Secret behind Palette’s white teeth
Here is my question to you. Look at 2 pictures bellow and,what would you say to comment about the pictures. Many would notice Palette’s white teeth and comment about it. Our vet look at Palette’s teeth up-close, and she always praise me for doing great job for her teeth. Her breath is very sweet and not stinky at all.
Picture 1 <Palette enjoys her petting>
Picture 2 <Palette shows teeth>
Palette is 3 years old. I brush Palette’s teeth daily and,she has never had her teeth cleaned professionally for 2 years. Would that makes you wow?
There are many things that could contribute to her white teeth,but one thing anybody can do is to brush your dog’s teeth. It is easiest way for anybody and,if your dog’s teeth were white and clean,it would save you professional teeth cleaning bill. And,it would reduce more stress for your dogs that undergo teeth cleaning at vet office.
When Palette was puppy,vet tech told us to touch her mouth a lot and gives her a treat. It is not necessary be for time I plan for brushing her teeth. when I pet Palette,I pretend to look at her teeth,and lift up her cheeks and look around,and praise her and gave her treats. Touching muzzle (for teeth cleaning) or paws (for nail trimming) from early age is very helpful. It can get them used to be touched.
The same vet tech recommended us to use kids tooth brush because it is very soft,and cheap. Just don’t use human toothpaste. It is not designed for dogs to use it and,you need to use the toothpaste for dogs. I recommend to use the one with enzyme. My particular favorite and Palette’s favorite brand is CET brand toothpaste. It has 5 different kinds of flavor,I believe,and Palette’s #1 choice is seafood flavor. One paste costs about $8 but,it seems working real good.
Some dogs do not like teeth brushing. You can start with touching muzzle,and if they were fine with it,then dub the toothpaste onto cloth and wipe around their teeth. If that was too much too soon,then,step back and just let them lick the toothpaste. Eventually,use the toothbrush to brush dogs’ teeth and make it short and talk to your dog with soft voice,and praise them. Talking to dogs really help them calm down when dogs being teeth brushed or being bathed. I brush Palette’s teeth daily. What would her reaction to teeth brushing? She sees the brush and come trot to me,and quietly sit right next to me for teeth brushing time.
Some people may provide smoked bones,hooves,raw marrow bones, bully sticks,Deer Antlers, dental chew or dental liquid that you are supposed to pour some into dogs’ drinking water to clean dogs’ teeth,but I would not expect it to clean teeth like Palette’s.
Smoked bones (pet bones from pet stores :shin bone,marrow bones,knuckle bones,rib bones,cow hooves) splinter sharp and,can cause teeth wear or teeth break. I am not comfortable giving those to her. Raw bones from heavy big animals like cows (marrow bone, knuckle bone,femur bone etc etc) is very thick bone and again,teeth breaker or wearer and,I don’t give those to my dog. Some people give them with no incident but I personally stay away from those.
With bully sticks and Antlers, I think it is good chew and dogs love them,but it is not a magical chew for cleaning teeth. Bones or bully sticks or Deer Antlers encourage the dogs to chew,but if you look closely,all they use is back molar area only. They would not use front teeth,they would not use canine teeth. So, you need to brush dog’s teeth. You can see how Palette enjoy Buffalo bully sticks.Watch closely.She is NOT using canine teeth or front teeth. With Deer Antler, you can see how Palette is chewing in our previous entry titled “Long lasting chews/recreational bones for dogs”. Again,she uses back molars area only for Antlers,no front teeth or canine teeth.
With Dental chew,it is highly processed and, I personally stay away from it. I prefer as minimally processed as possible. Being natural is best. Even if I give the dental chew to her,she would probably chew about 1-2 minutes and everything will be gone. I don’t see the value of giving dental chews for cleaning teeth with such a short time chewing action.
Lastly, with liquid type of dental products, I have not used it for my dog so,I am not sure how effective it will be (I wonder if dog can have white teeth like Palette without actual teeth brushing if dogs drink water with dental cleaning liquid in it),but you need to read the label as well just like you would for food. Some of the products contains xylitol which is toxic to dogs (you can read on xylitol on previous entry titled “xylitol“. Read the label before you buy it.
So, if you look for chews that would “help” cleaning the dog’s teeth in addition to brushing teeth, I would recommend Deer Antlers. Bully sticks is fine but it does not last as long as Deer Antlers would. For my Corgi,she has the same Antlers for 1.5 years now. With bully sticks that she is eating in the video above, she ate it all in 30 minutes. Guess which is worth the cost for me. Definitely Antlers.
Diet is also something that helps cleaning the dog’s teeth.
With kibble, canned food, or home-cooked diet, again,dogs do not use canine teeth or front teeth so, brushing teeth is best way to keep their teeth free from getting tartar build-up. Brushing your dog’s teeth by yourself is more cost effective than getting teeth cleaned professionally,and avoid risk from general anesthesia for dental cleaning. (To read previous entry on “general anesthesia and dog”,please click here.)
With raw diet though, dogs use all teeth; canine teeth,molars, front teeth. If you feed big hunk of meat, they sink in their canine teeth into meat, and use the teeth to rip or tear. Sometimes,they use front teeth to bite pieces to pull, and they use molar to take some chunk off from edge of the meat. By this chewing motion, grain or silver skin or sinew in the meat acts like Dental floss if you will. This is another way to help dog’s teeth clean. Bellow is my dog “Palette” enjoy goat leg meat. Watch closely. She use more canine or front teeth to work on it.
Another video bellow is Palette eating Buffalo ribs. I waited a white til some meat is gone so that I can tape to show you where she use front teeth and ripping meat off the bone.
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In summary, recipe for Palette’s white teeth is as followings.
1. Daily teeth brushing with CET tooth paste that contains enzyme
2. Daily gnawing for Deer Antlers (she gnaws 2 times a day 15 minutes per session)
3. Raw diet
I give buffalo bully stick to Palette occasionally especially on big meal day as a snack. She gets buffalo bully sticks approx. once a month. If she were lucky, she gets jackpot (buffalo bully sticks) as rewards for “find it” game.
Getting dogs used to the handling of the muzzle is good for you not just for brushing teeth training,but also to notice teeth wearer or broken teeth at early time. Brushing teeth is probably not fun time for many dogs,but as simple as brushing dog’s teeth can extend their life too.
Just remember to keep it short,talk to them,praise them and use the time as another way of bonding time. It may take a while for dogs to get used to all teeth brushing routine but, worth it for their health!
