Pedigree Dentaflex

[natureplantar101]

bought my girl one of these the other week and so far all she has done is lick it and hide it from us its now in the garden covered in mud (her idea of a protest) anyone else's dog hate these ? they dont look right at all either and smell funny

If we get the small ones he eats them really quickly. If we get him a big one he doesn't bother eating it. Either way I'm sure they are doing nothing for his teeth!

im sticking to the dentastix she loves those that thing reminded me of a loofa i think its supposed to scrub the teeth clean as they chew it it looks and smells like paper so don't see how they find it appetising

I don't know that they are any good at cleaning teeth. We still had to take our old boy to the vets and get his teeth cleaned and he had loads of those dentastix. He hated us cleaning his teeth.

Best thing for tooth cleaning is dried tripe - stinks to high heaven, but really does descale the teeth and has the added advantage of being full of valuable nutrition as well. Much cheaper than dentastix etc too.

Dentastix and the like all contain some sugars, which is obviously counter-productive in terms of dental health.

Yes I've heard that about tripe. Is it really that smelly?

The dried stuff isn't as bad as the fresh. It's pretty ripe, but the smell doesn't tend to hang around once they've eaten it.

I've had a dog go from really bad teeth, thick with calculus, to lovely pearly whites in a few months, using a tripe sticks, Whimzees toothbrushes and stixs and ProDen Plaque Off, plus brushing three times a week.

Where would you get tripe sticks from moosemama?
I am very nervous of tripe since warming up some in the microwave for my Goldie! Can still smell it now!!

I buy mine from Vet UK.

The dogs have a stick each in the kitchen - so on a tiled floor - once or twice a week. It does smell while they're eating it and you do need to keep the bag well sealed, but it doesn't tend to linger for long. I can imagine warm tripe in the microwave was pretty pungent.

I think some dogs are genetically more prone to dental problems than others, some are lucky and have no problems at all.

My old Border Collie x Belgian Shepherd had beautiful white teeth all her life, right up until we lost her at 14, yet I never brushed them or gave her anything specific to help her clean them. She was on a raw food diet for the first half of her life, so that might have helped to some degree, but she was on the same kibble as the other dogs in for the last few years and I still didn't need to do anything with her teeth, whereas I had/have to stay on top of the others' to keep them healthy.

Greyhounds and Lurchers can tend to have a lot of trouble with their teeth, so I'm perhaps over-careful with mine.

I don't brush their teeth daily, but they get the above mentioned treats, plus Plaque-Off and I brush and scale their teeth about once a week.

I like the Whimzees treats, because they do the same job as dentastix but don't have any sugars added. They're not cheap, but you can buy in bulk online and that brings the cost down.

Your not supposed to brush dogs teeth they are different to ours and they'll get gum damage and loose teeth by brushing just because they sell dog brushes doesn't mean you use them

My vet recommended one dentaflex a week rather than a dentastick a day because of the amount of sugar and salt in the sticks.
Murphy enjoys the flex but it can last him a couple of days between burying it, having a nibble and burying it again.

Brushing dogs' teeth is the single best way to prevent tartar build up and gum disease, nature, not sure where you got the idea from that it is harmful.

My vet told me to brush my dogs teeth. He showed me how to do it so it didn't damage his gums.

I like the sound of the tripe sticks. Probably better than being anaesthetised just to clean teeth.

Brushing their teeth is definitely the best way to maintain dental health, but even my vet admits she doesn't find time to do it more than once or twice a week. I sometimes wish I was organised enough to get my dogs to line up behind the dcs at teeth brushing time, but it's never going to happen!

Why on earth would brushing cause loose teeth and gum disease? As I understand it, both are caused by a build up of bacteria trapped by the plaque/calculus. It's not such a problem for raw fed dogs, but those fed on kibble and wet food need more help to keep their teeth clean.