Do You Brush Your Pet's Teeth?! Questions About Pet Oral Health

[eli1126]

I went to a web site to get info on common poisonous house plants and read up on other things like the teeth brushing and other care info like that their breath should smell "sweet" :confused: Not to sound like a bad mom, but I didn't realize you were supposed to brush your pet's teeth! Beau and Belle have had their teeth checked at the Vet who said they looked in great shape, but when and how am I supposed to brush them? Is it necessary for every pet to have their teeth brushed? Also how should their breath smell? Both kittens have what I consider to be food breath. Not bad, it doesn't make me retch, but I don't go for chicken and liver normally, so I don't love it when they yawn right in my face!

Beth

[Sabrina]

We have just recently started brushing our cat's teeth (we have 2 cats, but only one has teeth...long story!). Anyway, once they hit about 2 years of age, every cat will have tarter build-up if their teeth have not been brushed (ours is almost 3 years old).

We bought an Oral Care Starter Kit at PetCo for about $10, it has cat toothpaste and 2 kinds of toothbrushes. I have found that the Finger-Tip one is easier to use than the more "human-looking" one. My FH holds the cat and I pry her mouth open and quickly brush the teeth and gums as well as I can. Kitty hates it! Oh, well, it's good for her.

Our vet told us to start brushing her teeth, we didn't do it of our own accord!! :)

Kitty breath should smell like cat food. If their breath was bad in an "oral infection" kind of way, you will know. TRUST ME! Also, his/her whole body will smell weird cause they lick themselves to groom. This was what prompted us to realize the dental issues our older cat had (she had these issues when we adopted her, and they lead to extraction of the teeth. I don't know if her previous owners ever took care of her teeth or not. I doubt it).

PSA: NEVER use human toothpaste on cats, always use "cat toothpaste"

[kanga1622]

I try to brush our dog's teeth twice a week but he hates it and it becomes a big fight. Our vet recommended that we brush his teeth because his bite is off a bit so some of his teeth don't get the normal "workout" and the plaque/tarter builds up. His breath always smells like his dog food and I would think that it should. Otherwise it may smell like the toothpaste and the toothpaste we have is liver flavored. :p I'd rather smell the dog food. :D

[honeygirl]

We have an Italian Greyhound and brush his teeth at least 1x a week. We bought the "kitty toothpaste" and brushes b/c he is so small! (7.5 lbs). He doesn't like it, but we see build up (tarter) and the books/vets say you should brush, so we do. I've heard horror stories about what tooth decay can do to dogs, really affects their quality of life. We don't want that!

[jesvet]

Ideally you would do it every day. Few people (myself included!) do so.

Diet can help, Greenies can help, toothbrushing can help, but some dogs and cat depending on their bite are just predisposed to tartar buildup. Eventually pretty much all dogs and cats will need a full teeth cleaning at the vet.

[greenbunny]

The vet cleaned Bella's teeth when we first adopted her (she had to be knocked out for that) and she said that brushing helps stretch out the time between vet cleanings--which is good, less anaesthesia. The vet also said that gum disease is a big issue with older cats (Bella is 7). Also some cats just get tartar build-up faster than others, it's all related to body chemistry.

Our cat was fed wet food most of her life because she was a breeding cat, and that is denser food. It's not good for the teeth, though, so she has more damage than a normal cat would. We would not have known to brush her teeth unless the vet told us to.

We use the same starter kit Sabrina uses, with the toothbrush rather than the fingertip one. DH is extremely good at getting her mouth open, because he has taught anatomy classes and unfortunately he's dissected a lot of cats :( so he knows exactly where to squeeze and her mouth just pops open.

She is also on prescription dry food that is specifically for tartar, Science Diet t/d. We also buy mouth rinse from the vet, it's like Act mouthwash for cats. We rinse her gums after brushing her teeth, or we use it instead of brushing on days she's especially cranky. If you can't get your cat to let you brush, the mouth rinse is better than nothing.

[Zelda Von Yitz]

If you have a dog, get good ole marrowbones. That does wonders to keep their teeth clean.

[lml41981]

We used to brush Maggie's teeth nightly...then we got Gretchen. Now, we brush their teeth when they've killed something in the backyard, when they eat goat poop (yes, my dogs have eaten goat poop at my parents' house :rolleyes: ) or when their breath smells like they've been licking between their legs. We probably ought to do it more often...I know Gretchen has never had a full cleaning.

[paiger]

our leo (dog) has a snout that can't break down his own tarter very easily. at 2 years (sporadic brushing), he was on the verge of infection! I knew his breath was horrible and that I could see tarter, but I hadn't pulled his gums to look at the very back teeth! It was awful!!

After his cleaning ($+300), his breath was totally fine! We are still bad about brushing, though. It is supposed to be DHs job (it's not like he has that many :rolleyes: ), but mainly we do it when his breath starts getting bad. Like 4 months after the cleaning, he had some build up, but we are hoping it will be an every two years thing to get the cleaning. I'm going to add teeth brushing to DHs 'flylady control journal list', so he'll start doing it at least 1x a week.

[Chile]

*delete*

[Heidi9771]

Our cat Tig who is 5, recently had to go to the vet for his teeth cleaned (scaled) and two extractions. He had such bad tarter build up, that the vet picked a piece off of his teeth that looked like a large piece of resin! I had NO idea it was that bad- for his annual check ups his previous vets said his teeth were okay! I will definietly look into the do it yourself at home kit from Petco in between professional brushings...Tigs last tooth cleaning cost us $250!

