Caring for your dog’s teeth

Anyone who owns dogs will know how they quickly become important members of the family. I have had dogs for most of my life, and while sometimes my life would be easier without them, I can’t imagine our family without its furry additions.

It’s so important to look after our canine friends and make sure, not only that their day to day needs are met, but that we care for their ongoing and future health too. Obviously most dog owners know that they should vaccinate their dogs against infections and diseases, but we also need to look after their dental hygiene.

Our dogs are mother and daughter and the mother was a rescue dog. She had an awful start to her life and dental care had obviously been way down the list of priorities for her previous owners. Consequently, when she came home to us her teeth were in a real mess, even though she was only 18 months old.

Sadly for her over the course of two operations during the years that followed she has had to have all but one of her teeth removed.  She has adapted and manages quite well, but it’s obviously not the outcome we would have hoped for. Sadly the early damage was too bad to be rectified by any amount of dental cleaning or specialist paste.

The well-respected pet care brand, Pedigree believes that the way to avoid this sort of situation is to feed dogs a combination of dry food, wet food, make sure they have a regular dental care regime, treat our dogs for worms and only feed them a responsible amount of treats.

Caring for your dogs teeth

A balanced diet, 50% wet food and 50% dry will go a long way to making sure your dog stays healthy and the dry food helps to clean your dogs teeth as they chew it. They will, however, need some extra help with their dental care. Small dogs especially are prone to gum disease, but all dogs would benefit from daily teeth brushing.

You can purchase dog tooth brushes and specialist paste from your vets or pet care store. We tried brushing our dogs teeth, but they are a very small breed and it caused them lots of stress, so we needed to look from an alternative method.

We now use Pedigree Dentastix to help with our dogs oral hygiene. Chewing one Dentastix a day helps to massage Lou Lou’s gums and care for Lily’s teeth. A few years ago they weren’t keen on Dentastix, however the Pedigree dental care treats have recently been reformulated and our dogs can’t get enough of them now.

Disclosure: This post is a collaboration with Pedigree, but all thoughts are my own. For additional dental care information you can read the following Pedigree Reviews article for tips and advice.”