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Originally Posted by dwerten  wet food is not necessarily bad for gum disease what happens is it can get below the gum line more so than hard BUT you have to brush the teeth at least daily or twice a day after feeding preferrably but i do it at night before bed. Gum disease in these dogs is really common even at a young age as i brushed my girls for a year with petzlife gel religiously and she lost 27 teeth at 4 years old so it can happen - I did not want to put her under and that was a big mistake - what happens is toy breeds have a small bone to tooth ratio so if not brushing the tartar and bacteria set in and it does not take much to lose teeth for them unlike humans and big dogs that have a larger bone to tooth ratio. Now i have a yorkie who had her teeth cleaned at 5 and only lost 5 teeth so it really depends on the dog. My malt i should have had her started at 2 years old with teeth cleaning but the tartar did not look that bad and i had no idea about all this stuff back then. She had bad breath and i kept thinking it was digestive issue as her tartar was not that bad well now i know bad breath is NOT good and is gum disease not digestive issues
I grew up with shih tzus they never had teeth cleaned never lost teeth chewed on dog bone bisquits so i had no clue but maltese and yorkies have horrible teeth  |
ya i knew small dogs had bad teeth, but my pom doesnt have problems, and i hope she never does..i give her bones and things too,and brush her teeth the best i can...and of course have them cleaned. But with timmys dig prob we havent been giving him any bones b/c we didnt know how he would react and when we first got him we gave him a small bone and he devoured it, thus causing the worry that it could be lodged somewhere. If i do give them bones ill give them bigger ones from now on b/c i kno he is really hard on them really fast. I did buy some green bones that they are supposed to eat for teeth and my mom gives them to her scottie and his teeth are blindingly white..of course he is pure black lol so that may have to do with it..but once i know timmys meds are done and he seems fine i may start giving him and spice one of those to split once in a while.
gotta love small dogs...they REALLY are babies~!
