Hi All

As you all know my westie Robbie has quite a few allergies that affect his skin and i have managed to get him settled now for quite some time with being on a raw diet, my problem now is that he has a lot of plaque build up on his teeth, i have asked the vet about this and he said he needs them descaled and that nothing else will get this off and he has recommeneded after having this done to give him a daily dentastix to keep this down, i have looked at these and on the packet is says they contain cereals so i am not sure if this will affect his skin again, anybody know whats in these and if they are good or not?
Have recently tried petzlife gel on his teeth and gums and this did nothing to remove the plaque any other ideas before i go down the vet route of descaling them under GA??

Thanks

As he's raw fed, doesn't he get bones? Meaty bones are far more effective in keeping teeth clean, than Dentastix are. Even chicken wings do a lot of good for small dogs' and cats' teeth. I have one dog with a sensitive stomach and he ended up ill at the vets after being given Dentastix, so I will not give them again.

Would you be able to brush his teeth daily with an enzyme toothpaste http://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/p-1166-cet-toothpaste-enzymatic.aspx?VariantID=1254&gclid=CK6zoM6djLkCFRMctAodHz4A8Q

Failing that what about raw, meaty bones. Most dogs I know that have access to these seem to have great teeth, although there are risks like fracturing teeth etc..

I used petslife gel on one of my aussies who teeth were very bad didn't think it would work but preserved every day until the tartar was very soft and could get it off with my nail was amazed. Dog didn't like it but thought it was better than going to the vets and being put out to do them. Used my finger to rub it round the mouth before going out in the morning but was not allowed to drink for 1/2 before hand and used initially a cheese cloth to rub them when getting back every day. Now only do it once a week.

What about antlers? I'd certainly give the Dentastix a very wide berth for a dog with allergies.

Ah, yes, antlers a good idea if the dog takes to them. Some dogs love them and others, mine included, just not interested.

Dentastix makes my dogs ears itch. Avoid them !!!

Never heard of that do you know why?

I was intrigued by the claims of the makers of dentastix, so had a read of the ingredients.    Personally, I wouldn't feed them, they look like a gimmick to me, and the ingredients are just what I'd avoid in a treat.

Have you tried Plaque Off ?    I found it very good for my oldest.     I've also had good results with LOGIC gel on my cats, I was able to just flick the tartar off with a fingernail - easy :-)

I have found chicken wings good too - once they learned to chew them :-)

Hi All

I have tried the antler bones on Robbie and they just seem to make his gums bleed, the petzlife i used twice per day every day taking his water away like they said for 30mins but after 4 weeks of using it directly as i was told, using the cheese cloth on his teeth to rub the plaque off nothing has come away, the vet said this wouldn't work but i tried it anyway as my vet seems to say this about anything else that i use, he said switching to a raw diet wouldn't work on his skin and boy he was so wrong!!
Just wanted to avoid GA with him if possible but guess my options are running out, its more on his back teeth than anything and its really thick, his gums around these teeth are blacky aswell so not sure if the teeth will need coming out, anybody else tried other stuff that has worked, i did try plaque off but it gave rob the runs and then sparked his anal gland problem off.

From what you say, Robbie is used to you handling his mouth.   Have you considered using a dental scaler to remove the plaque and then using something like Logic Gel to prevent it biulding up?

On my oldest dog, I found that plaque is easy to remove if its looking thickish.   Just shears right off with little pressure.  I place the dental scaler flat against the tooth above the calculus and press downwards towards the bottom of the tooth firmly and it just comes away.  I usually wipe over the gums with tea tree oil after, just in case.

After using Logic gel on the cats, I found the calculus would just flick off with a fingernail!!    They wouldn't tolerate brushing at all.

Hi

Not sure if i would be keen on using a dental scaler on robbie i would be worried i would catch his gum and make it sore, how would you get the plaque off of the back of his teeth doing it this way? I assume without removing the plaque the logic gel wouldn't do any good on its own?

Raw chicken wings have always kept my dogs' teeth sparking clean - no need for anything artificial.

I think with raw chicken wings, it depends on how your dog chews.

When I was feeding them, I found  on one side were lovely, but those on the other side never cleaned up and needed scaling ;)

Bedlington jaws are very strong for their size and a raw chicken wing isn't much of a chew, more of a very quick munch and gulp.  Gone in about 5 seconds.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">I think with raw chicken wings, it depends on how your dog chews.

I agree Dill. My GR eats them on one side only - a quick snap in half and they are gone whereas my BC spends a long time chewing each wing and uses both sides of his mouth. I think Harley would need an ostrich wing to ensure he took a bit longer and used both sides of his jaw :-)

I hold one end and encourage them to use both sides, which they all do with no problem. :)

We held them too.  Made no difference, they still chewed on one side.   Just got fed up with my trying to make them chew on the other side more and moved round until they were chewing the way they wanted.     If a Bedlington doesn't want to do something, it isn't going to :-(