Best dry food for dog with bad teeth

bluedoor27

My dog is an 8 year old terrier X. He has been eating Hill's Vet Essentials for the last 4-5 years on recommendation of our vet. During that time he has had to get his teeth cleaned twice and last summer had to have 2 teeth out. Now his teeth seem to be as bad as ever again!!!
I am really looking for advice on what food to give him.
All help will be greatly appreciated

cocker5

bluedoor27 wrote: »

My dog is an 8 year old terrier X. He has been eating Hill's Vet Essentials for the last 4-5 years on recommendation of our vet. During that time he has had to get his teeth cleaned twice and last summer had to have 2 teeth out. Now his teeth seem to be as bad as ever again!!!
I am really looking for advice on what food to give him.
All help will be greatly appreciated

My dog (11) had problems with a build up of plaque and sometimes bad breath.. He is on taste of the wild grain free/ raw diet..

So I started him on plaque off for dogs it's excellent and I give him
Chews every few nights his teeth are waaaaay better.

I'd def recommend the plaque off in conjunction with chews / bones this will def help.

I got mine from zooplus.ie

DBB

As a general rule, products such as Plaque Off, and giving your dog a raw, meaty chicken bone at least once per week (chicken wings are size-appropriate for dogs under Cocker Spaniely size), work really well... But only after the teeth have been cleaned, that is, they're great preventatives, and at most can only be expected to clean mildly tartared teeth. If your dog has a heavy tartar build-up, you'll need to get another dental done unfortunately.

boomerang

Hill's t/d is supposed to be very effective but it's really expensive and the ingredients aren't great.

bluedoor27

Thanks for the replies. I have ordered the plaque off. How do you use it? Should I change his food also or wait to see how the plaque off works??

Knine

bluedoor27 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I have ordered the plaque off. How do you use it? Should I change his food also or wait to see how the plaque off works??

I dampen down the dry food & then put a little scoop of plague off on it.

cocker5

bluedoor27 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I have ordered the plaque off. How do you use it? Should I change his food also or wait to see how the plaque off works??

Personally i wouldn't change the food... just sprinkle it over and the food each day but you must also give him something to chew on the help break down the tarter ... my guys teeth and waaay better since i started it.

Now he may not like the taste to start with but persist i find it great

loup

The antler bones you can get in the pet shops are brilliant for their teeth and are very safe.

Knine

loup wrote: »

The antler bones you can get in the pet shops are brilliant for their teeth and are very safe.

No they are far from safe. They cause a lot of broken teeth & costly vet treatment.

loup

Knine wrote: »

No they are far from safe. They cause a lot of broken teeth & costly vet treatment.

My vet recommended them. We've been using them for 2 yrs with no issues at all.

Knine

loup wrote: »

My vet recommended them. We've been using them for 2 yrs with no issues at all.

Vets also recommend their Science Plan food or spaying 5/6 mth old puppies. Vets also get paid well for dental work.

No issues yet........

http://www.dentalvets.co.uk/index.php/news/27-antler-dog-chews-an-update-aftre-surge-of-fractured-upper-carnassial-teeth

tk123

i've use one of these in get past for one stubborn patch
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00HQKV0AQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?qid=1458583259&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=dental+scaler

bluedoor27

All help greatly appreciated! Any other suggestions for dental chews. He won't eat the dentastix!

DBB

loup wrote: »

My vet recommended them. We've been using them for 2 yrs with no issues at all.

Lucky you. My dog's teeth were destroyed by them, she will eventually need expensive corrective dental work. I haven't known any other chew to garner so many complaints from owners of dogs whose teeth are now damaged from them.

cocker5

bluedoor27 wrote: »

All help greatly appreciated! Any other suggestions for dental chews. He won't eat the dentastix!

That's good OP you really don't want him eating dentastix's they are FULL or sugar / calories

have you bought some raw hide chews?

i give these to my guy once / twice per week Supervised

cocker5

loup wrote: »

The antler bones you can get in the pet shops are brilliant for their teeth and are very safe.

Have to say i have also heard very bad reports on these bones...

bluedoor27

cocker5 wrote: »

That's good OP you really don't want him eating dentastix's they are FULL or sugar / calories

have you bought some raw hide chews?

i give these to my guy once / twice per week Supervised

So are raw hide chews the ones to get?

muddypaws

bluedoor27 wrote: »

So are raw hide chews the ones to get?

Noooooooooooooo. Some of them are made in China, and you don't want to know what they are actually made of.

Dentastix aren't actually full of sugar, its just a myth that has gone round, my lot love them, but like treats for ourselves, thats what they should be used as, occasional treats, definitely not one a day to clean teeth.

