Dirty dog teeth...

[Jamie Scudera]

Hello all,

I have a dilemma that I need some help with. I have two dogs, a JRT named Bear and a Min Pin named P-nut. Now, Bear is an active chewer so his teeth stay quite clean but P-nut is a different story altogether. His back molars are really groedy and I have tried to clean them with a little doggie toothbrush and toothpaste but the plague is really caked on his teeth and it won't come off. Now, the only reason I really checked to see how clean his teeth were is that he is an obsessive licker and his breath is really bad. Now, this does not bother my husband or I personally but we also have a 5 month old that he loves to give kisses every second he gets (he is just so full of love! :) ) Now, my dilemma lies with the fact that I am torn about whether or not I should take him to the vet to get his teeth professionally cleaned (which I am sure a lot of you are aware that they use anesthesia to put them to sleep while they are doing it) or if I should just let him be for this seems like a recent trend (only because I am sure that dogs 100 years ago were having their teeth professionally cleaned :rolleyes: ). He does not have any problems with his teeth other than the fact that they are just dirty in the back, so he is not in pain in any way shape or form as far as that is concerned. Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated :-D

Thank you!
Jamie, Bear & P-nut Scudera

[TimberWolf]

well dogs teeth are different now and also will react differently to the food we make for them. It is not a good idea to let this go because your dog could get a serious infection that will make him very sick. it's important you do take your dog to the vet. I undersatnd you don't want them to use anesthesia but with the rotting going on on your dog's teeth, it will be a good thing you are doing in the end. After his teeth are cleaned get them brushed every day if not every week. It's unfortunate your dog doesnt' want to chew on a lot of harder things but biscuits, kibble, bones all that is important for him to munch on. If he eats soft foods, then try a real bone with frozen dog food inside and even smear a little on the outside before freezing it. He'd most likely enjoy chewing on that. if his teeth hurt too much then try a rope toy or somethin that may help to floss his teeth without causing too much pain. ice can help too especially if he's feeling a little achey. He'll either like the ice cube which feels good in an achey mouth, chew on it which is good for the gums and teeth, or just play with it. One of the few foods that's ok to play with ;).

But seriously, talk to your vet about what your options are and how to keep your dog's teeth from getting worse.

[Grace Erick]

Hi Anne,

Go to the "dog food" topic and look under "low cal dog food" and then go to page two. I left info there for Karen about my dog's dental cleaning.

Sometimes it's just a few teeth that are gaining tartar when the other's aren't, but the dog can lose those teeth, so a dental cleaning may or may not be in order. I don't know what to say. If you see brown along the gumline, the dog need it's teeth cleaned. It's a shame to pay so much for only a few teeth, but even with small dogs they may have one tooth out of alignment that gathers more tartar, so that tooth may come loose and need to be pulled.

All I can say is call various vets in your area and ask if the vet's technician call look at your dog to see if he needs a professional cleaning. They may all tend to say yes since they want your $$$$.

My dog has little tartar, but her some of her teeth were still lose and got better by adhearing to the gums with the cleaning instead of being pulled. My vet was very cautious about not pulling a lot of teeth. She lost an old rotted baby tooth and one that was out of alignment that gained a lot of tartar and was lose since it's towards the front where the roots are shallow. I wrote all about it under the low cal topic.

Nevermind the old stories about wolves and what they ate and how they lived. No one says they lived a long life eating what they did. Believe me, they broke teeth on bones they chewed on of dead animals and choked on swallowed bones and died and did not eat the best diet for them. They ate what was available. Some estimates have dogs being domesticated at 135,000 years ago.

Kibble doesn't clean a dog's teeth either. A dog eating kibble builds up less tartar then ones eating canned foods, but kibble does not remove tartar. I do see that Science Diet has a hard food to remove tartar now, but the food itself is really bad with bad ingredients. I'd rather feed my dog better food and be healthier and brush her teeth than give her than junk. My vet gave me a sample and I threw it out.

Bye, Grace

[TimberWolf]

Grace, I'm a little confused. I'm not the one asking the question. Are you referring your answer to me or Jamie?

As far as kibble goes it was just because the rough edges that can help a little with tarter. I wasn't saying that it will remove tater. It's food so it too can build up, but I'm referring to maintenance of jamie's dog's teeth. As far as wolves go, their teeth are built to withstand more stuff considering they still have to kill and tare and so on. A wovles diet mainly consisted of meat, occasional greens and only trash if humans are around. They would chew on bones and other hard surfaces to clean their own teeth.They too get bad teeth I'm sure but they are built differently due to how they live and the fact they are wild. Wolves may be ancesters of dogs but they are so far removed that their bodies are no longer built the same way.

My main concern for you, Jamie, is that if you let your dogs tarter build up and not do anything about it, P-nut's teeth will only get worse. P-nut may not have to lose any teeth but a good cleaning and maintenance there after is something you need to do.

[Grace Erick]

Hi Jaime,

I wrote my post to you but entitled to Anne by mistake, sorry Anne! Jaime, my post was meant to you.

