aweful dog breath

rileysmommy · 01-26-2010, 11:39 PM

Not sure if this is the right section but here goes anyway.

How do you reduce or better yet, minimize the odor from your dog's breath? I heard that greenies aren't so great for dogs so am looking for another alternative for my puppy because his breath has gotten foul.

EDIT: I really can spell awful right. I promise

mrslloyd09 · 01-26-2010, 11:48 PM

Melodie had awful breath when we first got her, beyond your normal puppy breath. We ended up changing her food and introducing her to the toothbrush. She's not crazy and the tooth part but she likes the lick the brush, which we let her do to get her tongue clean. Now I love having her little face next to mine.

Binkalette · 01-27-2010, 12:24 AM

Maggie had awful breath as a puppy too.. it went away after about a month..

Now though they both get terrible breath when they throw up.. if they do I just put some PetzLife Oral Gell in their mouths and it fixes it.

Kina_A · 01-27-2010, 07:11 AM

How do your dog's teeth look? Sadie had terrible breath when her teeth were caked with plaque! She's been getting a bully stick once a week and that has helped with the cleaning of her teeth.

Now the only thing I have to put up with is bully breath! But when she's not chewing on it, her breath is fine and her teeth have never looked better!

Opps, I only realized after that your dog was a pup!

My pup also had puppy breath. It went away after a while. Switching food helped.

My Dog Bishop · 01-27-2010, 10:55 AM

I swear by Wysong DentaTreat. It's a powder that you sprinkle onto your dogs food. It's got enzymes that dissolve bacteria. It takes about a month to have a noticeable difference, though. When I got my first dog, he was about 2 years old but had the plaque of a 4 year old whose teeth had never been brushed. Breath was awful! I've been using the stuff with him for about six months, and his teeth are white and his bad breath is GONE!

lucidity · 01-27-2010, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Binkalette

Maggie had awful breath as a puppy too.. it went away after about a month..

Now though they both get terrible breath when they throw up.. if they do I just put some PetzLife Oral Gell in their mouths and it fixes it.

Does the PetzLife work well? Do you just put it on their gums/tongues? I've been a bit freaked out brushing Cadence's teeth lately because they're ALWAYS bleeding, and I think it might hurt when I brush... so he really puts up a STRUGGLE whenever I brush his teeth. Can't wait for his teething stage to be over.

Binkalette · 01-27-2010, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucidity

Does the PetzLife work well? Do you just put it on their gums/tongues? I've been a bit freaked out brushing Cadence's teeth lately because they're ALWAYS bleeding, and I think it might hurt when I brush... so he really puts up a STRUGGLE whenever I brush his teeth. Can't wait for his teething stage to be over.

Yes, you can just put it into their mouths with your finger with out brushing at all. It works by softening the plaque on their teeth so that it rubs off easily. Once a week (on bath day actually) I take a cloth to their teeth and rub at them with it. When I had Zoey in to the vet last month she said, "Oh.. you must be brushing her teeth everyday.. Good for you! They usually aren't this clean.." .. made my day. We also give them bully sticks to chew on, so that probably helps to scrape it off as well. When I first got the petzlife actually, Zoey had a little yellow stain in the indent of her back "molars" which is gone now.

I had been brushing with regular dog tooth paste back then..

lucidity · 01-27-2010, 06:15 PM

Thanks so much, Binkalette!! This might just be my miracle solution for Cadence lol. I've tried everything. Dental wipes to the bottles of breath fresheners that you add to the water etc.. nothing has worked. I found some Petzlife from ebay for WAY CHEAPER than Petsmart is selling them for.

Binkalette · 01-27-2010, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucidity

Thanks so much, Binkalette!! This might just be my miracle solution for Cadence lol. I've tried everything. Dental wipes to the bottles of breath fresheners that you add to the water etc.. nothing has worked. I found some Petzlife from ebay for WAY CHEAPER than Petsmart is selling them for.

That's the way to go

and they last a REALLY long time.. especially with small dogs.

Labsnothers · 01-28-2010, 09:43 AM

Do you have her on a dry food? If they chew it, it helps scrape the teeth clean. Not much help with dogs that inhale it whole. Maybe ask your vet about Science T/D.

Ayanla · 01-28-2010, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rileysmommy

Not sure if this is the right section but here goes anyway.

How do you reduce or better yet, minimize the odor from your dog's breath? I heard that greenies aren't so great for dogs so am looking for another alternative for my puppy because his breath has gotten foul.

