when i got luc, he had absolutely disgusting yellow-browny teeth. just gross. i was starting to put aside $ for a costly dental cleaning when i started feeding him raw, and saw immediate results due to the bones.

he now has almost entirely white teeth, but the top quarter of his canines is holding on to being yucky coloured.

i have toothpaste, which perhaps i'm impatient with, but doesn't seem to do much. this plaque or whatever is on there STRONG.

i give him raw meaty bones plus he gets lots of stuff like chicken wings or other steaks w/bones or salmon steaks - basically, i try to incorporate some crunch into his daily meal.

this might be dumb, but should i give him more raw meaty bones? is there a kind of bone that will be better for the teeth than others (i don't know, shape and longevity maybe)?

feeding him raw has truly done wonders for his teeth but we're at a bit of a plateau, dental-hygiene wise.

I usually feed 60 to 80% raw meaty bones. Of the remainder, less that 1/2 is additional muscle meat without the bones. I also give him recreational bones that are larger bones that the dog will chew on but will not eat the whole bone so he spends a good while knawing on them. Maybe since Luc probably never had dental care, perhaps a good cleaning and scaling at the dentist, then the bones will maintain his nice white teeth from there.

yeah, it's like no matter what kind of bone i give him, he doesn't knaw high enough to really take the stuff off.

....i'm just selfishly hoping that there's a bone solution to this! i always worry absurdly whenever any of my guys goes under anaesthetic (and last time someone got done was my senior cat mitch - he only had his canines left, and they were taking them out and discovered that he had a broken tooth infecting his gums further back - apparently they couldn't leave him under any longer (he also has renal failure (not end stage) and a heart murmur) so they had to do back to back operations over 2 days. while i suspect that vet was an idiot (we don't go there any more), i just hate the thought of putting luc under to get his teeth cleaned....)

I think there are some vets in Toronto that do the procedure anaesthetic free but they must sedate them, I know i saw it somewhere. I'll get back to you on that if you are interested.

Jennifer,

Is he a easy chewer or hard chewer on recreational bones?

My dogs do not try and crack rec bones, therefore I dole those out once a week or so, they chew them, but not frantically.

If Luc is a methodical chewer you could start him on soup bones or knuckle bones. That helps a lot, but if he is a frantic "gotta crack it" chewer then I would not give them.

I missed my edit time, and wanted to add that I do not promote recreational bones for all dogs due to the damage they can cause to teeth if you have a hard chewer.

PLEASE make sure that you absolutely know your dogs habits before giving these bones as treats or just something to do.

 Quote: carol boche

I missed my edit time, and wanted to add that I do not promote recreational bones for all dogs due to the damage they can cause to teeth if you have a hard chewer.

PLEASE make sure that you absolutely know your dogs habits before giving these bones as treats or just something to do.

DITTO!!

Oscar goes in for his $2,000 root canal next week, after slab fracturing an upper molar on a marrow bone... Oscar IS a down and dirty, "crack the bone" kind of brute, obviously with little sense of dental self preservation, and I'm paying the price for giving him something hard as rock to try to break open... Yes, dog's can break their teeth on all kinds of things that are out of our control, but why increase the chances?

Not all dogs chew as hard as others - some can handle marrow bones for their whole lives with no problems - but it behoves all dog owners to assess their dog's tendencies, and be aware of the dangers of giving big, hard, recreational bones.

Jennifer, I know you don't like the idea of sedation for Luc (I hate it too) but if the remaining plaque is bad enough, taking him in for a single cleaning, THEN letting the good raw diet maintain the pearly whites, might be your best bet. You could also leave things be for a while and continue to watch his teeth - while his new diet has already done wonders, he hasn't even been on it for a year yet... there may be more, slow improvement in those tough areas that is still happening (albeit at a glacial pace ).

~Natalya

Oh yeah.....one more thing......

IF you give rec bones, be sure to only let them have them for a few hours and then toss it in the trash....the longer the exposure out of wrapping the harder the bone gets.

If your dog is a slow bone cleaner, you can take the bone away after a couple hours and place it is a tupperware container of water with a lid on it and this will keep the bone longer. I do not recommend doing this more than one time, and since bones are cheap or free to me, I do not do it at all.

luc is a cracker. i don't give them anything w/bone in it, even fish steaks, without supervising that's probably overkill.

once he reaches a certain point, i will take the bone away, though i try to be careful w/what i give him in the first place - i've been amazed what he can actually eat through. i don't think he ever gets a bone longer than an hour. if he's not done it by then, oh well (me=paranoid)

i may have to get the teeth cleaned - but you're right, longer on the diet may help. it's just there was this huge improvement and then he's kinda stuck w/the build up on the top bit of his canines.

terra - i would be interested. do you know what they use for the sedation in place of anaesthetic? when one of my animals is going under i always make sure they use iso, but i think pretty well all vets use that now.

I'm still looking for that info pamphlet I got it awhile ago, just got to see what I did with it!! I just started seeing a new holistic vet since getting Brutus, that promotes raw feeding and minimal vaccinations and is very nice !! So i called to inquire about dental cleaning, I just spoke to the receptionist and told me they will just use a mild sedative if they can.. i think a valium of some sort. But i guess if the dog starts acting aggressive then I would think they would have to use something stronger. PM me if you would like to speak to them, in the mean time i will be looking for that info for you.