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Teeth cleaning,

Ciren

Well-known member
frankly her breath reeks, she hates it when i try to brush her teeth i think its the size of the brush i am using. what does everyone else use?
 
Joly hates having his mouth touched and will fight like a cat (ie with claws) if I persist, so brushing is not an option. I tried Logic gel, which he adores , Plaque-Off and Frageria, with no effect. Typically, he like Izzy, who also hated brushing, but didn't fight you off, has teeth prone to problems. However, now we have daily fish skins, his teeth are quite good.

Teddy and Joly get one chunky cube or three so -called squares, which are actually smaller cubes. The added bonus is a shiny coat.

PS for ne who orders from Fish4Dogs. They have a buy one get one half price offer, at the moment.
 
would love to but i really do think she doesnt like fish, she has been eating well recently so i offered her one of the fish ones as a treat to see if she would eat it, she sniffed it then walked off.
 
Monty sometimes turns his nose up at some kibble, notably Fish4dogs expensive one, which is mainly fish. However, he doesn't refuse a skin cube.
 
If her breath is bad, she definitely needs to go to the vet for treatment -- she probably has some rotten teeth as well as gum disease (that is what causes the smell). A vet will clean her teeth and pull the bad ones. Brushing them yourself will do little to this level of decay but once they are cleaned up, can help prevent further problems (y). This is really, really important to do because gum disease and plaque on the teeth is a major contributor to heart disease. The dog generally needs to be given a general anaesthetic for this. If your vet doesn't do gum and tooth care and extractions, find a vet who does -- most do these days. If you are at the point where there's bad breath, you do need to get this treated as it will worsen.

There's some helpful info here:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1633&articleid=379

Cavaliers seem to be genetically prone to poor gums and teeth as it does come up a lot. My Lucy has quite bad teeth and gums though she has always had an excellent diet and excellent oral care -- at 9, she only has a few teeth left as all the other have had to be pulled. If they are not pulled, they can cause very serious pain and problems as they rot (just as with people). Unfortunately she is clearly just plain prone to bad teeth. On the other hand, Jaspar and Leo are half brothers -- born within weeks of each other, and have the same father. Jaspar has great gums and teeth; Leo has bad teeth and gums -- and they've always had the same foods. Clearly Leo has a genetic predisposition for bad teeth.
 
I give my two a dab of Petzlife oral gel before they go to bed at night. And I've finally (just about 10 days ago!!) gotten into the habit of nightly brushing. For several days it was just introducing them to the toothbrush, touching their teeth, opening their mouths, letting them taste a little of the poultry flavored toothpaste etc. I'm using a baby sized tooth brush. I just had a little one who was a rescue taken in for a dental by her new mom, and she had 20 teeth pulled!! :eek: Her personality has really changed and I think a lot of it has to do with her mouth was uncomfortable and now she feels better.
 
When Sasha was really young, we introduced her to the idea of tooth-brushing, using a baby toothbrush and the beef-flavored toothpaste. She doesn't love it, and I can usually only get a few teeth at each try (once or twice a week), but at least it's better than nothing.
 
she was at the vets this week and i asked about her teeth and the vet had a look and didn't mention there was any problems, just gave me advice on brushing.

i think i will buy a smaller brush as this one just seems to big for her teeth.
 
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