Keeping your dog’s teeth healthy is one of the most important aspects of being a dog owner. After all, dogs can’t do it themselves like we can. Therefore, we must make an effort to help protect our pups against the building up of plaque, food, and bacteria. These build-ups can cause health issues for your dog and can be quite painful. Thankfully, there are certain ways to help your dog fight against these build-ups.
Brushing Their Teeth
As with humans, brushing your dog’s teeth is the simplest and most effective way to get your dog a good teeth cleaning. A daily routine of brushing will make sure to keep bacteria and plaque from becoming an issue in your dog’s life. However, you’ll need to buy specialized doggy toothpaste to make sure brushing doesn’t become a safety issue. See, if swallowed, human toothpaste has certain ingredients that are harmful to your dog. These toothpastes come in different flavors, so, make sure the toothpaste is a flavor that your dog seems to enjoy: they usually come in flavors like peanut butter or chicken. This will make the process more enjoyable for them and offer them an incentive to go along with the brushing. In addition, you should get a doggy toothbrush to make the process is totally safe for your dog.
Now, you might be wondering how you’re actually going to make your dog okay with the idea of brushing. Don’t worry; there are steps you can take to make your dog more accepting of getting their teeth brushed.
- Put a small piece of toothpaste on your finger and let your dog sniff and lick it. This will let them inspect the stuff you intend on putting inside their mouth.
- Show your dog the toothbrush to again get them comfortable with the object that’s going inside their mouth.
- Brush a few teeth that are the easiest to reach: the canines are usually the easiest to reach.
- Make sure to gently lift your dog’s upper lip and slowly brush back and forth on each dog tooth.
- Use a soothing voice to keep your dog calm.
- If your dog is freaking out, don’t force the issue. Instead, get someone to help and pet the dog as you try to brush his or her teeth.
- Brush a few teeth and end the session. You don’t want to overwhelm them. Each teeth cleaning should end with a treat.
- Over the next couple sessions, include more and more teeth until you can brush all of them.
- However, setting up a daily dog teeth cleaning can be challenging. If your dog is being a little finicky about getting their teeth brushed, there are other things you can do to keep their teeth clean and healthy in the meantime:
A Dry Food Diet
Wet food is messy and will stick to a dog’s tooth causing food build-up: this can lead to tooth decay. Therefore, a dry food diet will lower the chance that your dog’s teeth will be a problem. However, don’t assume a dry food diet is an effective solution to replace brushing; it’s not. It’s just a way to keep the food build-up from getting out of control before brushing becomes a part of your dog’s daily routine.
Buy Some Chew Toys
Dogs love chewing things and it’s a real nuisance for dog owners. However, you can use this to your advantage and keep your dog’s teeth healthy through buying some hard rubber chew toys. These toys are great for scraping away the food and bacteria build-ups on your dog’s teeth. After buying some of these toys, encourage your dog to play with them after each meal. This will take full advantage of their ability to scrap those build-ups from your dog’s teeth. A teeth cleaning after meals is key to keeping their teeth truly healthy.
Dental Chews
Just like chew toys, dental chews can help encourage teeth cleaning through scraping away those awful build-ups that can cause extensive damage to your dog’s teeth and gums. In fact, by allowing your dog to chew on these dental chews, you’re lowering the chance that your dog start to decay. According to Pets. WebMD, “dog dental treats and diets can reduce plaque by nearly 70%.” Therefore, these dental chews are truly a great idea for dog owners who are having trouble getting their dogs to accept the idea of brushing. In fact, you should use them along with brushing to completely make sure your dog’s teeth/gums stay healthy. Here’s a great example of an effective dental chew.
Offer Some Them Fruits and Vegetables
As we all know, dogs love snacks, especially, human food snacks. But, most of these snacks are horrible for their dental health or simply don’t taste good enough. However, certain fruits and vegetables can positively impact your dog’s teeth and gums: apple slices, carrots, cantaloupe, green beans, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potatoes, and watermelon. Now, these foods won’t fight against plaque, but they will help against food build through not sticking to your dog’s teeth. More importantly, as your dog chews these fruits and vegetables, they will scrap food from their teeth.
Natural Dental Sprays
A natural dental spray is a great option for owners that can lift their dog’s lips without them freaking out. Dental sprays help reduce plaque and tartar build-up along with controlling the bacteria that causes your dog’s bad breath. More importantly, it will make your dog’s breath smell good for those times that they find it necessary to lick your face. Let’s be honest, there’s nothing worse than stinky dog breath. It’s important to make sure you apply the spray directly on the most affected teeth. This will ensure you get the best possible cleaning from the dental spray.
Tooth Wipes
On the days your dog just isn’t allowing you to brush their teeth, try using a tooth wipe. It will remove tartar, plaque, and bad breath bacteria in a single wipe. For optimal use, make sure to wipe the edges of your dog’s teeth with the wipe. This will give your dog’s teeth the best cleaning possible. However, just like the other options mentioned in this article, this isn’t a full-time solution. It’s just a handy thing to have around for the days your dog’s being a pain.
After reading this article, you should have no problem getting your a dog a good teeth cleaning. Don’t wait too long and have their teeth become a painful issue.
