Dental health

[Patches03]

My mom said that Tink's teeth are getting dirty. I told her to start brushing them, but she would like to know if there are any chews that work.

[Gideon's girl]

Most dental chews have ingredients that I would rather not feed my dogs, not to mention that dogs bite off chunks and swallow them whole, so I give my dogs raw bones, like ribs, turkey necks, etc. Even my 12 year old has nice teeth.

[Sue R]

I'm a big fan of using raw bones (chicken necks and backs; pork or lamb neck bones; and similar "edible" bones) for dental health. Ease your dog into this with the introduction of small amounts of bone or very limited time to chew a raw bone at first. Give your dog suitable material once or twice a week and you will be surprised at how clean and healthy your dog's teeth and mouth can be.

 

When Dan was gone for five months, he rarely had a bone to chew. He came home with teeth that were brown with plaque. Within a couple of weeks of regular consumption of chewable bones, his teeth were clean and his breath was sweet again.

 

That's my approach, rather than brushing or the use of toys. I'm sure some folks here can recommend good dental health toys.

 

Best wishes!

[Patches03]

I have fed turkey necks in the past to my dogs and I have to say I've never seen a real improvement. on another forum I'm on they mention that turkey neck would be too much bone and that I should get meatier cuts of meat to help clean the teeth. I will see what my mom thinks about raw once a week or twice a week but I don't know that she will go for it.

[GentleLake]

Feeding a turkey neck just once in a while isn't going to do it. It has to be pretty regular.

 

Feeding them and similar bones frozen will increase their cleaning potential somewhat.

 

My dogs are on a raw diet and have never had their teeth brushed, a teeth cleaning or so called dental chews. Vets constantly tell me they can't estimate their ages based on their teeth.

[mum24dog]

Dental chews and brushing are a waste of time and money.

 

I'm with those who rely on bones to do the job.

 

Occasionally I will get the scraper out and remove any tartar the bones have missed.

[Camden's Mom]

My boy has a couple of really nice whitetail deer antlers that he gets to chew on. That seems to do wonders for his teeth. I also feed frozen chicken necks or backs a couple of times a month.

[Patches03]

I was feeding them three times a week to my dogs.

[Sue R]

I was feeding them three times a week to my dogs.

Your results apparently differed from the results many or most of us see here. Were you feeding them frozen? That increases the effectiveness a great deal. Also, if the teeth have plaque to begin with, you might need something more abrasive to get them cleaned off first, and then chicken/turkey bones may be sufficient to keep them clean if fed on a regular basis.

 

Also, for many dogs, chewing bones does not necessarily clean the teeth up front very much. That is the case with one of my dogs who also tends to chew in a way that he keeps some teeth very clean and others less clean. For that, I just use a scaler occasionally remove any plaque build-up which is really very minimal.

 

As for the meat/bone ratio thing, I don't feel that raw bones once or twice a week are an issue. It is different if a major part of your dog's diet is largely bone as in necks, backs, ribs, etc. That is not balanced nutrition.

[waffles]

Turkey necks are also pretty small for the average sized border collie. I feed larger pieces so my dog has to lay down to chew as opposed to just standing there chomping a neck a few times and down it goes.

 

I get pork butts and shoulders that are several pounds and he has to rip the meat to eat it. Then deep inside is a bone he gets to chew eventually. I also feed partially frozen 1-1.5 lb hunks of meat that he really gnaws on. Deer and pork necks are also bigger as are turkey legs. I think chicken necks are way too small to really provide much teeth cleaning unless your dog is very small. I can also find large chicken quarters that take a bit to eat as well. Think bigger for better teeth cleaning. Also I wouldn't advise feeding a whole deer or pork neck in a day, I take these away and feed them in a couple sittings.

 

It can also take time to see a change. It isn't going to be overnight. The meat/bone ratio is only a concern if you want to feed your dog a diet of only meat/bone/organs but it sounds like you feed kibble as the main diet so a couple raw bones a week isn't going to be an issue.

[Patches03]

They were frozen. I will call the locker and see what they have for large chunks of meat and bone. Thank you all. Also going to brush her teeth.

[GentleLake]

Turkey necks are also pretty small for the average sized border collie.

