAW.

You're welcome...I don't mean to sound mean, by the way. Just concerned for your dog.

Been eating cooked bones for almost 3 years, no problems, ever.

 

[oriondw]

You have to at least brush front teeth. They are not cleaned by bones as other teeth are.

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

I dont' brush.

My dogs are all raw fed.

I do from time to time have to scale around the bottom of the canines, and on certain molars on one dog.

I find no buildup on the incisors.

This is the mouth of a 9YO. Teeth don't get brushed. Never been cleaned, except for occasional minor hand scalingdone by me.

 

[pitbulliest]

and don't forget to freeze raw bones first before giving them to your dog; freezing it will kill a very harmful bacteria that could be life threatening.

 

[juliefurry]

brushing their teeth is such a pain...atleast to me. I brush the sheltie's teeth because he ate really bad food before and he has really bad tartar build up. He HATES it and growls the whole time (never snaps though amazingly). Hannah is good about it, she thinks it's a special treat. I brush Hannah's teeth every other day and Foxy's teeth once a day.

 

[pitbulliest]

I recently switched to raw....but to be honest..I haven't noticed a huge improvement in the teeth...they still get a tarter buildup so I have to brush about twice a week...

mind you, the bones/raw food is ground, not fed whole...and she gets recreational bones about once a week... I guess maybe that could be the reason? But I thought raw was supposed to have the enzymes that make the teeth clean and white, regardless of whether the bones are ground up or not...

Anywho, I think this is a different topic altogether..lol sorry!

 

[CanadianK9]

I brush my pups teeth 2 times a day, morning and night, shes got bright shining, beautiful teeth

 

[DanL]

pitbulliest, it takes a while for the raw fed benefits to start showing. If you are grinding up the bones, you are taking away the benefit of them helping clean the teeth. Its the scraping action that does it. They still get the nutritional benefits but the teeth cleaning aspect is one of the other good things about feeding raw bones.

My vet commented on how nice Gunnar's teeth are.