Help Prevent Dental Problems that Arise in Your Pet

Pets are not concerned with sparkling white teeth, cavities, yellow teeth, smiling for the camera, or even if their breath smells bad. However, you should be concerned if your pet’s teeth are bad because if left untreated your pet’s dental problems can become much more serious even resulting in periodontal disease that leads to gum and teeth decay. More than 80 percent of pets that are three years or older have some degree of periodontal disease. Once your pet gets periodontal disease they have to go to the vet for treatment but there are things you can do to help prevent dental problems from arising in your pet.

Feed your pet dry food instead of canned food. The dry food helps to keep their teeth strong and it also cleans their teeth by removing plague build up by scraping their teeth. You can also look for the best dry food that works to help teeth and freshen breath. Pet biscuits are great to give to your pet, eating biscuits help to scrap their teeth keeping it clean and removing plague. Plus, dogs love biscuits. In fact, biscuits are much better than bones. Bones, if too hard, may be tough on your pet’s teeth. Avoid giving small bones, like from chicken wings, to your pet. The bones are too small and the splinters can get caught in their teeth or in their throat causing them to choke.

Another way to help prevent dental problems in your pet is to give them an oxtail, which can be found in grocery stores. They work well in massaging your pet’s teeth and gums and help to remove the plaque. Boil the oxtail for 10 to 15 minutes and let it cool before giving it to your pet. Give your pet a rubber toy to chew on but make sure it has grooves on it, this will help clean your pet’s teeth while they bite down on the toy. You can also brush your pet’s teeth. Now this may not be easy to do especially with an adult dog. If you want to brush your pet’s teeth start brushing their teeth while they are still young when you can train them to get use to brushing and touching their teeth.

When brushing your pet’s teeth don’t use toothpaste for humans, there are plenty of beef, poultry, and other flavored toothpaste designed specifically for pets. It also maybe easier to use a gauze instead of a toothbrush, although, pet stores have special toothbrushes. If your pet doesn’t take to the toothpaste, try some garlic, pets love the taste of garlic. However, since most humans don’t like the smell of garlic you can also try giving your pet some bouillon just dip the toothbrush in the broth. Another thing you can do to get your pet familiar with brushing is let them watch you brush, if they see you doing it eventually they may want to try it. Brushing can help to prevent dental problems in your pet, however, if you notice red or bleeding gums or anything unusual with their teeth or gums always take your pet to the vet to get it checked out.