 

That would depend on the necks.

 

Tom necks are bigger than hen necks. And the tom necks I've been getting lately have been pretty big, most well over a pound.

[waffles]

 

That would depend on the necks.

 

Tom necks are bigger than hen necks. And the tom necks I've been getting lately have been pretty big, most well over a pound.

Over a pound? The ones I find are probably 10oz at most. I wish I could find bigger ones.

[GentleLake]

Check your yellow pages for meat wholesalers. The ask if they can get tom turkey necks. I think they came in either 30 or 40 lb. cases.

[Sue R]

Location, location, location. Finding "parts" in boxes where I live is problematic. Only one store can even get them from the warehouse and that's because there is a demand for them from a local privately-owned zoo. My dogs benefit from that but it sure was a struggle for me to even find this one store that would carry them in their freezer. Every other store I contacted said they could not even get them because the chain warehouses do not carry them in this area.

[alligande]

Location, location, location. Finding "parts" in boxes where I live is problematic. Only one store can even get them from the warehouse and that's because there is a demand for them from a local privately-owned zoo. My dogs benefit from that but it sure was a struggle for me to even find this one store that would carry them in their freezer. Every other store I contacted said they could not even get them because the chain warehouses do not carry them in this area.

This, I am friends with a meat market and they can't get "parts" as their distributor has no demand... When I was cooking for one of my dogs it was a struggle to find suitable inexpensive meat and I was just paying the wholesale cost.

[Mom of Mya]

so it is okay to feed them chicken bones? I had always heard that chicken bones splinter and should not be fed to dogs..when you are saying feed them raw, do you mean don't even boil the meat, just plain raw chicken and bone? My pup is only 6 months old, so how should they be before you start doing that?

[GentleLake]

Location, location, location. Finding "parts" in boxes where I live is problematic. Only one store can even get them from the warehouse and that's because there is a demand for them from a local privately-owned zoo. My dogs benefit from that but it sure was a struggle for me to even find this one store that would carry them in their freezer. Every other store I contacted said they could not even get them because the chain warehouses do not carry them in this area.

 

Have you checked wholesale meat suppliers? That's often a totally different thing.

[GentleLake]

so it is okay to feed them chicken bones? I had always heard that chicken bones splinter and should not be fed to dogs..when you are saying feed them raw, do you mean don't even boil the meat, just plain raw chicken and bone? My pup is only 6 months old, so how should they be before you start doing that?

 

 

Yep. When they're fed raw, they're digestible. When they're cooked, the heat changes the molecular structure and the splinter, and the digestive acids can't break them down and blunt them like they down when the bones are raw. This is the reason that no bones of any type should be fed cooked.

 

Yep, plain raw meat and bones.

 

A raw diet isn't rocket science, but there are some things you should know before jumping into it or you can cause some serious nutritional deficiencies. Fortunately, there are lots of on line resources.

 

There are different approaches to feeding raw. I feed prey model, where essentially you're trying to recreate as much as possible what a dog would eat in the wild. It's roughly 75-80% meat, 10-15% bone, 5% liver and 5% other organs. It's important to vary protein sources as much as possible, and not to rely just on chicken. Red meat is more species appropriate than poultry. In many areas it's not as hard as it may sound to do this economically. I feed a lot of beef from culled dairy cows. I have to drive close to an hour to get it, but it's only $.65/lb. and we co-op to share gas costs. I get duck necks & hearts (wings and backs are also available) for $.50/lb. Again, a bit of a drive, but co-oping helps a lot with that. I get other things from a local meat wholesaler.

 

You can start puppies on a raw diet at the time they're weaning. You can switch a dog over at any time in it's life.

 

There's more info in the archives if you search "raw". If you're interested in more info after that, just ask.

[waffles]

so it is okay to feed them chicken bones? I had always heard that chicken bones splinter and should not be fed to dogs..when you are saying feed them raw, do you mean don't even boil the meat, just plain raw chicken and bone? My pup is only 6 months old, so how should they be before you start doing that?

Raw means raw, as in not cooked (boiling is cooking). Raw bones won't splinter like baked, smoked, boiled or whatever people do to chicken or meat to cook it. Ever watch a dog eat one of those smoked 'dog bones' from the store? Now that is scary and those are marketed for dogs and sold in pet stores.