By the way Chile, I love the quote in your sig from Sabin. It made me smile! :)

[saltandpeppa]

I would totally recommend to everyone that you brush your pets teeth. I know that some pets are more prone to tartar build up, etc...

My parents had two maltese dogs and both of them had major problems with their teeth. Only one of them is still alive, but he's having a lot of problems, mainly because his teeth were so bad. Both of their dogs had to have half of their teeth pulled at about age 8 or 9 because they were dead. Then just this year, the one that's still alive had to have all the rest of his teeth pulled because they were soooo infected and were making him terribly sick. The infection from his teeth started to move into the rest of his body. You wouldn't believe how much perkier (sp) he is now since he's had all his teeth pulled. Before his teeth were pulled, my parents thought they were gonna have to put him down, he's over 13 years old.

Anyways, I've learned that it's very important to brush your pets teeth. My husband and I have a maltese puppy and our vet gave us a few suggestions on how to get your pet used to having their teeth brushed. We use a flavored dog toothpast and a very small doggy toothbrush. Start by taking the toothpaste and putting it on your finger and just using your finget inside their mouth.....this gets them used to you having your finger in their mouth and used to the flavor and texture of the toothpaste. Then after a couple weeks, put the toothpaste on the toothbrush and let them lick it off the toothbrush a few times so they get used to the toothbrush. After that it should be a piece of cake to brush their teeth....at least that's what the goal is!! ;)

[Rico'sAlice]

Never needed to bursh my dogs teeth b/c they eat lots of bones. No tarter build up, healthy gums, white color, strong jaw muscles. And they basically have no breath at all. I can put my face right into their mouth and sniff and don't smell anything. The one exception is the 5 minutes immediately after eating, but that's just common sense. This is expanded to 20 minutes after eating fish or vegetables that have a lot of garlic in them.

My aunt's dog used to have to go in twice a year for teeth cleaning, even though my aunt brushed her teeth everynight and gave her greenies and stuff. However, within 3 weeks of switching her diet to include bones, mostly chicken wings and necks, her teeth looked like puppy teeth again. She hasn't had to clean them at all anymore.

My mom's cat also started getting bones about a year ago. Her teeth were not really bad to begin with, but now they look super white and sparkly.

[lml41981]

However, within 3 weeks of switching her diet to include bones, mostly chicken wings and necks, her teeth looked like puppy teeth again.
I don't think you're supposed to give dogs bones from fowl because the bones splinter and can leave shards in the dog's insides...

[greenbunny]

I don't think you're supposed to give dogs bones from fowl because the bones splinter and can leave shards in the dog's insides...

According to the raw feed research I've done (we were thinking about going to a raw diet for Bella's tartar), raw bones are okay, it's only when they're cooked that they get splintery.

The downside to such a diet is that it is a lot of work to do properly, and you have to shop often for freshness, or else freeze everything. But it is excellent for teeth if done responsibly.

[/end PSA]

[katmg]

We give our dog bones and that seems to do a wonder for his teeth. We get really big, dense bones b/c otherwise he cracks them.

[Rico'sAlice]

According to the raw feed research I've done (we were thinking about going to a raw diet for Bella's tartar), raw bones are okay, it's only when they're cooked that they get splintery.

The downside to such a diet is that it is a lot of work to do properly, and you have to shop often for freshness, or else freeze everything. But it is excellent for teeth if done responsibly.

[/end PSA]

Right... Sorry I forgot to clarify that everything any of them are given is entirely raw. And we do indeed have a standing freezer in the basement just for their stuff.

[steviem]

Rico'sAlice , you mentioned your aunt now gives her cat bones. What kind of bones? I give my pups bones all the time but never thought to give the kitties bones too!

Thanks in advance for your reply:D

[Rico'sAlice]

I'm not sure you could get a cat to eat bones along with a normal kibble diet. We had to switch her over to all raw and get any sort of kibble out of the house first. As long as she could smell kibble anywhere she would hold out and refuse to eat b/c she was totally addicted to the carbs.

It took about three weeks to find something she liked to eat. Mostly she eat whole ground rabbit- meaning that it has organs and bones chunks ground in along with the meat. The bone chunks are still big enough compared to her itty-kitty mouth that she has to crunch on them a bit. (As opposed to the dogs that don't really chew the stuff at all if it's pre ground) After she got used to that we started giving her other ground meats w/bone, chicken, lamb, turkey, beef and fish. Then we starting putting bigger bits of cut up chicken necks in with it. Starting very small until we could give her a 1-2 inch length of chicken neck. Her mouth is too small to give her beef knuckle bones, lamb necks, etc like we do the dogs. However, just the little bone bits are enough chewing to keep her teeth clean.

[t3h_wookiee]

Does anybody have any good bone suggestions besides rawhide and Greenies? Our Corgies can't have either. They both tend to get too excited about the Greenies and will end up swallowing large pieces of them whole (no matter what size we buy), and they destroy rawhide too quickly (thus then puking up rawhide pieces the rest of the day. yuck!). They can not have raw bones at all (since Corgies are such strong chewers, but have small mouths and throats).

They really need something though, as since we quit giving them rawhide a year ago, their dental health has gone to pot. Even with brushing their teeth (which they hate).
They do have 2 dental bones, but they're not usually interested in them.