Sparkly nashers

iluska · GAL Treasurer

Sparkly nashers

Lesley · Guru

Must remember my sunglasses the next time I meet Coco!!

Is she still singing?

BOWGANG · Master

Looking forward to seeing that lovely bright smile tomorrow !!

Shirley

Teresa · Enlightened One

she may not have liked deferring her dinner but it has to be worth it for that dazzling smile - she'll thank you when she has all the boys running round after her !! us girlies know that beauty is painful sometimes !

Christine Young · GAL Newsletter Editor

I'm looking forward to seeing Coco in all her glory tomorrow. I'll bet she flashes her gnashers all day! Well worth a missed meal, I'd say.

Christine

BOWGANG · Master

What a gorgeous girl Coco is and what a set of gnashers!! Stunning!

Sorry we never got a chance to chat some more yesterday but we had to go early for a birthday party!!

See you soon

Shirley

greyflintstone · Master

You can't beat a dog with sparkly nashers - especially if it makes them smell a little better too! I hope they stay clean for a long time. Freddy had his done not that long ago, and they are bad again - I think he's gonna end up losing teeth at some point! Biggest problem for him is that he doesn't chew anything, he inhales the lot! His teeth never get a clean that way. We've tried bones (both smoked and unsmoked) but he doesn't like them!! We can't get a toothbrush in his mouth so can't clean them that way!! Any other suggestions?

UndercoverElephant · Master

Blue quite likes the hide chews, and will happily gnaw away on one for a good few hours (providing he feels like he's makeing headway). His teeth are in quite good nick since we started giving hime these (they were dreadful before), so they seem to work.

JanW · Master

greyflintstone wrote:

Biggest problem for him is that he doesn't chew anything, he inhales the lot! His teeth never get a clean that way.

Ruby inhales her food as well, I found the answer was a kong filled with biscuits (the small bone shaped ones). Jam the biscuits in and it takes her ages to get them out. That takes care of the front teeth and I give her pigs ears and rawhide flip chews for the back ones. She also chews carrots with her back teeth, but I don't know if they have a cleaning effect.

Calatria · Master

Has anyone tried Pedigree's Dentastix? I bought some the other week, and have been giving the dogs one at bedtime instead of their usual biscuit.

Needless to say, Belle's diarrhoea returned with a vengeance, and I've reduced her bedtime treat to half a stix, which seems to be working OK (so far). Just wondered if it's worth carrying on with these. Does anybody know if they really help to clean the teeth, or are Pedigree saying just what we want to hear?

UndercoverElephant · Master

We tried Denta-rusks, and experienced the same results the next day. I tell you, anything with the word Pedigree on the side does that to Blue.

carolineasb · Old Hand

Hi all

We've also found that anything made by "Pedigree" produces disgusting smells or poo - and that's not only with Sascha & Alfie but our beloved "Khan" a German Shepherd which we had when we were first married. He had to have Chappie all his life as it was the only food that didn't have an adverse effect on his stomach.

Sascha also has a problem with her teeth. They were done when she was speyed but are now bad again even though we've tried hide chews and bonios for the tartar. We've now been told that bonios are likely to be one of the factors in Sascha putting on weight as apparently they're very high in calories (& probably the cat's food which she loves to snaffle when we're not looking or listening). The male vet in our practice tried to sell us "ostrich chews" - not very happy about the poor ostriches or the price - £1.80 EACH. She also won't let us use a brush on her teeth. The female vet who owns the practice says that they're bad but not too bad yet so if she has to go under for anything else they'll give her a scrape & polish then!

I think sometimes it's a genetic/hereditary problem though. I have 2 cats who have been fed exactly the same food all their lives - my moggie's teeth are brilliant for a 12 yr old and the vet says they look like the teeth of a much younger cat, however, my pedigree Maine Coon has good teeth but just average teeth for an 11 yr old!

Caroline

bluesmumanddad · Master

If you look on the main GAL web site you will see a health section and a bit dedicated to tartar and "Fragaria vesca, made from Wood Strawberry, is a homoeopathic remedy that is used to soften tartar on encrusted teeth...." posted by Esther

Havn't a clue whether it will be any good but certainly worth a read and might delay Freddie having to have some extractions.

Will Freddie let you go near his mouth with your finger? Our vet recommended an enzyme toothpaste (poultry flavour - yum) which is to be rubbed along the gum line.

Fingers crossed you find something to help.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Unfortunately, crunching biscuits is no guarantee of clean teeth anyway. Pearly crunches her dry, complete food but we still need to keep an eye on her teeth. The vet told me recently that she has quite a bit of scale. TBH, I was really surprised as we're careful with her and I felt quite alarmed about it. She gets crunchy food, crunchy treats and even those dreaded Dentastix. Can't say I've noticed the sloppy poops but it's been a while since she had one, and so maybe I've blocked out the memory!

If anyone finds a fool-proof method then please sing out cos I'd love to hear it.

Fiona

greyflintstone · Master

bluesmumanddad wrote:

If you look on the main GAL web site you will see a health section and a bit dedicated to tartar and "Fragaria vesca, made from Wood Strawberry, is a homoeopathic remedy that is used to soften tartar on encrusted teeth...." posted by Esther Havn't a clue whether it will be any good but certainly worth a read and might delay Freddie having to have some extractions.

Thanks Manda for pointing this out to me. I think I might order some of this and give it a try. I decided to buy all 3 of them one of these nylon chewing bones (with the knobbly bits on) and see how that works - ha ha ha! They all looked at them, gave them a sniff and decided they weren't going to bother with them! Ha, thinks I, I'll rub some cheese on and see if that encourages them. Well it did - but only long enough for them to lick all the cheese off and then leave them! To his credit, Barney has given them all a wee chew, but his teeth aren't that much of a problem! Has anyone else tried Fragaria vesca? How did they get on?