[Nazir's]

Originally Posted by connied2

Doing a lot of reading and asking a retired vet friend I probably would ever spend the buck for the cleaning. He said it is common that alot of dog will never really need teeth cleaning. And if they do it may be something they really only need ever few years. You can tell by the color and how they look as to weither you might need to something. He also said it is one of those high profit areas for most vets. Unless your dog has problems and needs a cleaning he suggest not doing them at all just clean them at home and use the teeth chews.
I know I never took my other yorkie in. At a average 200 a pop and the problem you can have from it and the fact that her teeth with a weekly cleaning it wasnt worth it to me. She never had a problem with any teeth or bad breath.
Now as for this pooch, he only has bad breath if he has eaten something that is not something he should eat if you know what I mean... I clean his teeth once a month and give him chew sticks and the teeth treats and keep an eye on the teeth. If I would see a problem then I would try cleaning it myself with the brush or maybe then do something about it.
There is nothing funnier than a toothless pooch...

I'd have to say that I can not agree with this. From my experiences; working as a vet assistant, with breeders, and as an animal adoption counselor, I can tell you first hand that a lot of health related issues could have been prevented should some owners have paid more attention to their dogs' teeth.

At the Humane Society, a couple of times we received dogs in that were in such bad shape. Some of them stenched from high hell and once we took them to the vet, all they needed was a nice teeth cleaning. Perhaps, having some of them pulled and then they were just fine!

First hand, from within my starting pedigree line; all I would hear is how they needed to be pulled from the ring because they lost their teeth too early in life. Personally, my dogs are pass this tooth lost expectancy age within their lines and are still going strong; with a strong, health, and clean bites.

I could go on and on with my examples but the point is; I’ve saw first hand the wonders of keeping a dogs’ mouth and teeth clean. Believe me; if I deemed it unnecessary or unworthy of my hard earned money, I’d be the first person not doing it but it has provedn to be beneficial with all of my dogs.

Don’t get me wrong; all dogs do not need a professional cleaning once a year. I have some that do and some that don’t; however, if I noticed that it’s needed at a certain point and time, it’s going to get done and I'd recommend that all owners do the same.