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My 2 year old dog is starting to have yellow teeth, especially the ones in the back of his jaws. I was wondering, what is the right way to take care of a dog's teeth without overdoing it?
I want my dog to be healthy...not to have a hollywood star's smile or anything. For now I use only dental sticks, but are they enough? Should I wash his teeth and if yes, how regularly?
Here are a few options for you:
1) Brush your dogs teeth daily (once a week is not enough), or if he hates brushing then apply the paste directly onto his teeth.
2) Feed a dental diet such as Hill's T/D or Royal Canin Dental diet, if they aren't chewing the food then the diet itself is useless.
3) Dentastix, Greenies, CET chews, moderately soft chew toys (if you wack it on your knee and it hurts then it's too hard for your pets teeth) are all other good options for healthy teeth. If he eats the treats too fast or swallows them whole then it wont work.
Stay away from bones, sticks and hard chew toys, they will damage your dogs teeth or get lodged in their esophagus (sticks/bones).
Prevention is key as once periodontal disease sets in you cannot reverse it.
I'd say brush his teeth at least once a week. However, it is said that you should brush daily but I don't know of anyone, even vets that do this.If your dog is like mine and hates toothbrushes, then you can go to the pet store and get some tooth wipes. Dogs generally don't mind these. You should do more than dental sticks as these did not help my dogs who ended up needing a professional cleaning in order to remove serious plaque buildup. Here are some more resources: http://www.banfield.com/pet-health-resources/preventive-care/dental/do-i-need-to-brush-my-dog-s-teeth