There is a small business in Cavan that makes jerky treats, just meat that she dries, so no nasty surprises in there. She is on FB, Raw Dry is the name.

loup

Thats interesting about the antler bones..really havent had any issues and his teeth are regularly checked. As an aside, I noticed the majority of chews seem to be made in China. Are there any Irish or UK based ones..that are safe obviously!

coathanger

DBB wrote: »

Lucky you. My dog's teeth were destroyed by them, she will eventually need expensive corrective dental work. I haven't known any other chew to garner so many complaints from owners of dogs whose teeth are now damaged from them.

The stag bars have just recommended to me, expensive to buy 3 of them but was told they were worth it, until I saw your post!

Can I ask how long your dogs have them for on a daily basis ? At the min, mine have them for 15minutes supervised?

Have you any advice regards same. Thanks

muddypaws

loup wrote: »

Thats interesting about the antler bones..really havent had any issues and his teeth are regularly checked. As an aside, I noticed the majority of chews seem to be made in China. Are there any Irish or UK based ones..that are safe obviously!

As posted above, check out Raw Dry on FB, a one woman operation in Cavan

tk123

Maxizoo's chews are good value - especially with their €12 for €20's worth of stuff vouchers! . I do make some myself with the dehydrator but for pizzles etc I need to see them and check the sizes are ok since Bailey's jaw operation.

As well as their bones Lucy loves a chew on nylabones or a bull horn. We did try a chew root but a huge piece splintered off the first time I gave it to her so I didn't risk it again. She's always had dirty teeth - the bones take care of all of them except the canines - she gets plaque at the gum line. I give her plaque off every day and it helps - I'm able to crack it off with my nail.

Another thing you could maybe try is Hexarinse - the vet gave me a bottle of it after the first gum/jaw biopsy to cut down the risk of infection since it was an open wound (there was a hole eaten away by the tumour) she also suggested we use it after the surgery when his teeth were getting dirty from just eating mush and mentioned that she uses it to keep her elderly dog's teeth clean. Bailey didn't like having it squeezed into his mouth at ALL so I didn't continue with it after the first few times because he was going through too much stress as it was with the whole thing! His teeth were returned to their former glory once he was allowed have bones again lol!

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/pet-dental-care-dental-rinses-c-11_834/hexarinse-oral-rinsing-solution-p-4761

DBB

coathanger wrote: »

The stag bars have just recommended to me, expensive to buy 3 of them but was told they were worth it, until I saw your post!

Can I ask how long your dogs have them for on a daily basis ? At the min, mine have them for 15minutes supervised?

Have you any advice regards same. Thanks

They most certainly don't have them any more, but the dog with the damaged teeth chewed on hers for a few minutes a couple of times a week... She's not a major chewer. I dread to think what her teeth would be like if she was!
She was always supervised... That makes no difference though. She has slab fractures on her canine teeth, as well as having broken the tips off them and a couple if premolars.
Now, I think it's fair to say that she may not have the strongest teeth in the world... But I found that out the hard way

Pretzill

Just piggybacking this (apologies OP) as there are many food related threads some years old.

My girl 5yr old BC has just been diagnosed with a food allergy to all grains - she has had a rash which keeps appearing on her feet and legs. After blood testing for allergies (as this what it looked likely to be an allergy to grains came up)

The thing is rice is now a no no and we have been feeding her Burns Rice and ...for almost 3 years as her main feed so I'm not surprised by her intolerance. The vet recommended Acana (they don't sell it so it's not one of those recs ).
Anyone find it a good feed? Or are there any other completely grain free foods out there? TIA.

muddypaws

Pretzill wrote: »

Just piggybacking this (apologies OP) as there are many food related threads some years old.

My girl 5yr old BC has just been diagnosed with a food allergy to all grains - she has had a rash which keeps appearing on her feet and legs. After blood testing for allergies (as this what it looked likely to be an allergy to grains came up)

The thing is rice is now a no no and we have been feeding her Burns Rice and ...for almost 3 years as her main feed so I'm not surprised by her intolerance. The vet recommended Acana (they don't sell it so it's not one of those recs ).
Anyone find it a good feed? Or are there any other completely grain free foods out there? TIA.

I was under the impression that allergies couldn't be diagnosed from blood tests, that the only way to find out was by an exclusion diet.

Anyway, thats unimportant, there are now loads of rice free foods on the market, salmon and potato or duck and potato seem to be the most popular. James Wellbeloved do a grain free range, although they are hard to get in Ireland.

If you go to any large pet shops, you will probably see a whole range of grain free, a lot of them will be made in the same factory in the UK, so don't get too caught up on the differences between them. The Canadian ones are very expensive, because of the shipping, but they are supposed to be high quality.

Pretzill

muddypaws wrote: »

I was under the impression that allergies couldn't be diagnosed from blood tests, that the only way to find out was by an exclusion diet.

Anyway, thats unimportant, there are now loads of rice free foods on the market, salmon and potato or duck and potato seem to be the most popular. James Wellbeloved do a grain free range, although they are hard to get in Ireland.

