Teeth and diet in my dog

Due to improvements in lifestyle, dogs now live longer, but their teeth do not always do as well, and this can detract from their quality of life in their later years. One of the best ways of preserving your pet’s teeth is to feed a quality dry kibble diet which also helps their gums and lips. Dogs are well-equipped with teeth to crunch and chew, tinned foods just don t offer this. This is why dry food should usually be fed dry. If you want to help your pet further – the following tips may be of use:-

• Offer dogs a rawhide chew strip after each meal to clean the teeth. The best are simply dried strips of leather, not reconstituted and coloured leather strips or complicated knotted leather bones or elaborate toys.

• Use a dog toothpaste, not a human one which will froth, as pets cannot spit it out. Some of these are designed to reduce scale even if just put on food. One idea is to put toothpaste on a chew so that the teeth are brushed while chewing.

• Use a nylon-type chew which throws up spicules to clean teeth as they are chewed. By all means, use bones, but there are some guidelines. The best bone to get is the shaft of a cows’ thigh with the “nobbly bits” cut off. You should give it raw, but remove as much of the meat and bone marrow as possible before hand. When the bone is chewed down to a size that can be swallowed, it should be thrown away. Always remember with bones that they can bring out a primitive guarding behaviour in even the most placid pet.