My dog has bad teeth, suggestions?

[MROO]

The simple answer is that you need to take him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned. Do-it-yourself treatments are not going to work. I have two dogs. One I have to take in once a year or so to get his teeth cleaned and the other one never has any tarter build up.

Agreed! Just like with you or your kids, start with a good cleaning. That has to be done by a vet. I thought brushing a dog's teeth was dumb and an unnecessary expense ... until my poor old man started losing weight and smelled like something died in his mouth. The poor old guy (16+) had to have surgery to remove multiple broken, rotten teeth. Way too much money later, he is now eating reguarly again ... and his breath will no longer stop a train!
Save yourself a lot of heartache, worry and yes, money. Get em done now and keep after them with one of those finger brushes. Your wallet ... and your nose ... will thank you, later.

 

[Weeg]

Awesome, I have some chews on the way that I'll start offering them once they arrive, but I'm gonna make the appointment. We need to get our new pup chipped as well, so we can hopefully fit it all in on the same day.
Thanks everyone, I'll keep the thread updated if anyone wants to follow along.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks everyone, I'll keep the thread updated if anyone wants to follow along.

So how is it going?

 

[Weeg]

Thanks for reminding me, I forgot about this thread.
I decided to try rawhide first, and ended up switching him to a raw diet as well. Since then, I've seen a lot of improvement! Its not perfect, but his back molars look great! I do plan on starting to brush his teeth now that things seem to be coming around. I'll post photos, its been a slow process, but I'm happy to say I think he's going to sneak by without a vet appointment.

 

[springvalley123]

Thanks for reminding me, I forgot about this thread.
I decided to try rawhide first, and ended up switching him to a raw diet as well. Since then, I've seen a lot of improvement! Its not perfect, but his back molars look great! I do plan on starting to brush his teeth now that things seem to be coming around. I'll post photos, its been a slow process, but I'm happy to say I think he's going to sneak by without a vet appointment.

Sorry if I, or someone else has already said this, but since you plan to brush his teeth, getting a multi-enzyme toothpaste vs the single enzyme you get in stock at the pet store, makes all the difference in my experience. Then start to teach him to have his teeth brushed starting by licking off the toothpaste from your finger, then licking it from the brush, finger in mouth, then brush in mouth. As with any chews, watch for signs of obstruction such as refusal to eat when you'd expect him to eat, etc. Glad to hear of your progress!

 

[Weeg]

Sorry if I, or someone else has already said this, but since you plan to brush his teeth, getting a multi-enzyme toothpaste vs the single enzyme you get in stock at the pet store, makes all the difference in my experience. Then start to teach him to have his teeth brushed starting by licking off the toothpaste from your finger, then licking it from the brush, finger in mouth, then brush in mouth. As with any chews, watch for signs of obstruction such as refusal to eat when you'd expect him to eat, etc. Glad to hear of your progress!

Awesome, thank you for this info! I really appreciate it! I actually plan on making my own toothpaste instead of buying it. I hate to throw away those plastic bottles, and I really do prefer to have no preservatives/additives in his food, so I figure its the same for the toothpaste too. Since I'm feeding raw I'm also less concerned about major build up. Ember our 10 month old pup, she's new since I started this thread, hasn't had her teeth brushed once and they are still pearly white. I really think the raw helps a lot. I do plan on brushing both their teeth to keep them that way though.
Thanks for the help!

 

[addctd2plnts]

I'm glad you've sen good results with rawhides. I've used them, almost daily, for our pack of 10 dogs, for 21 years. Not a single one has bad breath or tartar buildup. I know all the naysayers are afraid of obstruction but the new rawhides are made differently. In addition, if you pick them up every night, and hand them out while you're there, you know whether one is getting small enough for them to want to swallow and can throw it out. Getting a large knotted rawhide, lasts a long time, depending on the dog. In addition, as a rehabber of almost 1000 dogs over the last 20 years, I can strongly testify to the calming effects of these chews. I get traumatized and feral dogs in often and they are SO much calmer when they have a chew to chew on in from 6 pm-10 pm. They go to sleep better and are just happier. Chewing is a self soothing behavior in dogs and MUST be allowed for a mentally balanced dog IMHO

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hello everyone, I have a 5 year old yellow Lab who's teeth have never been brushed. I never knew to brush his teeth or was informed to do so, so of course, it didn't get done. A couple months ago, I started making him his own raw dog food using recipes from Dogs Naturally. Through that site I've learned so so much about holistic pet care, and much more. Sometimes I scroll through the articles, and I happened to started reading about dental disease in dogs. It made me thing about the fact that we fed Comet cheep kibble for the first 5 years of his life and never brushed his teeth.
I pulled his gums up today to look at his teeth, and sure enough, there is lots of tartar build up, etc etc. Over all they don't look like healthy pearly whites.
I read about natural dental care, (organic rubber chews, animals chews such as antlers or organic raw hide strips) and am very partial to natural dental care like suggested in these Dogs Naturally articles. (Article 1, 3rd paragraph and down. Article 2.)
Will frequent brushing, a raw diet, and some of the suggested things in those articles bring his teeth up to par? Of course, the articles also talked about getting a vet involved. Doing a cleaning under anesthesia. If I had to take that road I would definitely keep up on cleaning his teeth from here on out to avoid this conversation in the future.
Thanks for your suggestions, I hope I can fit this at home without getting a vet involved, but I'm interested to see what you think.
Photos coming in next post.

Give him raw beef bones

 

[Weeg]

I'm glad you've sen good results with rawhides. I've used them, almost daily, for our pack of 10 dogs, for 21 years. Not a single one has bad breath or tartar buildup. I know all the naysayers are afraid of obstruction but the new rawhides are made differently. In addition, if you pick them up every night, and hand them out while you're there, you know whether one is getting small enough for them to want to swallow and can throw it out. Getting a large knotted rawhide, lasts a long time, depending on the dog. In addition, as a rehabber of almost 1000 dogs over the last 20 years, I can strongly testify to the calming effects of these chews. I get traumatized and feral dogs in often and they are SO much calmer when they have a chew to chew on in from 6 pm-10 pm. They go to sleep better and are just happier. Chewing is a self soothing behavior in dogs and MUST be allowed for a mentally balanced dog IMHO

I'm very glad you posted about the chews, it was very helpful. I actually didn't use rawhide specifically, just because I read about the process in making it, and it seems there is a lot of chemical use. I personally try to stay away from artificial ingredients, so I decided to go with "beef puzzle" instead and had the same great result. About the same price and seemed a bit more natural for my over protective dog ownership.
Either way though, I'm very glad you turned me onto using chews dental health. It helped a lot in avoiding the vet, I really appreciate it!

 

[Weeg]

Give him raw beef bones

YES! I used this as well! My family got 2 deers this year (not me, I don't hunt) and Comet throughly enjoyed taking his bones and hiding them. Then spending his free time chewing on them until we could find him. I think it helped a lot! I used antler chews as well and that was definitely helpful.