woodygirl1993
Member
Just had a well being consultation on a 4 year old Vizla, two rear teeth have signs of plaque and tartar build up, quoted £600 plus for removal do I proceed with this, never had to go through this with any other dogs ???
Plaque on dogs teeth
- Thread starter woodygirl1993
- Start date
No. But I know what you mean
If it's plaque, this is soft and you can remove with brushing - if your dog tolerates it. It it's tartar, it's worth having a good chew on a big uncooked bone. By big - so big he can't bite on to it and all the action comes from a sideways chew at the bits of flesh. You can also get rawhide chews with enzymes in them that seem to help. If you've tried all this, then scale and polish is probably worth it - if you can then prevent the build up - just like us!
Plenty of folks will say they've never had problems with feeding bones, but I've seen plenty of dogs with problems.
Definitely no antler!
Same deal here. The wife is feeding the dog Plaqueout (kelp I think) and brushing its teeth and having a pick at them. Seems to be working and no anaesthesia also much better than £900.
Only dog we have had that won’t chew harder stuff so this is a new issue for us.
He is a Cocker but thinks he is a Lion so it can get a bit noisy.
Only dog we have had that won’t chew harder stuff so this is a new issue for us.
He is a Cocker but thinks he is a Lion so it can get a bit noisy.
Seconding brushing.
Get a childs toothbrush. Don't take it from a child, buy one. They're probably better than the more expensive pet ones IMO and have softer bristles. Find a dog toothpaste your dog likes. Introduce brushing over several weeks. Initially offer some toothpaste on your finger as a treat. Then when the dog is happy licking it off, smear it on their gum. Then offer it pushed into the bristles of the toothbrush. When the dog is happy with that, try light brushing on the front teeth. When happy with that go a bit further back. And so on until you can brush all the teeth.
Bone and antler as chews can cause slab fractures of teeth. This is suboptimal.
Get a childs toothbrush. Don't take it from a child, buy one. They're probably better than the more expensive pet ones IMO and have softer bristles. Find a dog toothpaste your dog likes. Introduce brushing over several weeks. Initially offer some toothpaste on your finger as a treat. Then when the dog is happy licking it off, smear it on their gum. Then offer it pushed into the bristles of the toothbrush. When the dog is happy with that, try light brushing on the front teeth. When happy with that go a bit further back. And so on until you can brush all the teeth.
Bone and antler as chews can cause slab fractures of teeth. This is suboptimal.
I've not had a dog experience dental discomfort.from longterm tartar, but on reflection I can quite imagine you'd have seen plenty of dogs which have....perhaps.correlated with terrible diets, (like humans).
£600 seems a bit steep for this to put it mildly!
Mick9abf
Well-Known Member
Is the plaque off powder that is put in food any good or a waste of money?
More of a waste than paying £600 for something which a human can have done thrice over on Harley Street for less?
My dentist friend gave me a double ended dental tool and all my Spaniel's have any build up scraped off by me.
I think a lot comes from the dry food..
They have muntjac/fallow lower legs
Dry food lots of greens and deer trimmings
Mick9abf
Well-Known Member
Is that a yes or no
dont soak the dry biscuits, give a chew after food to help clean them, try have a brush/scrape if the dogs amenable. all about prevention before it gets too bad. Over years the tartar cause gum disease (bone loss and gum recession) and possibly tooth loss which I suspect is worse in certain breeds.
Usually wet food and treats, there was a muesli like mix that was really popular with farmers a good while back, never seen such bad teeth in collies.
With dogs, it's more gum disease than human caries.
Steep, possibly. Vets tend to quote a bit high in case the back teeth need removing, but I find some prices make me wince today.
Local groomers doing scaling ? Well to scale properly you need to get under the gum. We all know how uncomfortable this is for ourselves and no conscious dog will stay still for this, so they need an anaesthetic. Even a "light sedative" isn't good enough. What they are doing is cosmetic and nothing more. Anyone using them is truly being ripped off.
Many owners fall nto the trap of observing/cleaning just what teeth they can see...aka the outside wall of the teeth. The inside wall of the teeth is important too. The best I have found which cleans the whole tooth is sheep necks/small deer necks sans skin. The idea is that every time the dog bites down on the neck his teeth are forced down between the vertabrae and this cleans the whole tooth surface. For small dogs like my Cav then chicken/geese/turkey etc necks are useful.
The softer carcass bones of young animals [lamb/deer] allow the dog to bite right into them and the same cleaning process occurs as for giving them necks to chew on.
The softer carcass bones of young animals [lamb/deer] allow the dog to bite right into them and the same cleaning process occurs as for giving them necks to chew on.
Brad93
Well-Known Member
For £35 vs 600? Not really being ripped off is it. Dogs teeth come back with plaque all removed.
The visible material, possibly. But the plaque and tartar that you can see is mostly irrelevant. It is the plaque (with the tartar covering it) that is under the gum edge that is the problem. That's where the bacteria live that will slowly destroy the ligaments and bone holding the teeth in place and to effectively get at them you need anaesthesia.
So I say again the groomers are just offering a cosmetic service and do nothing for the disease.
The none weight bearing bones and sinuous meat of medium sized mammals, plus vegetables. Aged 11 and 3. Dry kibble twice daily. Bones etc on an ad hoc basis. My last 13 year old dog had lovely white teeth, but had been spoiled with fortnightly old pork and sheep ribs from the butcher, when I made more time for the dogs. My dogs are fed meat together. I remove it intermittently. Any possessiveness between them means the meat is removed. They learn to be socialised very young.
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