How to clean dog’s teeth!

[Wallingtonhall]

My dog has never let us clean his teeth. He’s 3. Clamps his jaw shut. I’ve tried meaty flavoured paste etc. just won’t do it. The vet just suggested we leave it as it wasn’t worth falling out with the dog about it and accept he will need future dental work. Not great advice!

Any suggestions please?

i think the vet suggested to us we put toothpaste on our finger
or on a dog biscuit
to get them used to it

Feed raw meaty bones, think ribs, spines, never leg bones though.
You can buy bones from morrisons or a specialist dog food shop, and a butchers.
Just if you're buying from butchers or supermarket, freeze for 2 weeks before giving to the dog.

My dog is nearly 5. He's never needed any dental work, he'll get a bone or two a month as he's raw fed so his mouth is pretty clean anyway.

I've never brushed any of my dogs teeth and they've never needed dental work.

Our groomer has a special Toothbrush, it used sonic technology so it doesn't touch the teeth but it breaks up.plaque. it's called Cleany Teeth. Much cheaper than dental work! My dogs was quite bad but her teeth were good as new after a couple of sessions

Our dog gets his teeth brushed every day but he still needed dental descaling.

If your dog is adamant that you can't go any where near their teeth even building it up slowly I would leave it as it isn't worth making it a negative association.

You can get a supplement called PlaqueOff that you just add to their food.

It's about £10 a tub and lasts ages - we just add two scoops a day and mix it in with his main meal.

Mine also gets chews (not Dentastix, the natural ones) which help to clean their teeth.

One of my regrets is not teaching DPuppy to accept a toothbrush!

We now need to get her to do it now she's adult, and it's been slow going - we can brush quite a bit now, but only briefly. Heaps of praise of course, but she doesn't exactly hold still for it, and I'm really not sure if it's sufficient yet. Considering getting a sonic toothbrush, to get maximum bang in minimum time!

You can get water additives (no idea if they really work, but you'll at least feel you're throwing everything at it), additives such as the nutraplaque capsules or the scratchy seaweed based ones (which didn't work for us, though others swear by it), Hills do a dental kibble (meant to be scrape more as it breaks up in the mouth) and vet also recommended hard chews (including pizzles)

Yes, this - raw meaty bones. Lamb ribs are a staple here. In over 30yrs of feeding raw I have never had a dog who needed dental treatment - apart from the 5yr old rescue who needed a full descale under GA when he arrived 6 yrs ago - and now has perfect teeth.

Thanks. Do those dehydrated chicken feet and puzzles do the job?

Yes - natural treats are fab. We use textured ones like trachea for teeth cleaning, and Ostrich bones are good too if you have a medium/large dog.

Thanks. Ugh…those natural treats make me shudder. Dog loves them though!

It's easy if he clamps his jaws shut. Hold his muzzle in one hand, slide loaded toothbrush in the angle of his lips at the back and just brush the teeth closed together, back to front.

We never cleaned our dogs teeth

Why are we cleaning dogs teeth?

we have only started these last 12 months.
it was difficult at first but she is very compliant now
our previous dog needed a lot of teeth out and i wanted to avoid this as best i could

Put some high quality, yummydog toothpaste on your finger or a soft fabric finger toothbrush and do the outsides of the teeth top and bottom. If you buy a good quality dog toothpaste like Logic you won't have to worry about getting on the inside of the teeth really. Logic is pretty effective as long as it gets in the dog's mouth and it gets a bit of a woosh around in there... which is why I only buy Logic.