Caring for your pet’s teeth helps to keep them happy and pain free – and its never too late to start!
There are a number of dental care options for both cats and dogs, for all owner budgets and busy lifestyles.
Top tip number 1 – The best way to cure dental disease is to prevent it!
There are a variety of ways to encourage good tooth and gum health in your pet. Some options are more suitable for some pets than others, and our vets will be more than happy to discuss you and your pets needs and find the right solution.
Toothbrushing
Nothing beats brushing your dog or cat’s teeth to prevent tartar build up, bad breath and gum disease! This may sound like a difficult option, but once your pet becomes used to regular careful brushing with a special pet toothpaste (meat flavoured so that brushing is a tasty and positive experience for you pet!), this is a relatively quick, stress-free and cost effective way of keeping bad breath and dental disease at bay. Our vets and nurses are happy to give you a demonstration and explain how to slowly introduce brushing into your pets routine.
Special dental care diet
We stock a special range of food for your dog and cat called Hill’s t/d – this food is available only from vets. Its cleverly designed kibble is shaped so that it cleans your pet’s teeth whilst they chew. Our vets and nurses are happy to speak to you about whether this option is suitable for your pet.
Dental Chews
Special dental chewing sticks can be a helpful addition to your pets dental health regime, but is not very effective if used alone. The act of chewing and gnawing on these sticks helps to reduce daily tartar build up, whilst keeping your pet entertained!
So you think your pet might have a toothache?
Tooth and gum disease can affect the quality of life of our pets and can cause considerable pain. It is sometimes difficult for owners to recognise that there pet has toothache – pets are very good at hiding dental pain!
Subtle signs to look out for are a reduced appetite, eating at a slower speed than normal, dropping food, or having a new preference for soft food over hard nuts or kibble.
If you suspect that your cat, dog or rabbit may be having dental problems, you should bring them along to us for a veterinary consultation.
Here we can examine the teeth and assess whether procedures such as scaling and polishing (to remove tartar and resolve gum disease) or extraction of teeth will be required. In some cases this may not be necessary and changes to the dog’s lifestyle may be all that is required. Your vet will be able to discuss all the options with you and together you can take steps to improve your pet’s dental health in the long term.
