Dental Care for Dogs

NJPOLKER

I gotta admit this is a real fun thread. I'm going to go have a distemperment shot, Crown Royal.
We used to brush our dogs teeth once in awhile and he loved it. Boq, pronounced Bock, was his name and he was a beautiful yellow lab. His breath got bad and we took regular tooth paste and a regular tooth brush and went to work. We were teenagers and we got a big kick out of watching him licking his lips and slobbering for a few minutes. As for chewing things he sure did chew many things like expensive furniture in my parents home which never went over well.

Ricardo

F1nut wrote: »

So, you've had your distemper shot and heart worm pills?

snow

PhantomOG wrote: »

Proper diet being the key words. I'm pretty sure dogs,cats and ferrets that are well cared for pets live much longer than the same animal thrown into the wild. Animals in the wild don't eat lasagna and french fries either. Selective, and sometimes improper, breeding of dogs especially in small breeds also leads to teeth problems.



"needed" being a very value-laden word. Hell, no one "needs" to take their dog to the vet at all, right? Just run down to the pound and pick up another one after it dies of parvo in the first year, or heartworms in the fifth year, or heart complications developed from gum disease and tooth loss in the tenth year. Right? :rolleyes:

Now your just being stupid. No one has said that animals dont need or deserve healthcare we are discussing healthcare versus friviolous expenses and whether teeth cleaning falls under the latter category.

cfrizz wrote: »

If people aren't willing to make that financial commitment, then they have no busines getting pets.

No one here has said anything about being unwilling to pay for needed healthcare. I still think in most cases the teeth cleaning is an unnecessary expense. I think it is kind of like going to a car wash you know you need it needs washing but does it need the super wax etc that they all try to sell you?

I am also sure that in some cases that due to improper diet or breeding issues that some pets may need this but not most animals.


REGARDS SNOW

Monster Jam

No need to become upset or defensive on this issue, in my opinion. Where pet health care is concerned, its all relative.

My dog needs a teeth cleaning - I can see the plaque/tarter on the back teeth. He is a Rottweiler, 7 years 7 months, so he is getting up there. He eats Iams dry food, but is not a chewer of anything. He doesn't get table scraps at all. He also doesn't get doggie treats. His food is his treats. But when I remember I brush. Maybe once a month. Nothing crazy. And it certainly isn't professional. But I will get his teeth cleaned probably in January, and it will likely be his last cleaning in his lifetime. It will cost about $200. I can think of worse things to spend it on, and like Cathy has stated, there are some preventative reasons to do so on some pets. Like mine.

If your dog is a chewer (Nylabone is a great product) and it eats dry food, you may not ever need to resort to vet teeth cleaning. Its your call as a pet owner.

PhantomOG

snow wrote: »

Now your just being stupid. No one has said that animals dont need or deserve healthcare we are discussing healthcare versus friviolous expenses and whether teeth cleaning falls under the latter category.

And who's to say your line in the sand for "friviolous" is the correct one? People have had and kept dogs for thousands of years. Lots of dogs today kept as pets do just fine and never once go to a vet's office. In poorer countries someone there would just as easily call you frivolous.

It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. Do you think humans are such a special species of mammal that we are the only ones that suffer from tooth problems? Do you not think that maybe, just maybe, humans have played a part in the evolutionary path dogs have taken, and quite possibly for the worse?

Just recently here there was a thread about getting dentures. Should we immediately lambast that person for not taking care of his teeth and blame them for their problems? What's that? Some people are just born with bad teeth. Interesting... I guess that could never, ever, EVER happen to a dog, right? :rolleyes:

Beyond all that, I'm dead serious when I say I would not judge someone for not taking their dog to the vet for something like a tooth issue. As a society we don't put that much emphasis on animals and I'm not saying we should. Obviously when we euthanize as many animals as we do; have dogfighting clubs, etc. any pet in a home is probably doing OK on the grand scheme of things. That said, I do think its downright STUPID to outright say cleaning a dog's teeth is "frivolous".

snow wrote: »

I am also sure that in some cases that due to improper diet or breeding issues that some pets may need this but not most animals.

Was that so hard?

reeltrouble1

F1nut wrote: »

So, you've had your distemper shot and heart worm pills?

waaaaaaaaaa.....he's got you on that one Cat.

RT1

snow

PhantomOG wrote: »

Just recently here there was a thread about getting dentures. Should we immediately lambast that person for not taking care of his teeth and blame them for their problems? What's that? Some people are just born with bad teeth. Interesting... I guess that could never, ever, EVER happen to a dog, right? :rolleyes:

Take a look at post #24 I could be wrong here but I feel with a proper diet most animals do just fine. Im going to side with Ricardo and Jesse on this one it most likely is another way of parting you from your money rather than somthing that is actually needed in most cases.

