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How does everyone take care of their dogs teeth? I called the vet to see how much it would cost to get Chloe and Jacks teeth cleaned and they said from $250.00-350.00. Does that sound about right to you? I need to do it soon, because they both have really bad breath.
Thanks
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raw bones. My dogs all have nice teeth - but they are still young of course.
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Raw bones. I gave a soup bone to each of the dogs the other day and I still can't believe how much better their teeth look after just a few hours of gnawing on them! I don't feel like I have to get them professionally cleaned now!
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Guys, when you say " raw bones " do you mean rawhide bones ?
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Nope, raw natural bones, like the kind you get from the butcher or supermarket. I give Zeus the shank with knuclebones attatched. Once he gnaws the knuckles down, I throw it away. His teeth are immaculate.
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No, literally uncooked real bones. Not weight bearing bones or knuckles though, they can break their teeth. Rib bones, neck bones, shoulder bones, etc.
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raw bones and chunks of meat/cartilage. :)
quigley was close to a professional cleaning after eating wellness dry food for a while (when i was still feeding kibble) and it did a bad number on his teeth
http://mordanna.com/dog/teeth_before.jpg
in addition to feeding lots of raw, meaty bones, i bought a set of scalers and worked on the worst spots every couple days and eventually his teeth became clean again.
http://mordanna.com/dog/teeth_after.jpg
now that i don't feed kibble anymore (other than as a treat now and then), there are no problems at all.
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Mordy...what do you feed now?
It looks like raw bones are the answer. I'll try that.
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Just a couple of questions here on the raw bones...
1: are you supposed to freeze the bones before using them...
2: what size or how much for a small dog, (10 to 20 lb's)
Odo has had raw bones but he would throw up afterwards, does this mean i should not give them to him??
Edit: quigley's teeth look very nice....Odo's look a little worse than your before pic. I thought about the cleaning at the vets , but i worry about putting him under..Just scares me. I brush as he will let me...but it is a fight.
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Just a couple of questions here on the raw bones...
1: are you supposed to freeze the bones before using them...
2: what size or how much for a small dog, (10 to 20 lb's)
Odo has had raw bones but he would throw up afterwards, does this mean i should not give them to him??
I freeze all of mine first. If you give them frozen they last a lot longer (the knuckle bones) kinda like a kong.
I think poultry is fine for most small dogs. Chicken necks, backs, wings...
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Thanks saje i will try the neck bones.
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Denaluvscorgis - i feed a home prepared diet that consists mostly of raw bones and meat, but also a few cooked items and healthy table scraps.
necterine0 - if your dog's teeth are really bad and don't clean up well in a reasonable time frame from feeding raw bones, i would definitely consider a professional cleaning and then just pay close attention and keep up with maintenance afterwards.
anesthesia is very safe and much more controlled these days and i would rather opt for a good cleaning instead of letting things go too far, since the toxins from inflamed gums affect the whole body, including organs like heart and kidneys.
as a sidenote, i never experienced such a bad buildup on any of the other commercial foods i fed in the past (e.g. innova, canidae) and attribute much of it to the fact that wellness was an oven baked food that crumbled very easily and stuck to the teeth very badly.
and i'm still kicking myself in the butt for not paying more attention to what that food did to my dog's teeth. live and learn, now i know better and check teeth on a daily basis.
all this happened before 2004 by the way - the images just have that copyright notice because that was the time i first used them in an article i wrote.
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Three members of my family go to the same clinic... one vet who had seen all our dogs asked what we did to keep their teeth so perfect. I used to brush my litters teeth, just to get them used to it before they went " Home". I've never had to brush my adult dogs teeth or had them cleaned. I feel kibble over canned food , plus the RAW bones makes the difference . Chip has beautiful teeth at 8 years old.
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Mordy... don't you think that a round bone from a round steak would be safe for a 10# dog ??? Say 3/4 " .... I know I wouldn't give one that size to Chip, but wondered if Nectorine's dog could handle it.
