Teeth health. Petzlife?
 

I brush Chloe's teeth every night with CET Vanilla Mint but I feel like I am not doing enough? Her teeth are white, but I have been reading on Yorkie Talk about tooth decay and teeth falling.. Which is scary. I have also seen a few posts about Petzlife. Am I suppose to be flossing or using Petzlife in addition to the daily brushing?

Also, is getting a professional cleaning yearly mandatory or can a dog go without it if the teeth are in good health from daily maintenance?

Thanks :)

Another thing, just a question about the Petzlife gel ingredients. It says there's Grape seed extract.. Is that allowed, considering grapes are toxic?

I think you should look at Healthy Mouth water additive instead. Yes, you're doing all you can if you're brushing daily. It's mostly genetics...

In the end it really comes down to genetics. You are doing the best you can now it's all left to genetics. Dentals are as needed not yearly. Look at Ora vet you put that on weekly.

I've been brushing my dogs' teeth with Petzlife Gel for many years. I don't know if it's better than other products available, but the large size pump dispenser is handy for me. I tried water additive for a while but became suspicious of it for reasons I don't recall. Brushing your dog's teeth at least every few days will help a lot and may help delay professional dental cleanings. Schedule a dental as soon as you see plaque start to form at the gum line, paying particular attention to upper back teeth, since that seems to be where it starts to accumulate first. :)

It's awesome that you've gotten her used to brushing :). One of the few things approved by VOHC is Healthy Mouth - so that's what I use. Their website is full of info if you want to read about it.

Some people here seem to do yearly dentals while others do them when their vet says it's time.

It seems like the majority of dental issues comes down to genetics at the end of the day...seems to be the case w/ humans too.

I just wanted to add that while some water additives have questionable ingredients like xylitol, healthy mouth does not. I use it by syringing some in their mouths after brushing because one dog (Teddy!) is unwilling to drink it from the bowl.

ETA: you really need to brush EVERYDAY for maximum benefit. I skipped one day last week on winston and OMG the next night I needed a jackhammer. No matter what I feed him, he easily forms LOTS of plaque. I think his mouth is dryer than some dogs and the vet dentist encouraged me to give him crunchy treats and let him chew to get saliva flowing. I'm trying but it seems futile. He is the worst one I have and he's only 3. Very sad :(

I notice this with Jackson too. He's not AS bad, but if I go a few days, I can tell a difference. Example, I went away last weekend and was gone from Thurs-Sun. I did not brush his teeth until Tuesday. And I was like wow. Luckily most of it brushed off though. But he is 6 now and will likely need his 3rd dental next year. Every 2 years seems to be what is best for him.

Oh and petzlife seems to work well for us. I really like HealthyMouth but the application process is so annoying, I hate the gel and using a q-tip and the green coloring makes it sooo messy. He won't drink water with anything weird in it and won't tolerate a spray. So we continue to brush with CET toothpaste, and I use petzlife on him a few times a week and rub it around, it freshens his breath and seems to help. He also gets Purina Veterinary dental chewz and Dentastix occasionally and they honestly do seem to help.

This is what I'm scared about because I actually did end up going back to BalanceIt (the black cap) and Chloe has been eating only home cooked food for the past month.. so she's not getting enough crunchy things besides her fruitables treats. Is this genetics for Winston or because he doesn't get enough crunchy food?

I think we all just do the best we can. I trained Chloe to expect her teeth brushed every night before bed since she was a puppy and she won't fall asleep if I don't brush. She just walks around knowing that she still has something to do, lol.. after the teeth brushing she goes straight to her bed.

Crunchy food (ie, kibble) isn't the key...it's using nice, chew type thingys that cause them to work their jaws and work their teeth against the chew. I like RMBs (raw meaty bones like Bison ribs), CET chews, Munchy Stix, and Honest Kitchen Beams. Can you get Winston to work at chews? It may help.

Lol, that's so funny that she knows she's suppose to get her teeth brushed :D. You're doing awesome with her, wow! I don't brush any of my 3's teeth, and I wish I'd started it when they were pups.