I do think its downright STUPID to outright say cleaning a dog's teeth is "frivolous".
Refer to post #35 and #24

No one here has said anything about being unwilling to pay for needed healthcare. I still think in most cases the teeth cleaning is an unnecessary expense. I think it is kind of like going to a car wash you know you need it needs washing but does it need the super wax etc that they all try to sell you?

I am also sure that in some cases that due to improper diet or breeding issues that some pets may need this but not most animals.


You are being argumentive just for the sake of arguing. I never outright said that all teeth cleaning is a frivilous expense I said in most cases it probally is.

I also never said that animals did not have dental issues or could not be born with a likelyhood of having these types of problems in fact I said the exact opposite.

You try to put words in my mouth that arent there and draw inferences that are totally off base, this only serves to make you appear to be wanting a fight and to look silly.



REGARDS SNOW

gdb

I'd guess that just like in audio matters......"those that don't know, don't know that they don't know" .:rolleyes: I've had to pay over $200.00 to get a horse's teeth "floated", don't try that at home boys and girls!!:eek::D

PhantomOG

Pointing to how someone else decides to care for their loved ones (pets) and calling it a "scam", "frivolous", mostly unneeded --- and I'm the one being argumentative? I think you must be thinking of someone else in this thread.

I'm the one saying live and let live. Just because I'm bold enough to point out that ignorance of a problem doesn't mean that problem doesn't exist doesn't mean I'm looking for a fight.

[Deleted User]

Okay, so far I have:
GDB - No corn based foods
Keiko - Science diet TD, and a enzyme paste
Eugene - Science Diet TD
Disc Jockey - Suzies liquid tar care

I will try the science diet food. I took my dog to the vet about a year ago to have the teeth cleaned. I did not have a choice, primarily the side and back tooth's(teeth) needed cleaning. It was very bad.

Thank you all,

Halen

everpress

snow wrote: »

Just recently here there was a thread about getting dentures. Should we immediately lambast that person for not taking care of his teeth and blame them for their problems? What's that? Some people are just born with bad teeth. Interesting... I guess that could never, ever, EVER happen to a dog, right? :rolleyes:

Some breeds are prone to early tooth loss. Whippets and Italian Greyhounds for sure. They have to go to being hand fed and liquid diets after extensive surgery to remove a lot of the bone in the nose and jaw.

It doesn't happen often, but more often than many other breeds.

They end up being the saddest and cutest skinny little elephants in the world.

snow

PhantomOG wrote: »

Pointing to how someone else decides to care for their loved ones (pets) and calling it a "scam", "frivolous", mostly unneeded --- and I'm the one being argumentative? I think you must be thinking of someone else in this thread.

I'm the one saying live and let live. Just because I'm bold enough to point out that ignorance of a problem doesn't mean that problem doesn't exist doesn't mean I'm looking for a fight.

You have some serious reading comprehension problems, kindly point out where I said anywhere that teeth cleaning was a scam. And yes I think that in most cases it is unneeded and if you dont think that vets along with pretty much every other type of buisness wont and dont try to sell you on unneeded procedures then you are either naive or stupid or both.

This is my last post on this subject, I am not about to argue with an idiot simply if for no other reason then that they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Everpress please read post #35 and you will see where I said some breeds may be predisposed to to having teeth health issues pay no attention to Phantoms twisted version of what I have said.


REGARDS SNOW

PhantomOG

Notice in my last post I didn't quote you because I'm speaking to all people in this thread of the same mindset. Frivolous expensive, scam (not used by you SNOW, but someone else), unscrupulous veterinarians... however you want to tap dance and back peddle around it now. To make such blanket statements (or agree with those who make them) is the idiotic thing to do, especially with no direct knowledge of the dog/vet in question.

The OP made a direct claim his dog had tooth problems and was looking for recommendations. To sit here and keep arguing that cleaning is unneeded in "most" cases is akin to starting a pissing match in someone's cable/wire recommendation thread. Call me an idiot all you want, but that's exactly what you are doing.

[Deleted User]

I am going to jack my own thread. I noticed that Snow, you are in Fairbanks Alaska. My sister just spent a week out in Alaska and she sent me some pictures while driving through Faribanks. Not that I mean anything by this, or if the picture offends anyone, I am sorry. Its all in good taste and humor, I guess one would find in the mountains of Alaska.

Here is the first picture she sent from her phone:


And here is the one that made me laugh:
This is the entrance to a hotel/motel/Inn


Halen

snow

The first pic appears to be right outside of town, the second is from a inn on the parks highway heading south towards anchorage.

And yes we have had snow here for a week or two now.



REGARDS SNOW

krabby5

bobman1235 wrote: »

Maybe you should go out in the woods and brush the teeth of the squirrels and deer too :rolleyes:

A dog with a healthy normal diet doesn't need his teeth brushed every day. I'm soryr that's just silly.

It depends on what kind of dog you have..we have a pug and their teeth are really f'd up...in fact he had to have 16 teeth removed because they were all dying. I think smaller dogs have more issues with teeth than larger ones. When I was growing up we always had big dogs and we NEVER had any issues with their teeth.