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those steak bones are too small to be safe and too hard to really make a difference.
for really small dogs, raw lamb ribs, lamb shanks and pork ribs are great. also chicken wings and necks. the best "cleaning action" comes from bones that aren't too hard to be consumed but still require a decent "workout".
i'm not a big fan of giving the middle part of weight bearing bones of larger animals (e.g. cattle, deer, elk and so on), since they can break teeth. not even wild wolves risk their teeth on such bones.
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Then what bones would you recommend for my Golden ? I've either given shank or knuckle bones. I've always stayed away from rib bones as they aren't chewed... just cracked and swallowed. The larger bones are what clean his teeth.
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I remember a program of a Vet on the TV from years ago. He said never to give your dog a bone. He said it was the worst thing that you could give a dog.
They swallow the sharp pieces they manage to break off, but then they cannot digest them. They end up caught in their intestines. Lodging and causing severe pain. It is only after an opperation that they can be removed.
Rib bones would be terrible for this.
I would say if you want to clean the teeth then get an electric tooth brush like this one Here (http://www2.westfalia.net/shops/health/mouth_hygiene/teeth_care/teeth_care/186830-laser_2000_toothbrush.htm)
It made sense when he showed you the x-rays on the TV show.
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Vince, cooked bones are the ones that splinter like that, not raw bones. People just assume its all bones when a vet says don't feed them. Most vets are also against a raw diet because the only nutrition training they get is seminars done by dog food companies. Vets make a good commission off of selling food in their office, why would they promote a diet that they can't make money off of.
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Mordy...what type of bones would you recommend for my Corgi & Dachshund?
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Dena, we have a pug who is on the raw diet too- raw chicken bones are just fine, pork neck bones, shoulder bones, etc. Even if they are big, the dog will keep working on them. It's great exercise for them and it keeps them out of trouble!
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As everyone else said raw bones :)
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Ok the advice in here on raw bones is very good. But one more question.
Assuming you take one out of the freezer and give to the dog. How long will it remain good before you should throw it out. Will it spoil over night? Should you refrigerate it over night,and give back to them the next day?
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Ours never last that long- stuff like chicken legs are gone in minutes. Aside from when we used to give them the smoked beef leg bones (which we never do anymore after learning the difference between a cooked and raw bone, and the difference between a weight bearing bone and a non weight bearing bone) the longest I had one last was a big pork shoulder, it took my GSD about an hour to go thru that one. Sometimes the short ribs will last too but I take them away if hey get too small so they don't try swallowing too big a chunk. I think a dog has a pretty tough stomach, and if a bone has some meat on it and it sits out all night, they can still eat it. I'd leave it outside though!
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necks, backs and poultry parts don't last more than ... 5 seconds around here. The knuckle bones are outside toys and they clean them out and forget about them. I haven't had any for awhile though.
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Ok thanks i will have my daughter pick up some bones from the butcher. Thanks for the info.
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Thanks DanL....Chloe and Jack will love that. I was always told not to give dogs chicken bones as they can choke on them. Is that just an old wives tale? Also, do you freeze the bones first?
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I think you need to be a bit more careful if your dogs are gulpers and don't chew their food at all. Mine all chew and I'm not woried about them choking on their bones. I don't feed them all together so they aren't in competition.
I freeze all the meat first. Just to be safe. Especially salmon - which I freeze for a week.
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Thanks DanL....Chloe and Jack will love that. I was always told not to give dogs chicken bones as they can choke on them. Is that just an old wives tale? Also, do you freeze the bones first?
It's the cooked chicken bones you shouldn't feed them. Really, cooked bones of any kind.
I don't freeze them 1st. Since we feed an all raw diet, bones are part of their meal. I take 5-7lbs of meat at a time out of the freezer, so on the 1st day it might be mostly frozen, by the 2nd or 3rd day it's thawed. So it's really up to you- watch the dogs, if they are gulping, freezing might help, but I really don't see how the actual bone is going to change in consistency much between frozen and thawed, it's more of how the meat part is handled by the dog. If you aren't giving them a whole turkey leg or a chicken leg quarter meat and all you don't have to be concerned with that as much.
