Gryff is having his teeth cleaned today. From tomorrow on, I will be more diligent with his dental care, my own safety be dammed!

How old is Gryff? I almost bought teeth cleaning instruments yesterday at the show for cleaning teeth but I don’t have 10 great disposable friends to help me with my girls.

I need to start doing something other than the bones but not sure what.

Good luck today.

I have always used a "finger brush" but lately switched to a child's toothbrush and it works really well. Don't know how good a job gets done with all the squirming but figure it is better than nothing at all! I've always had small dogs so from past experience with really bad tooth and gum problems (even with yearly vet cleanings) I am determined to take better care of Abby's teeth. Her teeth have also gotten so much whiter since using the Plaque-Off.

Hi Ivy~

That stinks I just ordered some new stuff for dental and it is supposed to remove plaque better than the petz life that I have been using, it is called
Leba III

And at $61 a bottle, I am praying it eliminates any need for serious dental work in the future time will tell and I'll post about it in a few weeks when I see how it goes.

Hope everything goes smoothly today
XO,
Kara

Kara,
Please let us know how the Leba III works.

I just started using Placque off.

Isn't Leba III the product that Sabine likes, according to Dave?

Gryff is 3. They just called me to let me know he's awake. He had an incisor that was so loose it actually fell out. I feel like the worst mommy ever.

Hi Nan, no that's not the product. Nan are you aware of the issues with Plaque Off? Here is Sabines letter about the other one besides Petzlife that she recommends.

Hi Dave,

I'm aware of the HealthyMouth - my own vet sells it too. It's certainly a good option, and there's no concern about too much iodine! I'm especially happy that it doesn't contain any ingredients that would raise a red flag.

Sabine

Oh Dave, I must have been thinking of the Healthy Mouth product. Thanks for the clarification.

I know that there are issues with Placque off but I thought the problem was using it with dogs that have thyroid problems, no?

I think the Leba III is pretty new and supposedly 'different', so its worth a try, the 3-4 reviews seemed really good, I'd rather try to maintain her teeth preventatively than have them cleaned, even though she hates every single tooth product I've ever put in her mouth, you'd think I was pouring vodka down her throat! lol

NO. To quote Kimberly earlier, ...."On Saturday, I was in a seminar with Jean Dodds, DVM all day. Her topics of discussion were thyroid, vaccines and nutrition. When she was on the topic of thyroid, she specifically mentioned that you should not add any kelp to your dog's diet if you feed a commercial product because commerical products already have Iodine in them and kelp will give them way too much iodine, which will suppress thyroid function. Those who do homecooking and raw (non-commercial) should be fine unless you are already adding iodine in another form. Strangely enough, this was the only specific food supplement that she mentioned to avoid in regard to thyroid function."
Although thyroid dysfunction is the most frequently recognised endocrine disorder of pet animals, it is
often difficult to make a definitive diagnosis. As the thyroid gland regulates metabolism of all body
cellular functions, reduced thyroid function can produce a wide range of clinical manifestations.
Most of the confusion about the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease in purebred or mixed breed dogs today stems from the expectation that affected animals must show clinical signs of inadequate thyroid hormonal production (i.e. hypothyroidism) in order to have the disease. The term hypothyroidism has been loosely applied to describe all stages of this disease process whereas strictly speaking it should be reserved for the end-stages when the animal's thyroid gland is no longer capable of producing sufficient hormone(s) to sustain clinical health. At this point, the dog can express any number of the non-specific multisystem signs of thyroid dysfunction.