Can anyone recommend what else i could use to assist my black lab to keep her teeth clean as she has just had them scaled and polished.  I am cleaning them with the virbac toothpaste every evening and put a scoop of plaque off in her dry burns food. 

I don't want to give her bones as frightened they will splinter - any other suggestions?

PlaqueOff is excellent, I've just started mine on it. Chewy raw meat helps though... I think someone mentioned lambs breast to me

Raw bones don't splinter though

I don't consider raw chicken wings to be bone - they're soft rubbery cartlidge - and IMO there's nothing better for keeping teeth clean.  And it's natural. :)

i have several dogs and all have great care taken with their teeth. I give chicken wings to them all, clean their teeth with a descaler regularly and brush every other day.
But some need extra care and now I have discovered PetZLife Gel. You put a little blob into their mouth daily and the enzymes reduce the plaque and eventually the scale.
I have tried every product know to man for this issue but all have dissapointed but this gel is actually working..I'm very impressed but not with the price. :-)  Cheaper than a dental I suppose.

I have been looking at the product tooolz ...your the first person I have found who has used it . I think I will give it a go.  thanks

Roni

Me too, where do you get it from.

I've used LOGIC GEL with the same results.   Not cheap, but it works.  Can't unerstand why vets don't recommend it.

Our two are three now and just had their annual check ups and kennel cough. The vet asked me if we cleaned their teeth as they are clear of tartar we use dentel sticks every day and there white and clean.

Can't unerstand why vets don't recommend it.
They wouldn't be able to charge £250 for dentals if their patients had clean teeth! ;)

I have one line of Cavaliers who have beautiful white shiney teeth and take minimal effort to keep them that way ...but I also have a mother and daughter whos teeth are much less healthy and need extra care. The mother has already had 2 dentals because in toydogs you cant be too careful. Mouth bacteria are associated with Bacterial Endocarditis a very dangerous heart disease.

The place I get the Petzlife gel....http://www.petzlife.co.uk/category/OralCareProductshtml.html

>Can't unerstand why vets don't recommend it.

They do. Lots of people won't pay £8 for a tube of toothpaste ...

> Lots of people won't pay £8 for a tube of toothpaste

I'm afraid PL gel is considerably more...£24

A lady who had one of my pups took it to her vet for a health check on my instructions, and was sold wormers, flea treatment and dental products costing a great deal of money. I rang her vet to ask why a dental product aimed at stopping long term plaque production was prescribed for a 12 week old pup who would shortly be losing all its teeth any way....... They apologised and refunded.

the only problem i have with the dental chews they only last a couple of minutes with my lab so won't make much impact on the teeth etc

PlaqueOff is good, my vet gave it to me a couple of months ago for my girl with smelly breath! Much better these days :-)

Dental sticks can help too, the packet says one a day and at £2.00 for 7 that £8.00 a month per dog, to be honset they didn't help out my girl but may be worth a try!

Lois

We use CSJ's seaweed and parsley, just a tiny amount on dinner. Seems to work, got it a few years ago for a slight build up on my older dog ... non at all now and neither have any of the rest of the gang. £12 tub lasts 1 medium sized dog around 8 months. I got a big tub last time, and been using it with 4 dogs for 17 months! Bargain.

I think iv been going about this all the wrong way with our mastiffs..... there's me trying to fold back their lips holding with one hand elbow prodding the neck folds to keep them back, all of this with the dog dribbling all over me with some chicken flavored tooth paste and a toothbrush; (and biting on the toothbrush as it tastes good).

P.S this is the dog not me :)

But it does show a degree of love and devotion!! ;-)

My 3 had lamb ribs today and a few raw cow femurs to chew the grizzle off this weekend. Denta stix are boring and they dont even like them, no surprise really. Cant beat a good ole' chew on a bone

Hello,
My vet suggested peeling a potato and letting your dog chew on it.  Rather strange but apparantly it works.  I haven't tried it as yet so no conclusion.  The starch breaks down the plaque and tartar, supposedly.

keep us posted as to the results of the poato trial, very interesting.

> My vet suggested peeling a potato and letting your dog chew on it

Unfortunately my lot would give me such a dirty look as if to say " what?..eat that? you must be joking"

i just brush their teeth every morning have done since the day they came home as babies.theyve had the denta rask things but i dont think anything works like a tooth brush.

