I've been reading on this site that some of you clean your dogs teeth with a toothbrush - I have a 12 week old boxer and was wondering about cleaning his teeth. No doubt a soft toothbrush I'll need to buy - is it just a matter of wetting the brush and gently brushing his teeth or can I buy toothpaste - human or doggie?!!

Any advice welcome.

Dexy

Buy a baby toothbrush, and dog toothpaste, from petshops or the vet. Human toothpaste foams too much, and they usually hate the taste. :)

Many thanks Jeangenie - I posted a dumb question, but if you don't know the answer you've gotta ask!

I bought a pet teeth cleaning set from pets at home. the brush has a specially angled head and the toothpaste is poultry flavoured. My dog loves it!

Hi Dexy,

We clean our beardies teeth about once a week or so. We use a doggie natural herbal toothpaste which contains sage, this helps to keep the teeth white and also has a slight rough/cleaning effect so they don't have to be done so often. :D

The only thing I would say, is be careful doing it when they are teething, their mouths will be sore and they might bet a hang-up about it.

Manda
XX

Dex
you can also buy toothbrushes that pop onto your finger so you can get right in there .
Poeple advise you should clean the teeth frm a young age to get them used to it .
Also as Manda says be careful when teething :)
Lel

I would use a soft brush on a puppy but I find when they are adult they will tolerate a much firmer brush and it will be much more effective. We used to use a dog toothpaste but we found only the enzyme ones were any good and now I don't go to shows very much I found it hard to get hold of, pet shops tend to only sell the non enzyme ones, so we have switched to bicarbonate of soda. This has been very effective and the dogs love it, queuing up for their turn :)

Dexy,

Wait until his adult teeth are in and he's stopped teething. Right now you would be cleaning teeth that he will start to lose in another month. And, if you try to brush his teeth while he is teething and his mouth is sore you will may end up with a dog that refuses to cooperate at all.

Stacey

I would like to teach Sydney about teeth cleaning but at present he is still mouthing and anytime my fingers are in his mouth he is told off. (13 weeks at present geeze almost 14). Should I start now or wait a while longer till his mouthing has stopped? I give him a denta stick each day a marrowbone every other day so his baby teeth should be fine. What a conundrum.

Isobel, do you make up a paste and apply like toothpaste or dip the brush into the dry powder? My mum swears by it for indigestion so this could be good for dogs as well?

Just dip brush into dry powder, I don't think it would do too much harm if swollowed but I only use a tiny amount, nothing like as much as you might use of toothpaste, it sort of fizzes up which my lot seem to get a kick out of :)

so you dip a wet toothbrush in dry bicarb?is that right?what a brilliant idea, afetr all our human whitening toothpastes have bicarb in as well.i'm going to try it now!!!

I don't even bother wetting the brush, the tip of the brush seems to grip enough powder between pot and mouth.

One little tip - don't use the same pot of bicarb as you use for baking :p :D

I have seven dogs and wouldn't wish to clean their teeth with a toothbrush. I give them marrow bones (rib bones for puppies) each week. My oldest is 10 and she has lovely white teeth.

I don't clean our dogs teeth - they get marrow bones and their teeth are beautifully clean :) Our older dog had terribly dirty teeth when we got him form Battersea and our vet said that they would have to have a clean when he was neutered - but by the time he had the op (about 3 months later) his teeth didn't need it as the bones had cleaned them.

Daisy

Same her, my vet always admires my oldest bitches (11 years) teeth and breath.

Sadly it is not possible to give mine bones. I don't mind the brushing at all, and in fact their teeth keep pretty clean with their crunchy stuff, but I think it is good policy to have a look around the mouth on a regular basis.

Murphy's teeth stay white on bones and raw meat. I have enough trouble getting my boys to brush their teeth let alone brushing a dog's!:D
He's a bit touchy about his mouth at the moment but I look in there whenever possible to check all is well.

TTFN

Ruth