Anne, I have heard and read over and over again how regular hard dog food will not remove any tartar from a dog's teeth. It just helps in aiding in less build up as opposed to feeding canned food. So many people think hard food will remove tartar and that's part of the reason they feed their dog hard food when they may even want to feed canned thinking it's better in some ways.

Bye, Grace

[Jamie Scudera]

Thank you Anne and Grace! I actually have to get my babies their yearly shots this month anyway, so I will make sure that I have P-nut scheduled to get his teeth cleaned around the same time. I agree that prevention is the best method when it comes to anything in life--human or dog related. P-nut is a small dog and I definently do not want his tarter to build up and cause other issues. Thankfully only his back molars have build-up and he is not acting like he is in pain (he is such an over-actor when it comes to anything :)) so I am sure he would tell me if any of his teeth are infected. P-nut does eat only hard food although I wonder if he gets considerable build up on his teeth due to the fact that he is such an obsessive licker. He will truly lick you to death ;) Thankfully I have a vet who has reasonable prices and treats my babies like their own for P-nut will have to stay at the office all day :( I will definently keep up on their teeth cleanliness from now on!

Thankfully,
Jamie, Bear & P-nut

[Grace Erick]

Hi,

I felt bad when I found out Capri had a little tartar build up. I can't even say I didn't know it would happen, but I thought I still had time to start cleaning her teeth before it would happen.

It appears to be more of a problem with small dogs where crowding of the teeth creates problems for tartar build up. I apply paste with my finger or brush them every day now. If it wasn't for the anesthesia, I would probably be more lax and just let the vet clean them often, even if it cost a lot just to prevent build up. So many Chihuahuas in rescues are missing many teeth and it's starts at a young age too!

I thought it was irresponsible of my vet to have the tech give me as part of a dental pkg a baggie with big balls of Science Diet dental food. It could have choked my dog. Someone told me they even tried soaking one and it never did get soft.

Bye, Grace

[Jamie Scudera]

Well, I have good news. I have P-nut scheduled to get his teeth cleaned in two weeks and at the same time that they have him under to get his teeth cleaned they are going to give him his yearly shots so that way he won't have double the pain (this is more than great considering P-nut is a screamer when it comes to shots :( ) So, we are all set and in a couple of weeks we will have a doggie with nice white fangs, good smelling breath and all up to date on his vaccinations all at the same time. I will make sure P-nut sends a nice fresh kiss to all of you once he has recovered :wink: (Boy does he love to give those kisses!)

Take care all!

Jamie, Bear & P-nut

[Grace Erick]

HI,

I read your post quickly and thought you said your dog would be giving us a French kiss, lol. I was going to say I'd pass on that.

My dog still has pretty bad breath. I never had a dog so I don't know if it's just her or if there is something wrong which there shouldn't be since I recently got her teeth cleaned.

You may want to check out vaccines. I think the discussion is under general health.

Bye, Grace

[Kimberly Lyons]

I was wondering the same thing about dog teeth. I have a Brittany, and I was getting him ready to go to a dog show (pretend like, we arent REALLY going just yet) so he could get used to the routine, and I noticed he had hard white stuff along the gum line, and about half way down the largest tooth in his head. On both teeth like this. He was just a doll and let me get some old cuticle removers, (know what I'm talking about?) and I just stuck one edge under the tarter, or whatever it was, and pulled and it came right off. on both sides! He eats a good food, hard, and he's only five months old. Is this normal? I didnt think dogs got build up until they were one or so. My GSD is nearly two and he still doesnt have any at all.

[Grace Erick]

I hate to say that I never looked at Capri's teeth until she was about 3 years old and the vet's tech said she had a little tartar, but enough to need a cleaning. Capri was eating all canned foods or home cooked. Hard food can remove "some" of the soft plaque before tartar forms, but it won't remove tartar, though Science Diet came out with some dental food but the ingredients are pretty bad. I'm not sure what the hard white stuff is.

I think you have to be careful about doing it yourself, because I read that you can damage their teeth unless you know how to do it. A breeder I know got her show chihuahuas used to it as puppy's and does it herself.

Bye, Grace

[Kimberly Lyons]

I was real careful, and I still havent found out what that white stuff was. It was NOT part of the tooth, but it was brittle so, who knows? His gums didnt bleed and he seemed fine. Im going to keep an eye of his teeth to see if it forms again.

[Grace Erick]

Hi,

When I get the deep cleaning and scaling done on my teeth, I heard her say, "oh here's a little piece I missed", so I don't know if their can be some type of calcification (hard bits) that form??? With the professional cleaning done by the vet's technician, they also get under the gums like regular dentists do.

Bye, Grace

[Lesly Stevens]

Jamie, you wrote: "I actually have to get my babies their yearly shots this month anyway, so I will make sure that I have P-nut scheduled to get his teeth cleaned around the same time."

You don't want to subject your dog to vaccinations AND being anesthesized at the same time, or even in the same month - yet many vets will do this. Space it out so he can recover from anesthesia for teeth cleaning before getting the vaccinations - or vice versa.

Lesly




Thankfully,
Jamie, Bear & P-nut[/QUOTE]