How do you clean your ddogs teeth?

[Milliemillie]

My 10 year old lab has terrible teeth. I've just tried cleaning them with a toothbrush but it's made her gums a little red and not helped the teeth at all. There is quite a big build up on them.

What do you suggest?

If they are really bad a sedation and dental may be required. Mine is just a pup so watching with interest. At the moment she's eating a fair bit of raw carrot!

I have one of those finger gloves from the vets that you put doggy toothpaste on. To be fair I only have a go every few weeks and he does try and eat my finger a bit when I attempt to get it near his teeth.

Raw meaty bones.
Lamb ribs and necks.
Poultry wings and necks.
Also dried fish skin cubes.

As well as start brushing from a young age.

I've only had her 6 months as she's a rescue, otherwise I'd have started sooner.
I think it might be a vets trip then as they look really bad.

What did the vet say when you took her to register her? I'm no expert on dog teeth but with regards to human teeth I was told once the plaque hardens it needs a proper scrape (professional job) to get it off.

She sounds like she needs a proper dental. This will have to be done under a general anaesthetic. Once this is done then regular tooth brushing should keep them nice and clean.

There's something called Plaqueoff, not sure how good that is.
You add a sprinkle to their food.

Also there are teeth cleaning gel that you rub or squeeze on to their teeth.

Dentistix transformed my dog's teeth. There's daily ones and a deep clean one. Just adjust their food to take account of the extra calories. Vets are always amazed at my 13 year old lab's teeth now!

Plaque off gets great reviews on all the sites that sell it

Even if it doesn't remove plaque/tartar completely by itself, it supposedly softens it enough to be more easily removed.

I give it to my cats, one of which doesn't chew her biscuits so her teeth don't get much of a workout. It's a tiny amount each time, mixes right in to wet food & they don't appear to notice it

Definitely go to the vets. I got my dog when she was 6, a family were getting rid of all their pets & nobody wanted her as she was the 'older' one. The damage was already done to her teeth, she had terrible breath, couldn't eat much dry food which didn't help. Took her to the vets & she's ended up with 15 teeth out, which is half of her teeth have tried to look after the rest of her remaining teeth but was told they weren't in good condition either so I don't know what's going to happen there. Bless her she looks so funny, with half of her teeth gone the remaining ones stick out a bit & her lip gets caught on them so she looks like she's doing an elvis

Agree with starting by getting her teeth cleaned by vet, give her about a week to heal from that and then clean every day with Logic dog toothpaste using the finger brush that comes in the packet.

You need to start slowly to allow your dog to get used to you sticking your fingers in her mouth, so start by rubbing a finger along her teeth and gums for a few days, then when she's reasonably okay with that, add some toothpaste, dog should like the taste so she should be happy to lick it off your fingers then after about a week or so of that gently introduce the brush.

YY to pigs good advice - my big dog's teeth needed a proper dental (not cheap, but worth it) then I used Logic toothpaste on a baby toothbrush. It has enzymes in it that break down plaque, so as long as you can get it in their mouths/around the teeth, it'll be doing something - is the theory, anyway.

If her teeth are bad, she's probably being stoic about dental pain, and they're good at hiding it - the dental my dog had revealed quite a serious infection in one of her teeth.

I've always taken on older rescues and sometimes their teeth are awful. As per the vet one of my dogs saw once, no brushing in the world will get rid of a hard build-up on the teeth, which you will see especially on the back teeth. A sedation at the vets and a quick 5-10 mins de-scale will have them looking as good as new. If you get it done now while your doggie is still in good health, you'll be pleased you did, and so will they.

Well done for adopting an oldie. Big love to you.