Dental and Oral Hygiene for Dogs | Flash Fangs

Dental and Oral Hygiene


FACT SHEET
wellbeing, healing and disease prevention

One area of the dog and cat that gets a lot of attention in conventional veterinary circles these days is teeth. Read on or download a free copy of our Dental and Oral hygiene here

Owners are admonished to brush their animal’s teeth daily, teeth cleanings are advised regularly by veterinarians, and animals lose teeth to decay or root abscesses.

It’s not at all uncommon to smell bad breath from a dog or cat, and, on examining mouths, one often sees teeth in various states of discoloration or calculus build up.

What is all this?

It’s called chronic disease, and it is entirely man-made.

Animals out of context

It can only be that this chronic disease, like other forms has come from our deviating from the wild model, raising our pets in ways that are quite different from that of their ancestors and wild cousins, the wolf and bobcat.

So, the best-kept secret for dental prevention is simply this: feeding raw bones.

An excellent source of available calcium, for one thing. One that balances the high level of phosphorus that is present in the meat. And a whole host of other good things, including blood building nutrients from the marrow, other minerals, enzymes, proteins, essential fatty acids, immune enhancing vitamins, and bulk to help the bowels stay clean and the anal glands empty.

But what they receive physically is the best toothbrush available in the world! All that gnawing is literally scraping the tooth surfaces with a tooth friendly similar substance, a semi-hard polisher of enamel, and is a great exercise for the jaws and gums.

So, what causes poor oral health in the first place?

  • Diet – Diet - Diet

The strength of your pet’s teeth and gums comes mainly from the right diet. Nutrition is always the foundation of your pet’s overall health. So, let’s look at some dental nutrition facts:

  • Pets fed a natural diet usually have healthy mouths. This includes diets with chewy muscle meat, raw meaty bones, and recreational bones.
  • Natural diets provide the right habitat for your pet’s healthy oral microbiome. Natural live enzymes and “good” bacteria help prevent tartar build-up.
  • Gnawing on the right bones which we will discuss later is nutritious and good for your pet’s teeth and gums. Plus, it also provides hours of enjoyment (chewing = mental health!). Chewing also exercises your pet’s neck and shoulder muscles as well as his mouth. This action helps stimulate his neurotransmitters in the brain for overall health too.
  • A bad diet (meaning any kibble diet, however “premium” it is) can be a direct cause of weak teeth and weak gums. Its full of carbohydrates that convert easily to sugar/glucose.

Don’t take our word for it, just watch this shocking study done by Australian veterinarian Dr Tom Lonsdale. Dr Lonsdale temporarily switched a group of raw fed dogs onto a kibble diet.

After just 17 days, dogs who’d started out with perfectly healthy teeth and gums got

  • Stinky breath
  • Yellow teeth
  • Sore bleeding gums

After just 17 days on kibble!

To view simply go to: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr7TLXg-vd4)

Avoid Veterinary Dental Cleanings.

A healthy mouth is good for your dog’s overall health but there is another strong incentive to keep it healthy.

  • It’s expensive, and it’s risky (dogs can and do die under anaesthesia).

This procedure shouldn’t be necessary if you take a few simple steps to keep your pet’s mouth healthy.

There are lots of steps you can take at home to keep your dog’s mouth healthy.

How to Feed Bones

(I’ll mostly speak of dogs here, but cats can and should eat raw bones as well, just smaller ones, so keep reading if you are a cat caretaker.) If your dog is brand new to the idea of eating raw bones, it’s best to start gradually. The excitement of something so new and tasty can lead to over consumption and resulting constipation at first.

So, a great way to begin is with pieces of raw chicken neck. Start with a half of a neck for the average lab-sized dog, and an 25mm or two for a chihuahua. Feed this daily, ideally when your dog is between meals or prior to a meal, so those digestive juices are running high.

After a daily dose like this and seeing that the stools are not too hard, graduate to bigger pieces. That lab could have a whole neck or a drumstick next, meat and bone together, which could replace part of a meal.

By that I mean you can feed less of the food you normally offer to offset this well-balanced offering. The smaller mouthed dogs do well with chicken wings. And venture out into other kinds of bone, including turkey, pork, lamb, even beef brisket, but always, always raw.

The closer you get to daily feeding, the healthier your pet will be, and the fresher the breath and cleaner the teeth. But even several days a week is also great.

Concerned about breaking teeth?

Perhaps you have a dog who’s already lost or broken some teeth? This is a problem in some unhealthy animals. Due to poor nutrition and vaccinations, they don’t have strong teeth. Decay where the gum meets the tooth, are known to be caused by vaccines.

In these cases, you may never be able to graduate to the harder, larger bones, but chicken necks will still be a very usable bone for these animals. Beef bones are generally from older animals and are naturally harder, so they can be avoided in any animals you are unsure of as to dental strength.

7 key tips to maintain your pet’s dental health

  1. Give your dog a bone daily/regularly.
  2. Give your dog a natural oral hygiene supplement, such as Dishy Dogs Flash Fangs. Its antibacterial and chock full of vitamins and minerals to help combat disease and it will freshen your pet’s breath.
  3. Give your dog ozonated water – it helps to flush out your pet’s mouth.
  4. Give your pet a daily high-quality probiotic supplement such as Dishy Dogs Probiotic Pet. Probiotic supplements help create a healthy bacterial environment in your dog’s mouth.
  5. Feed your pet a high-quality natural bone broth such as Dishy Dogs range of bone broths. It’s chock-full of minerals that really help strengthen teeth and gums. 
  1. Feed your pet eggs and the SHELLS regularly as they are full of calcium which helps develop strong, healthy teeth and bones. Grind up the shells and add them to your pet’s meal. Organic or free range preferably.
  2. Give your pet high-quality colostrum three to 4 times per year such as Dishy Dogs Colostrum Pet as it has powerful antibacterial factors that have been shown to help prevent and treat gingivitis. Application is made by applying colostrum directly to the gum area just before retiring. Reapply nightly until improved.

So, toss that toothbrush, give them a raw bone and say goodbye to dental bills. Get those dogs and cats in the household on raw bones, and watch their mouths clean up. You’ll eliminate the anaesthetic risk that goes with every cleaning. And you’ll be much happier getting face to face with that sweet-breathed friend of yours.

What is canine gingivitis? 

Gingivitis is a common and mild form of gum disease (periodontal disease) that causes irritation, redness and swelling (inflammation) of your pet’s gingiva, the part of the gum around the base of teeth.

Gingivitis in anyone is a result of poor dental hygiene. This doesn’t mean that you have been negligent if you have not been brushing your dog’s teeth. What it does mean however, is that the food you are feeding your pet is not contributing to his natural dental hygiene. It's important to take gingivitis seriously and treat it promptly.

Canine gingivitis is not a disease that wild dogs suffer with. It’s as a result of pet’s living with humans, away from their natural environment.

If left unattended, gingivitis can lead to much more serious gum disease called periodontitis and tooth loss.

Luckily it is easy to prevent and to treat successfully, as discussed above.

If you suspect your pet has the onset of gingivitis, get a dental check-up and apply Dishy Dogs Colostrum Pet to the area.

Dishy Dogs is certified “Australian Made and Owned”. Our ingredients are of the highest quality and are 100% human grade, 100% preservative, dairy, egg, gluten and additive free with no added salt, sugar, flavour, or colour.