What YOU can do to
Prevent gum disease in your Dog
Prevention of periodontal disease (gum) |
Check your dog's mouth regularly
Establish a daily routine of brushing your dog's teeth |
Use creative and attractive alternatives to brushing |
Soft raw bones |
Annual dental check-ups
Prevention of periodontal disease (gum)
Fortunately, this very common disease is preventable. This is because there are so many simple things that informed and responsible pet parents can do to ensure their dogs' maintain healthy gums and teeth. Here's some suggestions you may like to try:
Check your dog's mouth regularly
Check your dog's mouth regularly to see that none of the symptoms of Gum Disease are present - even if he or she has only one symptom your pet needs to see your family vet for urgent evaluation and treatment.
The old adage of a stitch in time saves nine is particularly true where dental disease is concerned. If caught early enough gum disease can be reversed, if left untreated dental disease will eventually become irreversable and can end up involving all of your dog's major organs and death will be inevitable.
Avoid feeding soft or sticky foods
As with humans, soft sticky foods left on dogs' gums and teeth causes the formation of plaque and caries otherwise known as dental decay. Either avoid feeding these types of food to your pets, or be prepared to brush their teeth immediately after they have finished eating them.
Establish a daily routine of brushing your dog's teeth
Learn to brush your dog's teeth daily. Please check out our sections on home Dental Care and how to Brush your dog's teeth correctly for more details. Brushing your dog's teeth is not as difficult as it sounds, though it does require lots of patience, treats, praise and love on your part.
Actually I call it bribery and corruption because the more attention you lavish on your dog the quicker and easier it is to get the job done!
Use creative and attractive alternatives to brushing
If brushing doesn't fit with your lifestyle and you have to feed your dog soft foods, always try follow up with a raw chicken's neck or wing. Common sense is important here, one chicken neck or wing is great for small dogs, but obviously a Rottie or a Pit Bull will require a much larger bone, for instance a rack of bisket bones or a chicken carcass.
Alternatively there are lots of hide chews for instance, Pig's ears, lamb ears and toys in varying sizes that will get your pooch chewing and gnawing which will do the job nicely for you and get his or her saliva flowing.
Caution, always remember to stay away from anything labelled Rawhide as these chews are made in Asia, mainly China and Thailand and the chemicals used in processing them are extrenely toxic to dogs.
Soft raw bones
Chewing on bones is the most natural way for a dog to maintain healthy gums and teeth. It also provides your dog with balance proportions of calcium and other minerals necessary for dogs to grow stromg bones. Please check our section on Dog's Diet and Raw bones for more details.
Annual dental check-ups
Ask your vet to check your pet's teeth as part of his or her annual examination and listen to the advice given with regard to the appropriate treatment recommended to maintain and or restore your pet's gums and teeth to good health.
This article and information forms part of the Carole's Doggie World Holistic Library and is presented for informational purposes only.The information is not intended to be a substitute for visits to your local vet. Instead, the content offers the reader information researched and written by Carole Curtis for www.carolesdoggieworld.com