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Solution for terrible teeth and breath

3.7K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  WVGSD  
#1 ·
Dakota has the worst teeth I have ever seen. His breath is terrible. Taking him in for a dental is out of the question since he is 9 years old and has medical problems and a surgery may be too much for him. They are past the point where brushing will help and quite frankly, I cant brush his teeth because they are so disgusting and he drools. I do not give my dogs raw hide. However, when I used to Dakota was not good at breaking off small pieces. He would try to swallow big pieces. I know some people recommend other things for chewing, does anybody have any suggestions? Any toys with cleaning ability will not be beneficial since he doesn't like to play.
 
#3 ·
Cullen is this way also. He's 3, and when we fed strictly raw, his teeth were awesome, but now that we are on kibble, and we can't give any rawhides due to Colitis flares, they got horrible. We just started buying these huge double knuckle ended buffalo bones and hope they will help. We were going to do a cleaning, but they said since he was under snesthesia already recently, not to have it done for a while..

True story... We had fleas this year pretty bad and he is sensitive, and even with Frontline, they were bad ( we are now on Trifexis, but not the point). He would constantly chew on his rear... well we went to a dog festival event and they had free dental exams, and the woman said " OMG, I just pulled HAIR from between his teeth, what would cause that" and I un-thinkingly replied " oh, he likes eating small animals, no biggie"... she turned white and looked at me with the more disgusted look... I guess she didn't catch the humor ;)
 
#4 ·
Deer antlers are good. They also have a line of water additives made by arm and hammer that are suppose to make a dogs breath fresh.
 
#6 ·
There is a spray for plaque calledPlaque Blast . The girls teeth were so yellow but I havent used it yet as I dont know them Bully Sticks have really made a difference. My older dogs have a hard time w/ antleres but Daisy would chew some on them. I have to say bot girls teeth after the Bully sticks look much better . The spray would be easy.
 
#7 ·
February is Veterinary Dental Health Month.... so your vet might have some special deals.... and as posted above.... anesthesia like sevoflourane(?) is generally quite safe. If the teeth are horrible, you likely need to start a round of antirobe or other antibiotic first.
I would definitely talk with your vet.

I also 2nd, 3rd and 4th the raw knuckle bones! Super effective at maintaining dental health.
 
#8 ·
Along with keeping the teeth clean with fresh raw bones, probiotics for the gut help. Many times bad breath comes from the inside. I would begin a probi' regiment and give raw bones often.
Dental procedures are very costly....bones and probiotic/digestive enzymes can eliminate them.
 
#11 ·
I am reluctant to try the spray because I don't know how safe the ingredients really are. The dental cleaning procedure may be relatively safe, but not when you have a 9 year old dog with a history of seizures and other medical problems. The stress from it could easily cause him to have a seizure. I will look for some knuckle bones or antlers and see if he will try them. He isn't much of a chewer anymore.
 
#12 ·
I adopted an 8-yr old female and her breath would knock you out from across the room. Her teeth weren't just yellow, they we're black in places from tartar buildup. After we switched from kibble to a raw diet, that all changed. You can still tell they are senior teeth, but there's been a marked improvement in they way they look. And I can stand for her to sit on the floor next to me on the couch now!

He may not really be into rawhide or toys, but I doubt he will pass up the opportunity to work his way through some raw meaty bones ;)
 
#14 ·
If your shepherd has bad teeth, the mouth is probably pain whether your dog shows signs or not.Bones and antlers can cause fractures in teeth, I would stay clear from them, though if the knuckle bone is uncooked it help with plaque build up very well though you run the risk of salmonella.
 
#15 ·
Bosco6, dogs can handle salmonella, they have enzymes in their saliva that breaks down bacteria. They eat worse things than fresh knucklebones with no problem!
 
#17 ·
go to a butcher or meat processer and get fresh beef knucklebones(not marrow bone) Some grocery's still cut meat and will carry them(they may sell them as soup bones) Never give smoked or dried bones as they splinter and the smoking process is essentially cooking them, also some dogs get digestive upset from that smoked flavor.
 
#19 ·
I bought something called ProDen PlaqueOff about 2-3 months ago and whoa! what a difference.. Seriously. My boy is 5 and he didn't have the best life before I adopted him, so he had some serious plaque buildup.. But after only a couple of months, the PlaqueOff has cleaned his teeth right up! I also use Zuke's Z-Bones as well, and the combination of the two has had amazing results!! I highly, HIGHLY recommend PlaqueOff and Z-Bones!
 
#20 ·
I use dental tools for animals on my dogs and give them a basic scaling or scraping about one time per month. The scalers/scrapers are available in pet supply catalogs. None of my dogs has ever gone to the vet for a teeth cleaning.