Btw, as far as Healthy Mouth application - I put it on their meals a.m. and p.m. - and mine don't even notice it. So, you may be able to give it w/ their food if you happen to be interested in it anyway. Some dogs clearly notice it though, so it really just depends.

For the Honest Kitchen beams, are you talking about the catfish skins? I just imagined Chloe eating that.. and her smelling like fish, lol. Does it smell fishy?

I'm going to look into the Healthy Mouth. I find it a little weird that Petzlife has grape seed extract though, is that ok considering it's from grapes?

Also, is there a bone that you can give that's TOO hard? I looked before at some bones in Pet Smart and they are all rock hard.. it scares me that she can crack a tooth like this? I'm sure she would love those bones, though.

Yes, the catfish chews. They can leave them smelling a bit fishy, it's true...bu they're such nice treats...so pure/simple.

Some Prey Model raw feeders will tell you to give dogs ONLY consumable bones (ie, chicken wings, drums etc where they eat the bone and all) bc they'll say the dog could chip a tooth on larger bones like femurs or whatnot. Anything is possible, keep in mind. But I've been giving the Bison Rib bones for years and never had a single problem -- I like them bc they have a bit of meat on them, they're thin enough for a yorkie to chew on, but they're non-consumable - so they won't choke on a piece of bone like they can w/ the consumable bones. Rib bones may be considered "consumable" for very large breeds, but they wouldn't be for yorkies...so perhaps Prey Model feeders would consider the rib bones consumable bones, just for larger dogs.

I'm going to look into all of these and the Healthy Mouth, thank you!

To clarify, the crunchy treat advice I was given by a vet dentist was to increase chewing and saliva flow. He also suggest rawhides, frozen veggies, and bully sticks among other things. My Winston is a severe case - it's very sad. Thankfully, he's a healthy sturdy little guy other than that. He actually has a beautiful bite as he was originally bred by a show breeder but his xrays reveal the bone loss. I feed two other dogs the same food and they don't have his issues. :(

I didn't even see where in your original post where you mentioned "crunchy food" - I only saw it in BabieChloe's post and I thought she was only talking about feeding kibble (ie, the school of thought that kibble is better for teeth). So that was why I made the comment afterward about using chews instead.

Now I went back and read your post and I see where you mentioned it and it makes total sense to increase the saliva flow in certain cases, and I understand why you posted to clarify now (at first I was all, what is she clarifying, lol?). That's actually really good info about saliva flow!

I definitely agree feeding kibble doesn't help. Winston ate kibble before I adopted him and thereafter. He doesn't chew. He seems to flow saliva a lot with his oinkie chew, but he still produces more plaque than I've ever seen before... As Linda says... "It's a sin!" I just ordered a gel to try putting on his teeth in the morning. I've tried almost everything but it hasn't helped. The dentist told me to try my best to keep it away from the gum line but it drives me crazy that he has anything on his teeth with all my home care.

Yes. Things like bully sticks and antlers are to hard and can brake teeth.

My experience is that bully sticks are not very hard and are fine for them...but that's just my experience. Yours may be different. I've never tried the antlers but they do seem very, very hard to me.

Yeah I don't use antlers even for my big dogs. But they do get real meat bones.


I tried a lamb thigh bone for Magic once, and I was in the kitchen when I heard that special crunch sound ... I levitated down to the doggy den:D:eek:
He had snapped the thigh bone in half - about 10 minutes into the chewing time..... He thought it most unfair that I was taking his bone away! I had to offer him some other goodies in exchange. I now stick with bison and beef bones.

I also give turkey necks to the doggies, good cartilage for them. My butcher cuts them up for me - big dog size and small dog size.

I like healthy mouth but my dogs not so much. I use petzlife oral gel in both the spray bottle and gel bottle.

From Tropic clean I have a nubby ball (that has now disappeared):rolleyes: that you can spray on the Tropic Clean and give to your dog to chew. Problem is all the doggies want what Magic has - so three balls for three dogs, two get left by the wayside and Magic spends his time protecting *his* ball. If I put them in their crate they only chew for a moment or two then leave it. Balls in their lexicon are for chasing and retrieving - preferably from the water:)

I was told they were to hard by a vet dentist and Callie broke hers on one.