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Old 11-25-2016, 04:28 AM   #1
Veemo
Yorkie Talker
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Texas
Posts: 18
Default Raw diet and recent TERRIBLE breath!?

Hi all, I have a 6lb Yorkie/Chihuahua mix that has been on a raw diet since May. When I first adopted him, he didn’t have bad breath… it was just normal doggy breath. He did have a sweet puppy smell to him in general; however that wasn’t a bad scent. Within the first month of him being on the raw diet, his smell completely vanished and his coat was beautiful. It even grew a bit and was super shiny. Everything was fine until the past month or two. While he himself still doesn’t smell, his breath absolutely stinks. It smells like death/feces, and I can’t understand why it has started to smell. For the first few months, I wasn’t brushing his teeth or doing anything too special ( and it didn’t smell a bit), but now I’m wiping his teeth with those teeth pads, and brushing them with a toothbrush/toothpaste. It helps his breath for half a day, but then it comes back. It seems like it constantly smells throughout the day, not just after he eats or anything. I also smell it as he breathes out his nose. And not sure if it’s related, but he also he pretty gassy… he farts a lot haha.

I try to brush and wipe his teeth daily, but realistically, the get wiped 3-4 times a week and brushed 2-3 times. I know, I’m trying to be better about that! So yeah, I really am trying to figure out why his breath smells so bad, and I’m wondering if it’s his diet. His teeth are in very good condition (he’s a young dog) with barely any tartar or plaque, and his gums look nice and healthy so I definitely don’t think it’s his actual teeth that’s the problem. I put him on a raw diet mainly to help keep his teeth in check since little dogs usually have a lot of teeth problems. I think it’s something in his diet that I may be doing wrong so I’d really appreciate any help I can get.

Here’s his typical weekly diet, however it does change based on what I have on hand or pick up for him.

Standard diet;
-Ground beef/turkey/chicken/cut-up chicken breast/ sardines (rarely). The ground meat is mixed with carrots, plain yogurt, and eggs (no egg shells). I usually make a month’s worth of one batch then switch to a different protein. 4 times a week, twice daily.

-With the meat portion, he gets a portion of either chickpeas, sweet potato, greenbeans, peas, apple, banana, etc. Mainly greenbeans & chickpeas though. 4 times a week, twice daily.

-Chicken liver/beef liver/green tripe- 1 time a week, twice daily.

-Chicken wings and sometimes chicken necks/pork necks- 1 time a week, twice daily (two wings total).

-As for chews, I occasionally get him bully sticks or pig ears. I’m still looking for a dental chew that he will eat since he hasn’t like any so far.

-As far as supplements go, the only thing I really add to his food is a mix of chia seeds, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, and flax seeds. Sometimes coconut oil when I remember. I just sprinkle a couple pinches on once a day.

I felt like I was providing him a balanced diet but now I don’t know anymore. I spent months beforehand researching a raw diet, and though I’m not providing him with more of the exotic meats (I can’t due to my budget), I felt like he was getting a good balance still. I’m a bit limited to options especially with the bones, since I’m afraid anything too big would chip his teeth. I basically just stick to chicken wings 90% of the time since they’re perfect for him.
He was doing amazing those first 2 months and still is doing great, but the bad breath has gotten out of control. I can’t even let him lick me anymore since it literally smells like a dying corpse/feces. Based on the info above, could this be more diet related rather than an underlying medical problem? He has absolutely no other medical symptoms related to the topic of bad breath/gas, and is a perfectly healthy, happy dog so I’m leaning more on this being a diet problem. Please let me know your thoughts!!

Last edited by Veemo; 11-25-2016 at 04:31 AM.
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