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Originally Posted by PrincessDiana  The myth that kibble is good for their teeth is wrong! Would you expect cookies to keep your teeth clean? As long as your Yorkie has proper chew toys to develop his/her jaw and mouth muscles, as well as keep their teeth clean.. there is nothing wrong with feeding canned. Canned food is less processed, so IMO, better! |
I read lots of people using the cookie and kibble analogy, but I'm not sure where they got their support for this. Kibble is much harder than cookies and doesn't break with the finger like cookies. Hard foods have been shown to be good for the gums; by keeping the gums healthy, food doesn't go into pockets and create gingivitis, which is the major reason dogs lose teeth, not cavities. If your dog won't eat kibble try to get some other hard foods in his diet to stimulate the gums and keep them healthy.
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This study indicates that gingival changes due to consistency of
diet are variable, but that there is a difference between gingivae exposed
to hard diets and those exposed to soft diets. Soft diets tend
to produce more pathological change. This suggests that the changes
might be the result of lack of stimulation, leading to stasis of the
gingival circulation and a softening of the tissues. Under these
conditions the impaction of the smaller particles of food in a soft
diet might occur more readily, leading to tissue irritation and proliferation
of the epithelial downgrowths.
Conversely, it is possible that coarse and hard foods would promote
tissue stimulation, resulting in firm, turgid gingivae which would
cling to the teeth and thus reduce the chances of the impaction of
particles below the gingival margins.
CONCLUSIONS
Histological findings confirm the clinical observation that soft diets
tend to produce pathological changes in the gingivae.
THE EFFECT OF HARD AND SOFT DIETS ON THE GINGIVAL TISSUES OF DOGS -- BURWASSER and HILL 18 (4): 389 -- Journal of Dental Research |
I also wanted to add you should be careful of baby food, many contain onion that is safe for human babies, but can be toxic to dogs. Puppies do seem to go through a period where they are very picky eaters, and make sure your not giving too many treats that could make them even pickier.