Chicken bones are said to be okay if they are RAW because they’re rather pliant. They splinter when cooked. Don’t know if pork is better/okay raw. I don’t feed raw to my dog because he lives in the house and ew.
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Raw only. My dogs eat exclusively raw. My recent rescue who had nasty teeth at 3 is eating entire raw chickens every few days and his teeth and gums now look amazing.
I have never had any dental work done on any of my dogs. I do think certain breeds are predisposed but I also think diet is the biggest factor. My mums Standard Poodle had disgusting teeth and at 9 years old she switched him to raw (finally!) and he looks like a different dog.
I know someone is going to say that shiny and white aren’t indicators but the reality is my vets have never suggested my dogs get any dental work done. Perhaps my breed doesn’t live long enough to require it idk.
I would never have my dogs teeth done EVERY year, but certainly every few years as needed. If you vet says he needs it, then he needs it.
The vet gives my dog’s teeth a quick glance when she has her annual exam, and makes a recommendation about whether or not they need doing right now. There are obviously some grey areas because I know that Dr. Brown is much more likely to recommend that it be done soon than Dr. Reese. If Dr. Reese says it needs doing, then it definitely needs doing, like, NOW.
So how often will depend on both the vet, and the dog. Our old Collie wasn’t a chewer at all and had pretty bad teeth, had a few extractions and needed dentals every couple of years. The mutt after that had great teeth and needed no extractions and one or two cleanings in her whole life. I suspect that our current heeler-mix will be somewhere in between, but we haven’t had her for very long.
I’m one who gets both dog and cat teeth checked every year, and done if necessary. If they haven’t been done for a few years because they visually look ok, they get a cleaning with xrays. Some don’t need it as often, but I have one cat who just had to have 3 extractions and she is SO much heathier after. We just got her and no telling how long her teeth were cracked, but she seems to feel a lot more comfortable. My current dogs haven’t needed anything other than cleaning but I suspect my old man is due for a couple of extractions so I’m scheduling them this spring. It’s expensive to do all of them (we also always do bloodwork ahead of time and have caught some issues early beacuse of that).
Heads up that we deleted an advertising post that had bumped this old thread back up.
