Hi

My toy poodle is going to the vets to have his teeth cleaned under GA, the cost has been quoted at £152.

He's not 3 yet but I've amazed at how much tartar has built up on his teeth in what I thought was a short space of time.  Obviously, I'm not keen to repeat this for him so I'd like to read your recommendations/experiences of this procedure and what you done afterwards to prevent further excess plaque build up.  Thanks.

I feed raw meaty bones. I believe carrots are also good for their teeth.

Another one for raw feeding - including raw meaty bones.  Even the smallest dog can usually mange a chicken wing.  I also brush my dog's teeth - esp. along the gum line where the tartar builds up & the gum infections start.  I use a baby's toothbrush as I find the canine ones too harsh - I also don't use doggy toothpaste as I find she just chomps on the brush!!

I've paid more for a toy breed, so I don't think the charge is over the top.  Unfortunately, as I don't feed raw, it is a battle with the toys.  I have my own dental equipment, but can only use it on the ones that stay totally still.

With toys that are easy to handle, wait until you have enough tartar build up to get a fingernail behind it.  Once built up it is easy to remove with a thumb nail.  (those are always my ruined nails!)  :-)

thanks folks for the response, I've tried a raw diet but it gave him colitis for some reason so had to stop feeding it raw. 

What about plaque off?  I'm thinking of using it but I dont know whether its likely to work or just another gimmick going in the dog world.

I've tried plaque off (took me a heap of discussions with Australian quarantine to try and get it through, but finally did!!) both here and when I lived at home (UK). 
I'm still not entirely sure if it helps, but my 10 year old and 7 year old both have pretty good teeth, so something is happening correctly somewhere :)
Plus they quite like the seaweed taste I'm sure.

Both are fed 'normal' kibble, have the occasional raw veg, and sometimes raw marrow bones.  I also clean their teeth every couple of months and give them a bit of a scrape.  I've done that since they were youngsters, so they are used to having it done.  Nice big Stafford smiles all round :)

Can't hurt to give it a go welshdoglover :)

my friends collie had awful tartar and foul breath,he s used placque off,teeth were much better even after the first pot,so he s continued to use it.I think its worth a try.

You don't have to feed raw as such, just give access to raw meaty bones once a week. Fragaria and P. Off didn't work for mine but have heard other good reports on it.

new product I saw at Crufts . Petzlife Oral care spray and gel.www.petzlife.co.uk
I have used plaque  off on a 14 year old toy with some success. One bitch didn't like the seaweed grit taste in her food .I use toothbrush and toothpaste daily on my bigger dogs.

I have two toy poodles at the moment and as my parents have had this breed as well when i was a child I was aware that they do have trouble with their teeth. I started brushing my current two dogs teeth when they were puppies every day with a small headed tooth brush and dog tooth paste I know this sounds a lot but it has really paid off, Rusty is 7 and a half and up until 6 months ago his teeth were fine, the vet was really surprised when I took him with 3 loose teeth at the front on the bottom which had to be removed sadly, even so she did remark that the rest of his teeth were really quite clean. Pepe who will be 6 in June has been fine so far. I feed both dogs on nature menu tins as Rusty is very fussy which is of course a wet food. I would certainly recommend the regular teeth cleaning I do it every night before they go to bed and Pepe even lifts his lip for me when he sees the brush as he is so used to it.

Someone told me that they used the old fashioned (non foaming) powder toothpaste on their dogs. I've never been tempted to try, but he was adamant that it was the best he'd found.

>Pepe even lifts his lip for me when he sees the brush

:-)  :-)   Bless!

Lacy
Am I right in thinking it's a baking soda base?

> Am I right in thinking it's a baking soda base?

Having googled it, yes looks like it.

Well, I have always used baking soda for mouth ulcers, and if it's safe for me, guess it couldn't hurt the dogs.  It obviously worked for someone's dogs!

plaque off does seem to work .. I could not quite understand how but my S in Law who has been a dental nurse for over 25 years  explained to me how it works with the saliva and that there is a similar thing for humans available... I d.id use petslife but kept forgetting to use it.
I do brush the dogs teeth with paste and a brush .

Plaque never did work for my Beardies.  But I saw something on CD a few months ago, a green gel, and ordered just one.  As I have a lot of dogs, I decided that I needed to be consistent, and choose a dog to be the experiment one!

My younger Beardie (still elderly) had 2 particularly bad teeth, and the plaque was far to hard for me to snap off with a thumb nail.  The instructions said not to use prior to feeding, so I squeezed ample dollops on the 2 teeth every night before I went to bed.  Took several weeks, but it softened it so much that I was able to remove with an ordinary dental scraper, it was sooo easy.

One of mine gets 'dirty' teeth despite being fed raw. Plaque off works beautifully on him, it really does make a difference, I used it everyday to begin with and now use it a few times a week to 'maintain' condition.