If you go to any large pet shops, you will probably see a whole range of grain free, a lot of them will be made in the same factory in the UK, so don't get too caught up on the differences between them. The Canadian ones are very expensive, because of the shipping, but they are supposed to be high quality.

Thanks Muddypaws yes a blood test - which wasn't cheap - tested first for environmental factors( not too detailed or easy to pinpoint) and food - then further tested for food groups - the test was sent to England -
I know of many brands that do potato etc but lots have grains too - she has an intolerance to soya, oats, rice, wheat and corn - so will check out the Acana too (which is Canadian and works out slightly cheaper than Burns) and trawl the petfood store. It is a bit of a minefield, but would rather go through that one than meds at the mo!

Edit to add: It will probably be by exclusion in the end but the Rice is shouting out to me because it makes up a large part of her diet.

muddypaws

These are the ingredients for the JWB Fish and Vegetable, see if you think there is anything that may be a problem:

Composition: fish meal* (24.8%), pea starch (24.7%), potato flakes (24.7%), tomato pomace (5.0%),fish stock (3.9%), whole linseed, olive oil, fish oil (2.5%), peas (2.4%),sugar beet pulp, alfalfa meal, carrots, seaweed (0.5%), sodium chloride, potassium chloride, parsley (0.125%), nettles (0.125%), chicory extract (0.1%), taurine (0.1%),calcium carbonate, glucosamine (0.045%), yucca extract (0.02%), chondroitin (0.005%). * sustainably sourced, predominantly ocean white fish

Kinsealy Pet Stores sell it, and they do delivery to all over Ireland I think.

Good luck, I hope you find a food that is suitable. I would suggest you try and steer clear of anything with chicken in it, that seems to be the protein that is causing most problems with dogs, and doublecheck that any food doesn't use chicken fat to coat the kibble, even if it says its a different meat in it.

Pretzill

Thanks again Muddypaws that looks excellent ingredient wise - re: the chicken first thought that's exactly what it was - but seemingly she is tolerant to all meats and even dairy - (not that she gets much of that) But as I said it's a minefield but the rash was getting annoying for her, ànd the vet visits were building up - she hates attending the vet!! So hopefully the change of diet will help but either way it will probably take months to see if it is successful and even then she could be just the type that builds an intolerance to something else. Thanks for that will check it out -

Edit to add; had to Google Pea Starch and whilst it is almost gluten free and of vegetable derivative - I may steer away from this as it makes up a large percentage of the ingredients -

DBB

Isn't it good to know what the problem is, that you can deal with it? Hopefully she'll respond well.
Grains haven't passed my dogs' lips for years now. They get mostly a mix of raw, and home-cooked, but both go through phases of preferring dry kibble. Who am I to argue?:o
To that end, we've had JWB... one of my real fusspots loved this, though eventually her fusspottiness kicked in!
We've also used Taste of the Wild, great food.
However, because there's an almost-identical alternative made over this side of the Atlantic, and because the UK and Europe have better animal welfare protocols (within the meat industry), we now have Purizon, which I *think* is a Zooplus-owned brand. I could be wrong, and stand open to correction on that!

Pretzill

DBB wrote: »

Isn't it good to know what the problem is, that you can deal with it? Hopefully she'll respond well.
Grains haven't passed my dogs' lips for years now. They get mostly a mix of raw, and home-cooked, but both go through phases of preferring dry kibble. Who am I to argue?:o
To that end, we've had JWB... one of my real fusspots loved this, though eventually her fusspottiness kicked in!
We've also used Taste of the Wild, great food.
However, because there's an almost-identical alternative made over this side of the Atlantic, and because the UK and Europe have better animal welfare protocols (within the meat industry), we now have Purizon, which I *think* is a Zooplus-owned brand. I could be wrong, and stand open to correction on that!

My girl loves home cooked and I'm thinking I may do that first - she isn't a fussy eater at all and I started her on Burns years ago as it suited her elder siblings (not real siblings but you know ) - also her younger brother has thrived on it and his coat and teeth are shiny - haven't heard of Purizon will have a good search and read in the pet store this week - whatever I do I want to phase her down from her usual food and introduce the new diet slowly.

Yes it's great to know something is affecting her and that we can sort it without meds. I would hate to see a youngish, relatively fit girl having to take medication. So even if it comes across a bit not a complete science, a food intolerance is much easier to sort out. I hope.

Nody

Taste of the wild, Purizon, Acana, Orijen and Wolf of Wilderness should all be grain and rice free on the top of my head.

