Like us humans, having a healthy mouth, gums, and teeth is very important to your pet’s overall health and well-being. According to the American Veterinary Association, around 80% of dogs and 70% of cats are affected by dental disease by age 3. If left untreated, periodontal/dental disease can lead to major mouth issues such as tooth root abscesses, bone infection of the jaw, and the bacteria can spread to other parts of their bodies such as the heart, kidneys, and other organs. Most cats and dogs are not fans of having their mouths and teeth handled or inspected, this makes it difficult to monitor their dental health and to do traditional human dental health activities such as brushing. The resistance of mouth handling makes preventive dental care in pets that much more important.
The good news is, there are lots of ways you can help your pet have a healthy mouth and teeth with minimal mouth handling! Our Staff at Lizzi & Rocco’s has several favorite tools that the like to do with their pets at home!
Raw turkey, duck, or chicken necks are a great, natural way to help your dog or cat keep their chompers clean! Not only do they satisfy your pets’ natural instinct to chew, but raw necks also have several dental benefits. Raw bones have live enzymes that interact with saliva to prevent stinky breath by destroying bad bacteria in their mouths (by an 80% reduction!). Gnawing on the bone also massages gums and scrapes away plaque and tarter build up!
Frozen raw necks are small enough that your dog or cat can chew on them with the hard-to-clean back teeth. Frozen raw necks are also fully consumable, meaning your pet can swallow and digest them, unlike bones.
Hear why our South Store Manager, Jessyln loves frozen raw necks for pets!
Keeping your pet’s dental health in good shape is critically important, but it can be as easy as tossing them a chew!
Plaque Off Products is another one of our dental health favorites. Plaque Off is powered by marine kelp and it naturally destroys plaque, prevents tartar from forming on teeth, and helps keep bad breath at bay. In the 1970s a Swedish Dentist named Dr. Sune Wikner noticed that a patient that had previously suffered from chronic tartar had greatly improved oral health suddenly. Dr. Wikner investigated what had caused this change and realized there was something new in his patient’s diet that was keeping the tartar at bay. Eventually, he found out that a certain type of kelp that the patient was eating was causing the change. From this discovery, Plaque Off was born, and Dr. Sune Wikner worked with doctors and veterinarians across Sweeden to study kelp and its effectiveness in improving dental health.
Plaque Off is Veterinary Oral Health Council-approved and has been used over 1.5 billion times! Not only is Plaque Off incredibly effective, but it is extremely easy to feed! There are crunchy treats for both cats and dogs that pets love to gobble up! Also for the dogs, there are yummy Plaque Off bones for them to chomp on. Or you can just sprinkle the Plaque-Off powder on your pet’s food each day!
Cleaning your pet’s teeth can be easy as keeping them hydrated! To use TropiClean Dental Health Solution for dogs and cats, just pour half a cap full in 8 oz of water! TropiClean Fresh Breath Dental Health Solution provides daily plaque and tatar defense and freshens their breath! TropiClean is tasteless as well, which makes it easy to incorporate into your dog’s routine.
With these easy tools, you will be able to keep your pet’s dental health in the best possible shape!
