Keeping those teeth clean.

Keeping those pearly whites white!

Right from when Zeek was a pup I have struggled to clean his teeth. As soon as you go near his mouth, with or without a toothbrush in hand, he clamps his lips shut. I had no idea dogs could even do that but Zeek can! When I eventually manage to worm to toothbrush in he just tries to chew the plastic. It's hopeless and almost pointless as he just ends up with bits of plastic in his teeth and is more suspicious of me when I try to get in his moth now. Not wanting his teeth to be in bad condition or his breathe to smell I started looking for alternative ways to keep his teeth clean without brushing them. I also found out that pet insurance does not cover dental treatment. Another reason

to keep his teeth tartar free and pearly white.

I found that feeding them dry food rather than wet means that his teeth stay cleaner and his breathe is fresher. Much better than our old Yorkshire Terrier, Benny who would only eat wet food. He was a lovely dog but you couldn't put up with cuddles for too long in his old age. I have heard that Labradors do not tend to have bad breathe but there is a noticeable difference when I feed him wet food on the odd occasion. To stop tartar from building on his teeth we were advised to give him rawhide chews. He loves to chew so it is perfect for him and it really seems to work. When he is chewing I can see all of the soft bits getting into the nooks and crannies like a sponge. Although when he leaves the rawhide on the floor or decides to take it to the garden it gets dirty and hairs begin to collect on it. I have also heard of rawhide causing blockages so try to steer clear from them now. It's also hard to find a good rawhide. Some of them feel very plastic like and Zeek doesn't seem to like them.

When looking for an alternative to this a friend of mine (Bolt's Mum) told me about stag bars. I love these as they fall off dear naturally in the Autumn and have great nutritional value from the dry marrow inside the bone. I prefer them to bones as they don't splinter. They don't have any toxins like some chews and they are easier on a sensitive stomach and they don't smell . They are also low in fat and take longer to eat than regular bones so are great if you're keeping an eye on your dogs weight.  They don't cause blockages keeping my mind at ease. Zeek seems to enjoy chewing on these much more than rawhide. They are a little more expensive than your average bone or chew but he will spend a lot longer chewing on them and they still last at least 5 times longer for Zeek. He is 4 now and his teeth are still very white so feel like the things I am doing are keeping his teeth in good condition.

It's your turn! Please leave your thoughts and experiences on cleaning your pooch's teeth in the comments section below.

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Thanks for reading. Bye for now.