I have three dogs, a Greyhound/Scottish Deerhound, a Chihuahua/Brussels Griffon and a Yorkshire Terrier/Maltese. Our current dogs are 3.5 and 2.5 years old and have never gone to the Vet and had their teeth cleaned. We have had several other dogs in the past that have also never had their teeth cleaned nor had any tooth issues. I do not believe Vet tooth cleaning is something that is "actually" necessary for all dogs. I also wonder if teeth issues may sometimes, not all the time, be a result of "treats" and soft foods? Altough I'm sure that some animals just like some people can be predisposed to teeth issues no matter what their dietary habits.
Our Vet always remarks how amazing our Greyhound/Deerhound's teeth are. Apparently Greyhounds are notorious for haveing bad teeth. Our Vet also told us to watch our Chihuahua/Brussels Griffon because of the way her bottom jaw is she could have plaque issues with her front teeth but there have been no issues so far.
All our dogs eat Acana Adult Chicken and Burbank Potato dog food. They never have soft dog food and rarely have treats. Recently we started using PetzLife Oral Care Gel (mint) because I have wanted to make sure their teeth stay healthy.
I can't say it has been a miracle product because we didn't have terrible plaque issues to begin with but it has been easy to use and helped with dog breath. You follow the initial regiment of using it twice a day for two weeks and brush their teeth every 4 days or so to help remove any loosened plaque. After that you just use it once a day about three times a week for maintanence.
I'm not saying that doing what we do with our dogs would work for everyone. Each dog is different. I just thought I would share what has been working for us so far. |