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Yeah, it is very expensive to clean their teeth. I only do it once a year, I feel like I should do it more.
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DanL...what breed of dogs do you have?
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Raw bones. I give them once a week or so. They chew on them for a couple of hours, make their teeth look a ton better than if they didn't have them. I throw them out after a day or two, because they dry up and can splinter.
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In the food forum there is a sticky that was posted about freezing before ever giving it to your dog.
This is the link....
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2558
Then there are many other links in there to follow concerning the neosporosis canineum parasite. :eek:
I think i shall be freezing first to be on the safe side....
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I always give them frozen. I take them out of the freezer and hand them to the dogs.
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They probably really enjoy them frozen...I think that's what I'll try.
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Then what bones would you recommend for my Golden ? I've either given shank or knuckle bones. I've always stayed away from rib bones as they aren't chewed... just cracked and swallowed. The larger bones are what clean his teeth.
the knuckles are fine, in fact, they are great, since they are soft enough to be chewed up. what is unsafe is the middle part, the "tube" or "body" that connects the two knuckles.
to illustrate:
http://www.ourdogsonline.com/images/marrowbone.jpg
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Mordy, why is the "body" of the bone unsafe? Do you just take the bone away when they get to that part?
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Mordy...what type of bones would you recommend for my Corgi & Dachshund?
pretty much anything a bigger dog would also get. knuckle bones, chicken and turkey wings and backs, chicken leg quarters, slabs of rib (not just one measly rib :D), beef and pork neck.
"too big" is rarely ever an issue. the bigger the pieces, the better they will clean the teeth, since the dog has to work more on them. the only difference with really small breeds is thatthey often have dental issues to begin with, so you have to be careful.
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the only difference with really small breeds is thatthey often have dental issues to begin with, so you have to be careful.
:confused: :( .What issues? Do you mean like breaking their teeth??
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Mordy, why is the "body" of the bone unsafe? Do you just take the bone away when they get to that part?
it's the hardest, densest part of the bone, since it is weight bearing. of smaller animals such as lambs or calves (who are small and still young) it's not as much of a problem since the bones are still undeveloped and soft, but leg bones of older cattle, moose, older deer etc. are so hard they can break teeth.
when i have a whole bone like that, i take it away once the knuckles are chewed off, but more often i just get the sawed off knuckle parts by themselves.
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:confused: :( .What issues? Do you mean like breaking their teeth??
not only that, but with many small breeds it's simply due to the small size of their jaws. the teeth grow in crowded or crooked for example, which causes problems.
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:D I can imagine my Dachshund breaking a tooth...he won't stop once he gets a hold of a bone. I guess that's where the saying "like a dog with a bone" came from !LOL
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Are there advantages to raw bones as opposed to rawhide?
Also, I have two beagles...should I get smaller size bones like chicken wings, etc?
And by this discussion, I am assuming that raw bones are safe to digest?
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I freeze all of mine first. If you give them frozen they last a lot longer (the knuckle bones) kinda like a kong.
I think poultry is fine for most small dogs. Chicken necks, backs, wings...
Our vet told us if we were to feed Ben raw bones to ALWAYS freeze them first. Something about freezing killing bacteria.
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Are there advantages to raw bones as opposed to rawhide?
Also, I have two beagles...should I get smaller size bones like chicken wings, etc?
And by this discussion, I am assuming that raw bones are safe to digest?
Raw bones dont' carry the risk of intestinal blockage that rawhides do. Rawhides don't digest in the stomach, and if your dog swallows too big of a chunk, then it will swell and cause some huge problems. We don't allow clients to bring in rawhides when they board their dogs just for this reason.
As with any chew, make sure you supervise your dogs at at least a little bit, so you can quickly react in the event they choke.
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Rawhide bones always seem to make my dogs really sick. I've stopped letting them have them.