How does your pet's mouth look?

Dental care for your pet

Dental disease is one of the most common and potentially harmful health problems for dogs and cats, it is also easily avoided.

Just like humans, dental care is an important part of your pet’s overall health. Dental disease is a silent process that may contribute to many other illnesses, including kidney, heart, and blood infections. When pets don’t receive the dental care they need to keep their teeth clean and their gums healthy, their mouths can harbor harmful bacteria.

What causes the bad smell? Bacterial buildup along the gum line gradually leads to gingivitis, or inflamed gums, and infection. If left unchecked, gingivitis will progress to periodontitis, or inflammation of the deep tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth. In severe cases, infection in the mouth can spread through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, including the heart and kidneys.

How to brush your cat or dog’s teeth

1 Start brushing your pet’s teeth early – 8 to 12 weeks old is best. If you brush every day, your pet will become familiar with the routine. Please note: You may need to stop brushing while your pet loses its baby teeth. Their mouth will be sore and handling may cause more pain. Continue once all permanent teeth come in.

2 Work with your pet’s mouth. Be patient and make it fun. Use love and praise, and try to practice at the same time each day to establish a routine. Choose a quiet time, such as late in the evening. Or, if your pet is highly motivated by food, try just before dinner so they will be rewarded for cooperation.

3 Handle your pet’s muzzle and touch their lips. Work up to rubbing the teeth and gums with your finger. Put a few drops of water flavored with low-sodium chicken or beef bouillon for dogs and tuna juice for cats in your pet’s mouth and they will begin to look forward to these sessions.

4 Rub your pet’s teeth gently with a bouillon or tuna-flavored washcloth or a piece of gauze wrapped around the end of your finger.

5 Finally, use a finger brush or a soft veterinary or human toothbrush to brush the teeth using the bouillon water or tuna juice. Hold the brush at a 45-degree angle to the tooth and brush gently from gum to tip. Brushing the tongue side of the teeth is less critical, but still recommended. Offer rewards and treats when your pet allows you to brush.

6 Consider other dental aids. A large selection of veterinary toothpastes, oral rinses, and gels are available to you. We can help you select the right one for you and your pet. These products all enhance your home care program, but daily brushing is best. Don’t use human toothpastes because fluoride and detergents can be harmful if swallowed. Hydrogen peroxide can be harsh on the gums and shouldn’t be swallowed either. Baking soda has a high sodium content and should be avoided in older pets.

7 Pick chew toys that will help keep the teeth clean. The Veterinary Oral Health Council puts its stamp of approval on effective dental products, so watch for that endorsement. Avoid natural bones and antlers, which are hard enough to fracture teeth and can cause gastrointestinal problems.

Common MOUTH MYTHS:

Pets are suppose to have bad breath.

False.  An odour is not normal. Just like in people, bad breath in pets is often a sign of dental disease that requires treatment to safeguard your pet’s health.

Pets don’t need regular oral hygiene.

False. Even with regular dental cleanings, your pet still needs regular tooth brushing to keep breath sweet and pearly whites sparkling.

Pets’ mouths clean themselves.

False. While there are some natural enzyme systems at work in your pet’s mouth, it will not keep your pet’s mouth clean. Debris builds up on your pet’s teeth and requires brushing or rubbing to keep it clean.

Cats don’t need dental care.

False. Cats and small breed dogs often require more dental care then larger-breed dogs.

Cats have stinky breath because they eat smelly foods.

False. An odour in your cat’s mouth is a sign of a health problem, and you should discuss it with us!

For more information on your pet’s oral health click here.

Information provided by DVM360 Dentistry 101

Is Your Pet Getting A Raw Deal?

Walking into the pet store or the vet's office can seem like walking into an all-you-can-eat buffet, there is just such a wealth of choices that it often seems overwhelming. “All natural”, “grain-free”, what does it all mean? One choice that more and more pet owners have been making is to go to a raw food diet. Many owners consider this a more natural option, and with a few high profile commercial pet food recalls in recent years, raw food has continued to gain in popularity.

So the real question is, are these diets in fact better for our pets?  Often people find that the bones in the diets lead to cleaner teeth, that the unprocessed nature of the diet leads to smaller bowel movements, and that pets have more full and soft coats. Besides these points, many people just like the idea of feeding something similar to what their dogs' ancestors ate in the wild.

A quick internet search will find pages upon pages of owner testimonials of how healthy their pets have been since switching to a raw diet. So why not put all pets on a raw diet if they're so great? Well, there are unfortunately a few concerns with feeding a raw diet. 

One of the biggest concerns is foodborne pathogens. It might seem odd to have to worry about bacteria in a pet that enjoys licking their backside, but foodborne illness is more than just everyday bacteria.  In recent studies, it was found that 20-40% of tested raw food diets contained salmonella, andup to 59% contained E. Coli. These can not only cause intestinal and systemic illness in pets, but can also infect owners that handle the food or the pet's feces, with the young and elderly at an especially high risk.

Another concern, is that it is very difficult to nutritionally balance any diet, especially one that is mainly meat and bones. Calcium and phosphorus levels are especially hard to balance and are important in sustaining normal bone growth and maintenance. Several raw food companies have started to establish nutritional analyses for their diets but this is still surprisingly lacking for many diets. Even some proponents of raw food diets do not suggest feeding these diets to young dogs because of the importance of proper calcium and phosphorus balance during this important growth period. With the focus on meat, these diets are also commonly high in protein which is inappropriate for pets with kidney disease, liver failure or past issues with pancreatitis.

Even the main benefits of a raw food diet are worth discussing. In general these benefits are all based on word-of-mouth, as there have not been any definitive scientific studies proving the benefits of raw food diets. The cleaner teeth from eating raw bones are great, but also come with an increased risk of tooth fracture from chewing hard bones. The shiny, healthy coat is due to the higher fat content of the raw diet, which can unfortunately can lead to weight gain, and the same effect could also be acquired from a diet supplemented appropriately with more desirable Omega 3 fatty acids. And finally those smaller poops have nothing to do with the diet being raw, but rather from the high meat content and would be exactly the same if the diet were cooked. 

The commercial or veterinary diets that we recommend are nutritionally balanced and completely tested with long-term feeding trials. Yes, there are occasionally commercial pet food recalls, enacted to protect your pets' safety.  However, most of these are due to the presence or potential presence of foodborne pathogens in a recalled diet. Raw food diets are not regulated for these pathogens, and as discussed above, are regularly found to be contaminated with the same pathogens. So there is little benefit in this regard to moving to a raw diet.

From a veterinary perspective, the benefits of a raw food diet just do not outweigh the concerns. A vet's job is to make recommendations based on fact-based scientific findings, and although many animals do well on raw food diets, anecdotes are not enough to support a feeding choice for our beloved pets. 

For more information on research into raw food diets and 10 common myths about raw diets, please check out this handout from the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. http://vet.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/raw_meat_diets_memo.pdf

By Geoff Culf, DVM