Guinea pigs, a cat, 3 fish and a dog all live in this house. I must be mad but I love it. Caring for them on a day to day basis takes time and then there are the other bits and pieces that can be forgotten. Remembering to brush my dog’s teeth is one of those things. How do I brush my dogs teeth? Pedigree Dentastix have been helping me keep on top of things.
We bought Bella a tooth brush from the vets when she was little – we saw it when she was there for a check up or injections and I immediately bought it as I’ve heard of people having to pay a fortune for their dogs to have the tartar removed and it’s a full on ‘operation’ involving anaesthetic and I certainly don’t want to put her through that. Apparently, up to 80% of dogs will have some level of dental disease by the time they are 3 years old and if you don’t get on top of it, you are going to have a dog who might be suffering in silence and needing to have teeth removed – again, a anxiety inducing anaesthetic would be required and it costs more than prevention
So, Bella and her tooth brush. She’s bloody hates it isn’t so keen on the process and looks at me as if I am punishing her for something which makes me feel awful. She doesn’t seem to mind the taste, she just doesn’t seem to like the brush. I think like most things, you should do it often when they are young puppies and then it’s not such of a big thing when they are bigger. What I do now is get an old muslin that I had from my son’s baby days and put doggy toothpaste on it (humans isn’t good for them) and give them a rub as best I can – especially the back teeth.
Pedigree are serious about dogs and sent me a sample of Dentistix from the Pedigree Dental Care range to try with Bella and it reminded me that we hadn’t bought any for a while and there was no reason why, I guess busy life got in the way and we just got into a routine of buying the everyday requirements and not thinking past that too often.
I opened one of the packets and because I was standing near to where her food was kept, Bella immediately sat down and waited patiently, giving me the silent ‘please Mum, I’m being good, can I have a treat?’ eyes. I gave her the first Dentistix that I pulled out but after reading more, I think she had a Beef one as their are two flavours – Beef and Chicken and my guesswork tells me that Beef is the darker one and chicken the lighter.
She took it gently and went straight to the rug in the living room to chew.
The shape and design of the Dentistix means that when they begin to chew on it, the edges ‘brush’ their teeth. The texture of them means that they aren’t devoured in a minute and Bella certainly had a good chew and ‘brush’. She also used both sides of her mouth to chew on the Dentistix which was good to see.
Bella obviously loved the flavour and the calories mean that they are recommended to be used daily. That is perfect for dogs who don’t like conventional teeth brushing or for those of us that could forget our own name occasionally and so forget to deal with doggy tooth hygiene. Yes, it’s another cost when dogs are already pretty expensive to own at the best of times but they are tasty enough and big enough to be a treat for your dog and the potential savings from needing vet treatment, for me, out way any reservations about buying enough to give them daily. Of course, no matter how well you care for your dogs teeth (and our own for that matter) they still might need treatment at some stage in their life, regardless but for me, its something I’m willing to try.
Do you have any other dental care tips?
I had to share a behind the scenes picture. I had to answer the door and came back to this:
Thanks for reading
Love
Disclosure: The Dentastix were supplied in order to provide this review but as always, all views and opinions are my own.
Thanks for the great post. What I’m keen to know is if Dentastix are sufficient enough for daily hygiene or do I need to be brushing my dog’s teeth too? Many thanks, Hayley x
I personally think that we should be brushing our teeth as well but the Dentastix make it easier and take the pressure off x