Cleaning dog's teeth - Page 2

I clean my dogs teeth with a Frabo or Gappay trial sleeve.  You can never beat a good flossing!

Blitzen, who told you to feed Turkey? I would not start with that. Every time I have let my dogs eat more than a few bites of turkey, things get flowing down there. I'd start with chicken, add a  little turkey in, months down the road in small increments. Also I have NEVER seen a bone in my dogs poop. Does Blitz chew or inhale? Baden doesn't chew real well out of a chicken 1/4, he gnaws it up. I hear bones snapping but after he crushed it up, it is still in one piece. He then takes chunks out of it to swallow. After he takes the chunks, not much chewing going on. It's more like a baby bird and just trying to get the angle right to squeeze down his throat. I expected to see interesting things come out. Surprisingly, all I can find is rubber mat chewed to hell, coming out that end. Weird thing is, that's not even in his poop. It comes out solo not bound to his food.

I don't have time to grind and my philosophy is mother nature doesn't grind it for he wolves. That is what teeth are for. Seriously it might seem harsh to some but if my dog is dumb enough to choke to death while eating. I may not want to produce that anyway! Kinda nature taking it's course. Everything else in this world gets handed to our dogs, he better be able to eat and digest whats on that silver platter. Not askin' a whole lot.

Anyway if you try RAW again start with anything other than turkey. Chicken/hamburger/tripe/pork take your pick. In the begging I feed small amounts, allot of yogurt to help the gut along in the transition and I don't do it slowly. It's either RAW or kibble full on. Baden had the runs for about 5 days and after the 3rd it started clearing up, until it became the beautiful hard, blow away stuff it is today. It may get looser for a day or 2 after I switch out foods. I feed the same stuff for 2-3 weeks and then swap meats.

I must add the lose stools are much less frequent than when he was on kibble, no matter what brand. It seems just once in awhile "shit" happens! LOL Considering my dog has a fetish for dry leaves and eats them up just to hear them crunch, who knows what causes a day or 2 of lose stools???

We feed the periodic turkey necks that they all love to munch on.  Otherwise they have various size Kongs to chew on, and sleeves to bite.     All have big white shiney teeth.

4pack, one of my dumb dog friends (not on this board or I wouldn't be calling her dumb) said turkey because the bones are larger??!!! Blitz crucnched it all  up before he swallow it, but the vomiting of the chards of bones really concerned me. He's an only child and catered to more than I would if I had a few more.

I've thought aboutraw hamburger and did give that to him when I fed RC, but stopped it when I went with the EVO. I think EVO may be too rich for him, not a decent stool since he started to eat it a month or so ago. He did fine on RC and I'm going back to that and the raw hamburger.  Some of the best conditoned GSD's I ever saw were kennel dogs that were fed Califormos Natural amd raw burger.

I guess it's whatever works and  if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Thanks for the suggestions.  I may work up enough nerve to try it again and I'll remember to add the yogurt next time.

4Pack I'm to chicken to not grind the chicken. They eat the wings and necks whole but the larger bones make me nervous. So guess I am a schmuck but they are like my kids... wel sometimes they are better than my kids they don't sass. Blitzen I heard turkey causes more gas too. I have fed it in small amounts w/o trouble.

LOL I figured out how flowing it gets one time, when I fed a bunch of Thanksgiving leftovers to my dogs one evening. OMG what a surprise I got when I awoke! Vomit, and diarrhea all over that crate and of course all over my beautiful pupadoo.  I had to drag the crate with him still inside out doors. Break the ice out of the hose  and clean him and the crate out in the snow. This was in Germany mind you and you know the time of year. Surprisingly my dog didn't freak out getting his cold hosing. Once we walked around to shake off, he was panting as usual. Poor puppy had the runs for days after and poor me had no yard so dogie was inside all the time. Needless to say, we took frequent trips outside all day long. I don't recall if my other dog had lose stools, but she was a trooper. That dog never pooped or peed anywhere she shouldn't. Including the flights back and forth from Germany to Europe.

Hey Blitz,

I just started using a canine scrapper about 6 months ago.  It's fairly easy to do the outside of the upper canines and molars... but seemingly impossible to hold their mouths open to do the inside.  Do you do the inside and, if so, have a suggestion of how to do it?  Thanks.

BTW... for everyone else.  I have a 11 year old and a 7 year old that had been on Pro Plan throughout their lives and they both have the best teeth.  I also have a 4 year old that has been on the same for his life... but tartar was caked on his back molars... that's why I looked into what I could do about it... and even a few months after scrapping they need scrapped again... unlike my other two who will probably never have to deal with the scrapper during their lifetime.   Another dog I acquired recently had been a kenneled dog and fed half raw and half kibble... but a 1 year of age... her tartar was the darkest I had ever seen... not caked on though.  Just some thoughts on my experience... I think it's different for different dogs... maybe some salivate more... ?

When the tartar is really caked on it's going to be hard to scrape it off without getting off too much of the enamel.  alot of times, if you do the dental it's alot easier to keep up with it afterward.  ie: brushing or change of diet.  sometimes if you crack off the enamel they can be more prone to get tartar.  the good thing about a dental is that once they are scaled, the teeth are polished afterward to smooth things out.  i guess that it just depends on how bad the mouth is to begin with.  i have seen some pretty nasty mouths, so all things are in perspective!

i don't brush my dogs teeth and they seem to do fairly well, even though they are not eating a raw diet at the moment. 

Amysue, I don't do the insides since I never see any tartar built up there. I guess the raw bones take care of that. I scale Blitz's molars and canines about twice a year. He doesn't seem to need it more often.