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Doggy Bad BreathThe Resource for Everything About Dogs |
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Doggy Bad Breathby Robin Plan
Dental disease is the leading health issue in both dogs and cats over the age of two. Why? Because their people have not been educated nor trained how to properly manage their oral hygiene. If you never brushed your own teeth, how would your health be? Or how would you like to get up close and personal with people who never brushed their teeth? Yuck. There is almost nothing worse than putrid doggie breath. Just how much bad odor should your dog's breath have? There is a difference between "normal dog breath" and really bad breath. Your dog's breath should not smell like something died in there! Bad breath could mean an array of problems that should be addressed. Bad breath could indicate gum disease, diabetes, kidney disease, or a foreign object trapped in the mouth. Have your veterinarian rule these things out before just giving your dog a breath freshener and moving on. I've tried all those pet breath mints out there, they will help -- for about 5 minutes. But they don't get to the heart of the problem. The best thing you can do to help with offensive pet mouth is to keep their teeth clean. If you can start when your pet is young, you can train them to tolerate having their teeth brushed by you. This is a great way to fight tartar and gum disease. Even if you don't brush your pet's teeth you should still visually check the gums and teeth. Keep an eye out for swollen or red gums, broken or loose teeth and foul breath. Your veterinarian should check any of these problems out. And for those who would scoff at keeping their pet's teeth clean, let me tell you that periodontal disease can lead to heart, kidney and other internal organ problems. The bacteria that's in the pet's mouth can get into the bloodstream via the blood vessels in the gums. The bacteria can lodge in the heart and cause a life-threatening disease. In fact many chronic and seemingly unrelated health problems are due to periodontal disease. So keep your dog's teeth clean! If your pet's teeth and gums are already in poor shape, see your veterinarian right away. It's much easier to maintain good oral hygiene care after a professional cleaning and it could be last expense for teeth cleaning. I use a safe solution in the pet's water to kill bacteria. The cat can't even tell it's in the water. Listen to The silent killer of pets There are many items on the market that can also support the pet owner at home with dental care. We know that dry kibble will do a better job of helping to keep teeth cleaner than wet food. Although a dog or cat fed a natural raw diet normally has better oral hygiene than even just feeding dry kibble. Dry kibble has more of an abrasive action when chewed. There are many new dry kibble dog foods that claim to help your dogs dental care. My feeling is that we have so many nutritional issues with pet food, I would rather feed a high quality food and have a separate oral care program. There are many helpful dental toys on the market that claim to help clean teeth by creating abrasive action on the tooth surface. There are some that even claim to act like a flossing agent. I haven?t used any of these products so I have to just say they claim to do these things. Again, I would rather have an oral care program rather than rely on chew toys and such to do the job for me. Toothbrushes, toothpastes and gels are available for doggy dental care. You need to be using a very soft toothbrush when brushing your dog's teeth. You need a toothbrush that is easy to handle, and that allows you to reach all the teeth in your dog's mouth. Never use adult toothpastes with your dog. Many contain ingredients that can be harmful to your pet. Make sure your dog's toothpaste doesn?t have sugars or flavoring like the popular Chicken Flavor. If it contains sugars, it will just cause bacteria to grow faster. If it?s flavored, then the pet is chewing on the toothbrush as you are trying to brush, and you are not doing a good job of brushing. I recommend you use gel products containing aloe vera, chamomile and Oxygene. The aloe vera and chamomile are both very soothing and promote healing of tissue, Oxygene will help eliminate odors as it destroys bacteria.
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