Maintaining Your Pets Dental Health Care
Monday, December 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Caring for your pet means proper nutrition and regular exercise, but it also means proper dental health care as well. Unfortunately this is one of the more neglected areas of pet care.
Not giving proper consideration to your pet’s dental health care can lead to build up of tartar and calculus in the mouth. That’s the brown stuff on their teeth. This build up can get into the gums and cause gum disease. The bacteria can make its way into the bloodstream and cause problems for the kidneys and general health of the animal.
When left untreated, gum disease can get to the point where the teeth rot and start to fall out. In cases such as this, the rotting teeth cause the pet pain and it becomes more humane to pull the teeth out. This is the extreme side of dental health care for a pet.
Small Breed Dogs
Small breed dogs have common problems with hips and eyes. This is most common in toy dog breeds. Bad teeth are just as common with these breeds. Here is a short list of some breeds effected by this: Pomeranians Yorkshire Terriers Mini Dachshunds Shih Tzus Maltese
The reason for this is that a small breed dog has the same amount of teeth as a full-sized dog, but must hold them in a smaller mouth.
Signs Of Teeth Problems
Some of the most common signs of dental problems from poor dental health care are: Refusal to eat Excessive salivation Bleeding gums Bad breath
So how can you improve your pet’s dental health care?
Your Pet’s Dental Health Care Plan
The obvious method to helping a dog maintain dental health care is keeping their mouth fresh and clean. You will need a dog toothbrush and pet-friendly toothpaste for this to work. Here are a few ways to do this. Brushing your pet’s teeth for about a minute per day will work best. There are finger brushes available so that you don’t startle the pet with a huge brush going into their mouth. If you can’t find the time or the will to brush your pet’s teeth, there are plenty of brands of dog foods available which are especially formulated to counteract tartar and scrape the teeth clean as the dog eats. Chewing is another way to keep tartar and other buildup off of teeth. While this is harder to do for cats, for dogs it only takes something hard and tasty enough where they can work at it such as rawhides and carrots. Toys and chew bones work well also. There are also oral rinses available on the market which work as an additive to the pet’s water dish. While they do work, they are not meant to be the primary means to dental health care.
Just as people must maintain dental health care, keeping your pet’s teeth in proper shape will keep them happy, healthy, and pain-free giving them a bright and energetic future with you and your family.
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