I do the same with my 2 poodles but every evening before bed time with dog toothpaste and a very small headed tooth brush and the vet remarks how good their teeth are at nearly 5 and a half years and 3 years and 9 months old. I have done this since they were puppies so they are well used to it in fact the younger one even lifts his lip for me to start the cleaning.

> in fact the younger one even lifts his lip for me to start the cleaning.

LOL, thats brilliant.my lot arnt that keen but do know the sooner they sit and have it done the quicker they get their treat.
oh id pay to see a pup lift his/her lip lol..love it.

>My vet suggested peeling a potato and letting your dog chew on it.  Rather strange but apparantly it works.  I >haven't tried it as yet so no conclusion.  The starch breaks down the plaque and tartar, supposedly

If that's true, why is it that dogs fed raw meaty bones have very little or NO tartar, but dogs fed on completes invariably have some degree of tartar, unless steps are taken to prevent it?

I've also noticed that my own teeth are more likely to get 'furred up' more quickly after eating potatoes, pasta etc. ;)

re the PetZLife Gel, have you tried the spray as well, or is the gel better or easier

Only tried the pnk gel one but my friend has the salmon flavoured one, I can see the point because I put a blob straight in their mouth so they dont need to like it!! Not tried the spray.

If you read the blurb it is treatment on two levels, 1: preventative and this makes the bottle last twice as long and 2: repair in that it needs double the amount to break down existing scale.
The pink gel just tastes 'dentisty' if you know what I mean, mine dont seem to mind too much.

Since Crufts on Thursday I have had all mine on plaque-off and Fragaria from Dorwest. After reading this thread this morning I had a look at my boy's teeth and the difference is amazing!! The colour change is really noticeable. 

Just out of curiosity are there other people who have found that some breeds have worse plaque than others?  My 14 year old TT has less build up on her teeth than my 20 month old SWD boy & my 4 year old SWD girl had terrible plaque, I was horrified when it first started to build up at a young age.  They are on similar diets.  I always thought it was the raw carrots that my TTs ate, but all my dogs have raw carrots.  I have found plaque off very good on my SWD girl, haven't tried the Dorwest Fragaria though.

All my dogs, except for one, have lovely sparkly teeth, and are fed the same diet (raw, topped with kibble, and lamb ribs 3-4 times a week). The 2 Dobes and 2 Goldies teeth are lovely, but my Sussex Spaniel still has a plaque build up, and she is the only one that crunches every bit of kibble, the others just swallow it.

> My 14 year old TT has less build up on her teeth than my 20 month old SWD boy & my 4 year old SWD girl had terrible plaque

My Mastiff has no plaque, his teeth are lovely & clean. He'll be 3 years old this summer. His diet constits of raw minced tripe & soaked kibble (so no chewing invloved). I don't clean/brush his teeth. But he does sometimes chew on soft toys and rope-toys (really gnaw on them). Oh, he does have several small doggy biscuits a day, which he now actually chews not swallows (but it's chomp, chomp, cham=gone, not a long gnawing session).

I wonder if the amount of saliva a dog produces has anything to do with how clean thier steeth stay. Buster is a heavy drooler - that obviously comes out of his mouth, his mouth is very wet indeed, if you put your hand in his mouth it comes out covered in slobber!

never had a problem ,my labs have a raw marrow bone every week.

Sheila

You could be right but my CS & Bc have lovely teeth and ive just p[ut it down to detal sticks. Our two walk 3 miles to work and then (after a towell off) rush into my office paws on the table for a "chewie bar", Jake gets the hint first sits and gets his then Whistler gets the hint and sits for his. After that its pick the best basket (we have three) for a well earned sleep!!

Its small hard biscuits at 10:30 with coffee ( for us) and then 11:20 ish walkies around the block all weathers with pooh bags.

Sleep again punctutaed with greeting all the guys as they come off the sites and 5:30pm walk home again. What a life they have got us trained to perfection!!

Dinner about 6ish play until 8ish and sleep again, pee about 10;30ish and bed 11ish.

Would you recommend the Hills T/d diet?