Latatian

Allergies cannot be diagnosed by blood tests- just be careful because there are a lot of people out there making money off offering them. All you can do is try elimination diets. The only reliable way to diagnose allergies is to go on a 12 week strict food trial- details here: http://retrieverman.net/2013/02/01/guest-post-suzanne-phillips-why-dogs-develop-food-allergies/

Grain are the current fad things the tests will usually diagnose your pets as being 'allergic' to but the reality is that most allergies in dogs are to chicken or beef. I've a dog who's sensitive to a few things and if she gets a small amount of chicken then it's diarrhoea up the walls. But lots of 'sensitive' foods have chicken- even though it's a really common allergen!

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/10/evidence-update-evidence-based-canine-allergy-treatment/ Here is more on canine allergies and itchy skin. It has a good review on testing and on various treatments.

Pretzill

Latatian wrote: »

Allergies cannot be diagnosed by blood tests- just be careful because there are a lot of people out there making money off offering them. All you can do is try elimination diets. The only reliable way to diagnose allergies is to go on a 12 week strict food trial- details here: http://retrieverman.net/2013/02/01/guest-post-suzanne-phillips-why-dogs-develop-food-allergies/

Grain are the current fad things the tests will usually diagnose your pets as being 'allergic' to but the reality is that most allergies in dogs are to chicken or beef. I've a dog who's sensitive to a few things and if she gets a small amount of chicken then it's diarrhoea up the walls. But lots of 'sensitive' foods have chicken- even though it's a really common allergen!

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/10/evidence-update-evidence-based-canine-allergy-treatment/ Here is more on canine allergies and itchy skin. It has a good review on testing and on various treatments.

To be honest, and no offence to you personally, but I tire with the ever changing landscape of dog care - a few years ago dairy was out, then wheat and maize were a no, no - rice was a good option. Now most believe grainfree is a better option, and now chicken and beef are the culprits.

Your advice and links whilst interesting are not one bit helpful to me as I have taken a recommendation by my vet to have my dog IgE/A tested. And have also paid the bill! I didn't do this lightly and listened to the experience of my vet with other animals in her care. I also did it because I want a particularly nasty rash to clear up on my dogs legs as it can affect her daily, adventurous life. And I want to give her complete nutrition - not play around with individual food groups or make feeding time a pain for either of us!

I know the jury is out on IgE testing in humans and animals it is bound to find an intolerance to something - but when I can link that result directly to an everyday consumption it is enough for me to make a change and hopefully see results.

I have an allergy to coffee and eggs - I was never tested but thinking retrospectively both brought on symptoms - since stopping consumption those symptoms disappeared. I can't ask my dog how do you feel after eating that or even see something immediate like in her toilet habits - and exclusion diets are not on the menu - when there is an option that points us in the right direction, more quickly and when it comes recommended by someone I trust.

So maybe others will take your advice on board but for the moment it is wasted on me, in the analogy of closing the shed door after the horse has bolted.

A minefield.

Latatian

In fairness the other things- dairy, wheat, maize etc. were based on unsound information and fads. All along it has pretty consistently been known that chicken and beef were the 'culprits', not because they are bad in some way, but because they are common.

So long as you know you are working off potentially unreliable information with those tests, then fair enough. Beyond that it's a good idea to just look at what she does well on and what she doesn't- because worst comes to worst you're just going to make unnecessary dietary changes.

That your vet recommended it or that you paid the bill doesn't make it any more reliable, but if through that you happened to find something that works for your dog then go with it! I'm more offering reassurance that with further testing you might find you don't need to avoid 'all grains' etc, or that if you find something else affects her that she didn't test as allergic to, that test doesn't mean she's okay with it. I know working with dietary limitations for a dog can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. So I reckon people dealing with it need access to accurate information, and that's all I'm trying to give.

boomerang

Pretzill wrote: »

The thing is rice is now a no no and we have been feeding her Burns Rice and ...for almost 3 years as her main feed so I'm not surprised by her intolerance. The vet recommended Acana (they don't sell it so it's not one of those recs ).
Anyone find it a good feed? Or are there any other completely grain free foods out there? TIA.

Burns do a pork and potato variety if you want to stick with them

Pretzill

boomerang wrote: »

Burns do a pork and potato variety if you want to stick with them

Considered it but it contains 27% maize -
Got the butternut squash and pork Acana - she enjoyed it - (but then she'd eat almost anything!) It's now wait and see time!

boomerang

Pretzill wrote: »

Considered it but it contains 27% maize

:eek: Fer feck's sake!

La.de.da

Interesting reading about food experiences. Been feeding my two burns for a few years. I think the quality had gone down very much.
Went to maxi zoo and it's mind baffling the variety and choice.
Got a small bag of origen I think it's called. Seem to like it but it's 22 for small bag.

Latatian

boomerang wrote: »

:eek: Fer feck's sake!

You'll get 'sensitive' 'lamb' foods that contain chicken...

Only that I'm obsessed with reading the fine print on these things I would have had pools and pools of diarrhoea and one sick-and-sore dog to deal with.