EDIT: I really can spell awful right. I promise

When we first got Kira, her breath was horrible. We had the vet check her teeth and he said they were perfect. She was on good food, got enough water. We just couldn't figure it out. Even brushing her teeth didn't seem to really help.

Then we discovered she was drinking her own pee whenever she had an accident. Once she was housebroken, the issue went away.

rileysmommy · 01-28-2010, 11:36 AM

Thank you guys for all the input. I'm hoping that this is just because he's in the puppy teething stage. I might try the petzlife suggestion. I already know he's going to HATE getting his teeth brushed. :/

LazyGRanch713 · 01-28-2010, 04:18 PM

Just a thought, but her teeth look otherwise clean (no discoloration or redness/swelling of gums), full or impacted anal glands can cause NASTY breath. My oldest papillon had breath that would make you fall to your knees. My vet took a good look at his teeth (which at almost 9 years old, are clean, white and healthy). His anal glands were impacted (how I missed this, I haven't a clue, but I sure felt bad). She was able to express them and clean them out. The result was immediate

thebunnyexpert · 01-28-2010, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rileysmommy

Not sure if this is the right section but here goes anyway.

How do you reduce or better yet, minimize the odor from your dog's breath? I heard that greenies aren't so great for dogs so am looking for another alternative for my puppy because his breath has gotten foul.

EDIT: I really can spell awful right. I promise

My dog had TERRIBLE breath! So to get rid of the bad breath and his 9 yeard old plaque build-up (i know, i know), I brush his teeth every other night. After I brush his teeth, I give him anti-plaque spray. Every day, I also give him a Greenie. I've already seen improvement, but i plan on giving him the Petzlife gel.

Question: How long does it take for the gel to soften the plaque?

mrslloyd09 · 01-30-2010, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LazyGRanch713

Just a thought, but her teeth look otherwise clean (no discoloration or redness/swelling of gums), full or impacted anal glands can cause NASTY breath. My oldest papillon had breath that would make you fall to your knees. My vet took a good look at his teeth (which at almost 9 years old, are clean, white and healthy). His anal glands were impacted (how I missed this, I haven't a clue, but I sure felt bad). She was able to express them and clean them out. The result was immediate

Our vet tech also suggested that this was Melodie's problem. She didn't need hers expressed but the change in food really helped.

Liddy · 02-06-2010, 09:11 AM

Our pup's BAD breath started about a week ago. I noticed she has been losing her baby teeth (at least 2, the first we noticed was one week ago). She's 6 months now--which I think she's too young to have plaque or impacted anal glands causing this drastic turn in breath. I think we'll try some of the dental treats and the parsley too. Might it be the blood from losing teeth that's making it so smelly?

LazyGRanch713 · 02-06-2010, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liddy

Our pup's BAD breath started about a week ago. I noticed she has been losing her baby teeth (at least 2, the first we noticed was one week ago). She's 6 months now--which I think she's too young to have plaque or impacted anal glands causing this drastic turn in breath. I think we'll try some of the dental treats and the parsley too. Might it be the blood from losing teeth that's making it so smelly?

Not sure, but nasty breath at 6 months old would make me want to talk to the vet.

mrslloyd09 · 02-06-2010, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LazyGRanch713

Not sure, but nasty breath at 6 months old would make me want to talk to the vet.

+1. When I took Melodie for her first visit it was the first thing I brought up because when we adopted her she didn't have bad breath. It was just something as simple as brushing her teeth AND tongue and switching her food.

rileysmommy · 02-06-2010, 10:31 AM

Riley just got six of his baby teeth extracted two days ago and am currently in the process of changing his food from Blue Buffalo to TOTW. I'm hoping this makes a difference in the halitosis situation.

GottaLuvMutts · 02-06-2010, 02:12 PM

An occasional raw meaty bone will help get plaque off teeth as well. I feed kibble, but since Kit swallows it whole, it doesn't help much.

With brushing, I find that it's easiest to do if the dog is restrained. I usually put Kit on her back with her head in my lap. Then I hold her jaw closed with one hand and brush with the other. If I don't hold her jaw closed, she tries biting/licking the brush. She doesn't love having her teeth brushed, but she doesn't put up a stink.

Am I the only one who likes the smell of my dog's breath after she eats a pig ear or bully stick? It's strange, but the smell is sort of sweet.