Wet food and dogs teeth

[MUDDYBOOTS]

    .
     Hi,I feed Benson and Gabby Natures Harvest wet food and they both love it and no problems  apart from their teeth.Benson is six and his teeth are going very brown and Gabby is not two yet and already her teeth are starting to get go brown.Have been told that this is a problem for dogs fed on wet food so if you feed wet food what are your dogs teeth like

     Would like to keep them on wet food so has any one any good tips to keep/get their teeth clean,thinking about bones but don't know the best ones to feed,any tips welcome thanks.

[Mudmagnets]

Minstrel has been on wet food since an eight week pup (now 22 months) and no probs with his teeth. I do give him fish biscuits and fish skin treats to crunch as well and they tend to keep his teeth well.

[Damommin]

I give ...Sorry Leo demands a daily carrot to munch on. He is only 11 months but is fed on wet food and has pearly whites.

[Archie bean]

Archie is wet fed. (Wainwrights trays) He's nearly four and has beautiful teeth. The vet always comments on how good they are. He doesn't have mixer but does have dry kibble as training treat and quite a few milky bones (his favourite) through the day. He also gets brocolli and a duck wrap to chew most evenings.
To be honest I'm not entirely convinced that the type of food has much effect on their teeth. I think it's more luck than anything. My first cocker was one of a pair of litter mates that we had - my dad owned his brother. Despite the fact that they lived together and had exactly the same food/treats, my dog had no problems with his teeth while his litter mate had lots of trouble. He had to have several teeth removed at various times in his life.

[its.sme]

Bea is RAW fed, I know that's not for everyone but I do feed her things like the following which helps with her pearly whites,

Carrots
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Duck/Turkey necks - I buy Natural instincts or Natures Menu
Chicken/Duck wings - As above
Fish skin treats - Fish4dogs do a selection so do Fishermans Daughter.
Antler/Stag Bars - these are very hard so if you think that have decay etc best avoided.

Hope this helps.

Sharon.

[Cockertime Blues]

All I know is:

(1) In rescue here they've stopped mixing water with dry kibble as eating dry kibble (with a spoonful of wet for palatibility) is now thought to help teeth.
(2) My dog Alfie (age 9) is fed dry moistened with water plus palatability stuff, fruit and veg, and has fairly lousy teeth and they've been descaled once already by the vet.  Alfie is not interested in chew toys.
(3) My dog Genie (age 6) is fed same as Alfie BUT she spends a lot of time chewing and grinding on nylabones, stag bars, etc., and her teeth are pearly white.

So personally I think it depends how much time they spend chewing.  Most of the dogs posted above are quite young and it remains to be seen what their teeth are like when older.  To me it stands to reason a dog in the wild would be breaking up and eating a lot of bone and it seems a 100% wet food diet would not promote great teeth, but what do I know?

[Fluff]

Dry food being better for teeth is a myth:

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2012/oct/dental_diets_for_dogs_that_work-28883

Raw meaty bones and cleaning teeth with Logic Gel or similar will help. You can also sprinkle Plaque Off on food.

[JennyBee]

Brodie gets carrots and pizzle sticks. Her teeth are more or less fine, except for the tops of her upper canines, for some reason. I give them some extra attention with special toothpaste.

When she was on a special low fat Royal Canin diet after a bout of pancreatitis her teeth were awful . Not sure if it was because of the food or because she wasn't allowed chews, but things improved after I changed her to another food.

[moneypenny]

are there many on the forum who use dog toothpaste and toothbrush? I'm asking because I've just started using one on Penny who is over two. i feel like a dill brushing a dogs teeth, but I'm happy to persevere if it protects her teeth. Does it work or is it just a gimmick?

[Jonnydog]

Luka, aged two, arrived with terrible teeth and death breath! I tried cleaning them every day, plus  rawhide chews, but the best cleaner has been meaty bones. He also had bad tartar deposits on his upper canines and someone told me to try scraping them with edge of an old sixpence! I happened to have one, and gave it a try: the stuff just broke off really easily and he now has lovely clean teeth. The death breath has cleared up too. I think that's down to clean teeth, apple cider vinegar in drinking water and daily coconut oil.

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

In all honesty, I think the best thing to do to clean a dogs teeth, no matter what their diet is to clean their teeth.

Charlie has had his teeth cleaned since I got him; when he was a pup the task was more getting the toothpaste in his mouth and the brush, allowing him to chew it/feel it etc...Now as an 'adult' he's perfectly happy (ok he sulks) to let me brush his teeth.

We use a toddlers toothbrush and doggy toothpaste.

[Helen]

It's also a myth that all raw fed dogs that have bones have perfect teeth - I know of many that have dentals at the vets as they get older.

Jarvis is nearly 10, he has had a dental although the vet said he didn't really need it - he was going under a GA as he had knocked a front top incisor and it was going rotten so had to be be extracted so we did the whole lot while he was under.  Apart from a bit of tartar on his canines they were all good.  He is fed part raw, part kibble.

His half sister owned by a family member has perfectly white teeth and she is 9 - and was fed Bakers until she was 6.

As others have said Its more luck with some that tooth management 

With the tartar on Jarv's canines I have used petzlife  gel and it really does work. After a couple of weeks the buildup just came away.

I would say that young dogs should have good white teeth until they're about 6 - the age starts taking their toll.  The brown is very likely staining from the food and I don't think its detrimental to tooth health - much like tea/coffee stains on human teeth.

[MUDDYBOOTS]

        Thanks everyone for your advice.Chewing a lot seems like part of the answer,so just been browsing in PAH and some of the stuff was a bit expensive ',like the fishermans daughters fish skins at £5.00 a bag,liked the idea of them being fish skins but they were quite small about half inch square,Gabby wont even chew those she will swallow them whole  and with three dogs they wont last long.
         Anyone tried the Fish for Dogs sea jerkys shaped like a knotted raw hide but made of fish skins they look like they will last longer,or the PAH pigs ears.
         I know this has been asked before recently in another thread but what bones are best for cleaning their teeth,like can you get bones that aren't so hard that they might crack a tooth on them, but that they can spend hours chewing without eating them.

         

[Damommin]

Leo has antlers which are really hard, long lasting and don't splinter so he chews those for hours. I'm not sure though if they might wear his teeth out! You can by them a PAH. They are expensive but boy do they last and Leo loves returning to it.

[Mudmagnets]

 Anyone tried the Fish for Dogs sea jerkys shaped like a knotted raw hide but made of fish skins they look like they will last longer,or the PAH pigs ears.

I buy quite a lot of Fish4Dogs jerkies and other treats, Although you have to buy  larger quantities, all in all they are usually cheaper online, than in say PAH. (they obviously have to add something for their costs)

Here is a link to F4Dogs they have the whopper jerkies on special offer atm until wednesday evening.
http://www.fish4dogs.com/

Hope this helps