Cleaning a dog's teeth, which toothpaste?

[giddyup]

Our little black mongrel isn't interested in chewing bones, but I do give him Dentastix every day, not sure if that does any good or not. So, looking to clean his teeth myself, as his breath is a bit on the nose and he's developing some tartar as well. There's a smorgasborg of gels and toothpastes out there for dogs, ridiculously expensive IMO, but if they work well and good. Any recommendations? Please, only sensible comments.

[giddyup]

15 hours ago, Arjen said:

I tried to brush the teeth from a puppy. Finally I stopped with it. It was a daily fight. I used an old (so soft) toothbrush, and no tooth paste.

 

Al those bones, dental sticks, everything what is ment for dog to chew on for hours does not work. It is eaten en swallowed within 30 seconds.

 

What works the best, is give the dogs a complete coconut (so with the husk) With removing the husk they are busy for an hour of so. and those fibers really clean the teeth. When they do not like to do this, you can give the dogs a few pieces of coconut meat. When they like this, give them a half coconut, with the meat still in it (so the dehusked coconut) Removing the meat take them again several hours. Our dogs who like to do this have much cleaner teeth then our dogs who do not like doing this. (But this is not scientific prooven!)

 

Arjen.

Thanks for the tip, the coconut is worth a try.

[brommers]

Whatever you do dont use Colgate that contains triclosan, a poisonous chemical that is banned in handwashes but strangely not in toothpaste that you can and probably do ingest. Your vet will have dentifrices that are formulated for dogs and can probably give you meaningful advice.

[giddyup]

16 minutes ago, brommers said:

Whatever you do dont use Colgate that contains triclosan, a poisonous chemical that is banned in handwashes but strangely not in toothpaste that you can and probably do ingest. Your vet will have dentifrices that are formulated for dogs and can probably give you meaningful advice.

I don't have a lot of faith in vets in Thailand, I find they are more interested in making money than giving sound advice.

[neeray]

When I saw the title of your post, I immediately thought of the bone suggestion. But you killed that idea in your opening line. I have the same dog breath problem with mine (and visible tartar). But mine loves a bone, can chew on it for hours. Sometimes I forget to buy a bone, I am reminded when she exhibits serious dog breath, then I buy and reduce (not cure) the problem for a bit. The bad breath doesn't bother me but a bit embarrassing when people want to pet her (often). Good luck.

[Dazinoz]

My dog had bad breath and brown teeth. After a recent stay at a boarding kennel the owner told me I should take her (the dog, not the owner) to the vet as her teeth were very bad and some loose. After a visit to the CMU small animal hospital she has 6 teeth extracted, some very black and the bacteria analysised and turns out to be a very serious bacteria so she is on a 2 week course of strong antibiotics.

 

Like your dog she doesn't like bones so I will have to find out another way from the vets on her next checkup. I was told of a "stuff" that you put in their drinking water and helps keep tartar down but that was in Australia so trying to find out what it is and if I can't buy here I will get some and bring back on my visit there in September.

[Boon Mee]

Darkie... whoops! I meant Darlie is the only toothpaste my dogs will use! 555 

[sandrabbit]

We use those hide bones with the knot tied in the ends and our dogs love them and will chew for hours. We have golden retrievers so only buy the large size as the small ones last minutes. I thought Dentastix were meant for teeth cleaning & bad breath so maybe he's got the dog equivalent of gingivitis.  Another solution, but expensive, is cheese as recommended by a UK vet.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, sandrabbit said:

We use those hide bones with the knot tied in the ends and our dogs love them and will chew for hours. We have golden retrievers so only buy the large size as the small ones last minutes. I thought Dentastix were meant for teeth cleaning & bad breath so maybe he's got the dog equivalent of gingivitis.  Another solution, but expensive, is cheese as recommended by a UK vet.

Tried him on those rawhide bones but he's not very interested. What does the cheese do?

[sandrabbit]

2 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Tried him on those rawhide bones but he's not very interested. What does the cheese do?

It's abrasive like toothpaste.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, sandrabbit said:

It's abrasive like toothpaste.

I imagine he'd have to eat an awful lot of it to make any difference, which in itself would be pretty unhealthy. Most dogs tend to gulp cheese because they like the taste so much, not a lot of chewing involved.

[sandrabbit]

6 minutes ago, giddyup said:

I imagine he'd have to eat an awful lot of it to make any difference, which in itself would be pretty unhealthy. Most dogs tend to gulp cheese because they like the taste so much, not a lot of chewing involved.

Agreed but I think the vet meant giving a cube of cheese every day from when a puppy, our youngest dog chews and the oldest gulps as you say. Our dogs teeth are white from the hide bones, is there some way of flavouring them so the dog will be interested?.

 

Just had a thought, our dogs love ice so we fill small bowls with water and freeze them - about the size of a portion of rice. Our dogs crunch the ice so maybe that can help a bit?.