[Patches03]

I have almost gone raw twice now in the last two years but I am scared without someone "holding" my hand.

I've read so much about it. It sounds easy enough so long as you have all the meat on hand. I have four dogs and would need a whole extra freezer to even begin with my dogs. My worry is not having enough.

[GentleLake]

I've got 3 freezers (should really buy one big one and eliminate at least 2 pf the smaller ones).

 

You can always PM me if you need some hand holding.

[Alchemist]

I buy turkey necks from my local supermarket (Wegmans) whenever they have them in stock. A whole turkey neck is BIG, so I cut them in half (hint: a heavy meat, not vegetable, cleaver helps! a regular chef's knife, or a set of kitchen shears, just doesn't cut it, no pun intended), freeze them, and feed a half a turkey neck, frozen, raw, to each dog once a week. They love them - they recognize the sound of the freezer opening and race to their crates in hopes they'll be the first one served.

 

I get compliments on how clean their teeth are. It doesn't help to clean their canines (no bone will, I suspect), so some scaling of the front teeth is still needed.

 

The rest of the time they get a high-quality kibble.

[Sue R]

I had my three to the vet for their annual exam last week. Megan will be 12 this August, Celt turned 11 last November, and Dan just turned five in January. We use raw beef bones for chews because that's what we have, and I sometimes buy a box of chicken backs and give those once or twice a week, partly frozen, for "dental chews".

 

Megan, who is an "industrial-strength" chewer has worn down the tips of her teeth over the years but has very clean and healthy teeth. No dental needed for her.

 

Celt, who is the least enthusiastic chewer in the group did have a dental about two years ago as he had some built-up tartar on some teeth and he was being anesthetized for another procedure (drawer test) at the time. Actually, I was able to remove the tarter from the buccal surfaces of the teeth myself with my fingernails but he did need the lingual surfaces checked and one tartar section removed from a molar that did not yield to my nail. He also tends to chew in a manner that cleans most surfaces but not the buccal surface on the left side as well.

 

Dan, who can demolish a chunk of beef neck bone in an amazingly short amount of time, keeps his teeth very clean with the bones.

 

I do now have a scaler and use that to do touch-ups on the canines as needed. For Celt, two years after his dental, I had a little to remove, and very little on either of the other two.

 

Now I'm wanting to buy another box of chicken backs but until the work in the house is completed, I have no place to put the box for thawing (it takes a couple of days to get a whole box thawed and bagged) and cleaning (I remove the excess cavity fat). One of these days, this will all be done and the dogs will be able to enjoy those treats again!

[Mom of Mya]

Yep. When they're fed raw, they're digestible. When they're cooked, the heat changes the molecular structure and the splinter, and the digestive acids can't break them down and blunt them like they down when the bones are raw. This is the reason that no bones of any type should be fed cooked.

 

Yep, plain raw meat and bones.

 

A raw diet isn't rocket science, but there are some things you should know before jumping into it or you can cause some serious nutritional deficiencies. Fortunately, there are lots of on line resources.

 

There are different approaches to feeding raw. I feed prey model, where essentially you're trying to recreate as much as possible what a dog would eat in the wild. It's roughly 75-80% meat, 10-15% bone, 5% liver and 5% other organs. It's important to vary protein sources as much as possible, and not to rely just on chicken. Red meat is more species appropriate than poultry. In many areas it's not as hard as it may sound to do this economically. I feed a lot of beef from culled dairy cows. I have to drive close to an hour to get it, but it's only $.65/lb. and we co-op to share gas costs. I get duck necks & hearts (wings and backs are also available) for $.50/lb. Again, a bit of a drive, but co-oping helps a lot with that. I get other things from a local meat wholesaler.

 

You can start puppies on a raw diet at the time they're weaning. You can switch a dog over at any time in it's life.

 

There's more info in the archives if you search "raw". If you're interested in more info after that, just ask.

Thank you, I will research that. I guess we have just been commercialized to believe dog food is the way to go for best nutrition but with so many being recalled and killing dogs or giving them horrible diseases I have been searching into other options. We do have a meat market in town and a farmer close by that sells meat so it may even be convenient.