[giddyup]

2 minutes ago, sandrabbit said:

Agreed but I think the vet meant giving a cube of cheese every day from when a puppy, our youngest dog chews and the oldest gulps as you say. Our dogs teeth are white from the hide bones, is there some way of flavouring them so the dog will be interested?.

Could try simmering them briefly in some beef stock I suppose, worth a try.

[sydneyjed]

Chicken necks..try them!

[sandrabbit]

5 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Could try simmering them briefly in some beef stock I suppose, worth a try.

They do go soft if left in water for any length of time, fish sauce?. 

[curtklay]

1 hour ago, giddyup said:

I don't have a lot of faith in vets in Thailand, I find they are more interested in making money than giving sound advice.

Just like "people doctors" world wide.

[giddyup]

1 hour ago, Dazinoz said:

My dog had bad breath and brown teeth. After a recent stay at a boarding kennel the owner told me I should take her (the dog, not the owner) to the vet as her teeth were very bad and some loose. After a visit to the CMU small animal hospital she has 6 teeth extracted, some very black and the bacteria analysised and turns out to be a very serious bacteria so she is on a 2 week course of strong antibiotics.

 

Like your dog she doesn't like bones so I will have to find out another way from the vets on her next checkup. I was told of a "stuff" that you put in their drinking water and helps keep tartar down but that was in Australia so trying to find out what it is and if I can't buy here I will get some and bring back on my visit there in September.

I ordered this water additive from Lazada. https://www.lazada.co.th/-i125184169-s131264239.html?urlFlag=true&mp=1?

[rwill]

I get our dogs teeth cleaned annually at Kasetsart University.  They do a great job.  Costs about 2,000 baht per dog.

[giddyup]

Just now, rwill said:

I get our dogs teeth cleaned annually at Kasetsart University.  They do a great job.  Costs about 2,000 baht per dog.

Don't they have to anaesthetise the dog to do that?

[rwill]

Just now, giddyup said:

Don't they have to anaesthetise the dog to do that?

Yes

 

[flexomike]

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Darkie... whoops! I meant Darlie is the only toothpaste my dogs will use! 555 

555

[jvs]

I buy big beef bones at the local market,cook hem and use the broth to make soup.The soup is great (we eat it our selves)Freeze the bones and give them to the dog,should keep them going for hours.

If the dog does not like bones you feed them too much.

[55Jay]

Love to brush my cat's teeth.  He lays right along side of me at night in bed while I'm reading a book.  When he yawns, near my face, it's worse than an open sewer.  

[jak2002003]

One of my dogs had really yellow teeth, and tartar, with some red gums and REALLY stinky breath.

 

Some breeds are genetically prone to bad teeth (as was the case with my dog).  All 3 dogs fed the same diet and similar ages, but only this one had the bad teeth.

 

Don't waste you money of the denta chews.  They do not clean the teeth, merely they don't make it worse and MAY slow down future build up at best.

 

They also make the dog fat if you don't feed less of the normal food... and they are basically just processed junk food for dogs with lots of chemicals in them.

 

The best thing I found for the dogs to get clean teeth was raw chicken wings / legs.

 

They are so cheap at the market. My dogs love them.  They go crunching through them and gnawing on them.. till there is nothing left.  The RAW chicken bones are safe.. soft and crunchy and will scrape the tartar off the dogs teeth as they chew, munch on them and eat them.  

 

NEVER give cooked bones to dogs.. they go brittle and splinter and can injure the dogs mouth.. or even its insides.  

 

I fed the chicken on the bones several times a week instead of their normal dog food.  I fed them outside in the garden so the house did not get messy.  

 

The raw hide chews are also liked by my dogs... but they get soggy and sticky as they eat them.. so can't imagine they are doing a good job of being abrasive to the dirt on the teeth.

[KClark]

We have two 4-legged kids (Labs) and give them half a large carrot most days.  Carrots are low in calories and high in vitamins and fiber, so are good for your dog regardless.  The fiber helps with the teeth cleaning, similar to the coconut option Arjen recommended.  The added benefit is the kids love them, which makes us all happy.  I've also seen a number of water additives that claim to address this issue but have no experience with them.  I'd be curious if anyone else reading this string has?????  I'm not sure there are any silver bullet remedies, but the fiber aspect of carrots makes sense and seems to help some.  R, Kevin

[Anders W Ferslev]

i send my American bully to grooming every month, shower, clean teeth, clean ear and cut nails, 300B ? 

[Bangkok Barry]

5 hours ago, giddyup said:

I don't have a lot of faith in vets in Thailand, I find they are more interested in making money than giving sound advice.

 

The one nearest me is a miserable sod who doesn't like animals ☹️

[ubonjoe]

A off topic nonsensical post has been removed.

[Dazinoz]

4 hours ago, giddyup said:

I ordered this water additive from Lazada. https://www.lazada.co.th/-i125184169-s131264239.html?urlFlag=true&mp=1?

Hi thanks for that. Does it appear to work?

[Dazinoz]

22 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

The one nearest me is a miserable sod who doesn't like animals ☹️

Great person to have as a vet.