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Pet parent Michelle is worried.
Jerry, her 14-year-old dog has a heart murmur and can't undergo surgery, but his teeth are starting to cause problems and she doesn’t know how to help clean them up safely.
Thankfully help is at hand!
Discover expert tips, practical advice, and innovative solutions to take your pet's dental care to the next level. From in-home brushing techniques and dental treats to special diets and oral gels, Dr. Alex leaves no stone unturned when it comes to finding the perfect dental routine for your four-legged companion.
Did you know that neglecting your pet's dental health is one of the biggest mistakes pet parents make? Don't worry, you're not alone! Tune in to this episode to learn valuable insights that will give your pet something to smile about.
Remember, taking care of your pet's teeth is not just about making their smile shine - it's about ensuring their overall health and happiness. So, grab your toothbrush and join the conversation on "Call the Vet" as we help pet parents just like you become dental care heroes for their furry family members!
Michelle is concerned about her dog Jerry, who is fourteen years old and has a heart murmur. Due to his condition, Jerry is unable to undergo any more surgeries. However, aside from his heart issue, Jerry is in pretty good shape. The only problem is his dental care, as his teeth are in poor condition. Michelle and her family are currently giving Jerry a greeny treat every day and trying to brush his teeth, but they wonder if there is anything else they can do to improve his dental health.
Here are the key takeaways to ensure your pet maintains their winning smile:
Neglecting dental health is a common mistake: Many pet parents overlook their pet's dental care, which is one of the top 10 mistakes pet parents make. Taking care of dental health is crucial for pets to live their best life, and the impact of dental disease should not be underestimated.
A multimodal approach for optimal dental care: While a professional dental procedure is the gold standard, there are at-home options to improve oral health. Brushing your pet's teeth with pet-specific toothbrushes and toothpaste, feeding a dental-specific diet such as Hills T/D (bones and some raw diets can be great but care is needed), giving dental chews, using oral gels such as Maxiguard, water additives like Aquadent or Teef prebiotic, and supplementing with a seaweed product like Plaque-off can all contribute to better dental health.
Dental disease is painful and has a negative impact on whole body health. The risks of an anaesthetic are often (but not always) minimal compared to the current and future pain a pet will go through if their existing dental disease is not addressed fully. And waiting until they stop eating is not only unfair, but also means they will be that much older and less healthy.
GIVE YOUR PET THE BEST CARE POSSIBLE!
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Full Transcript →
The following is an AI generated transcription:
This is one of the biggest things that we can do. It's actually one of the top 10 mistakes that I see pet parents make all the time, and it's also one of the top ways to help our pets live their optimal life. The impact of dental disease really should not be underestimated.
Welcome to the Call the Vet show, the podcast that helps pet parents understand and optimize the health of their furry family. so they can live the full and happy life you want for them. And here's your house, veterinarian, Doctor Alex Avery.
Hello, Kia Ora, welcome back to the call of the vet show. It's good to be talking to you again. Today, I've actually been away on a long break. We took 3 months off to do a little bit of traveling around the world to reset our energy banks to show the kids a little bit of life outside of Aotelo in New Zealand, which is where we are living and call home. It's great to visit the family. We saw some fantastic sites, and we've all come back fully refreshed, and I'm certainly ready and eager to go.
So, hopefully, you've enjoyed the last few episodes, which were all recorded back at the start of the year. And Thankfully, through the joys of automation and technology, I could schedule out so that, hopefully, you've not been too lonely and missing the show too much. But I'm back and looking forward to increasing the frequency of these podcast episodes as you may or may not know.
And I should properly introduce myself. If this is the first time that you're listening to the show, I'm a veterinarian, doctor Alex. I'm a vet in clinical practice. So my day-to-day job is being in the consult room, in the theater, in surgery, helping patients who live local to me. But in my spare time, which is kind of becoming more and more of a rare commodity. But in my spare time in the evenings, and weekends, I run Out Pet's Health, which is this podcast, a blog, and YouTube channel where my aim is to help pet parents just like you optimize the health of your dog and cat so that they can live the full, happy, healthy life that you want for them. So if that sounds like something that you're interested in, then make sure you hit that subscribe button or whatever podcast app you're listening to this on.
And so on to this episode where I'm going back to the roots of the show and aren't a listener question from Michelle who's got very relevant. And I would imagine a common question about her dog Jerry. If you have a question that you'd like to ask me, then you can go over to our pets health dot com slash question, and you can record your question. I'll do my very best to answer you as quickly as I can, obviously, with the caveat that I am a busy fact in practice and can't always get back to you immediately. But submit your question at ourpetshealth.com/question. But without further ado, here's Michelle.
Hi, Doctor Alex. My name is Michelle, and I have a question about my dog Jerry. He's fourteen years old, and he has a heart murmur and really is unable to undergo any further surgery at this point because of that. But, otherwise, there's some pretty good shape and needs but his teeth need additional care. And currently, we're giving him, like, a greeny every day and also attempting to brush his teeth, is there really anything else we can do in this situation to help his dental care. We've been told that his teeth are not in great condition.
Thank you for your question, Michelle. It's a great one. I know. I say that every single time, but This is a question that I come across. And a concern that I come across in the clinic almost every week, we've got an older dog who may or may not have an underlying health condition. They have bad teeth. And we want to do something to correct that but we're worried about what a dental procedure and all that that entails will involve and how that might be dangerous and ultimately may be a fatal procedure for your pet to undergo.
So I'm gonna start off by talking about the dental care options that there are out there. And these are dental care options that available to everybody to do at home. It may be that some are not appropriate for you, but for any life stage of dog or cat, these are definitely appropriate. And, actually, if you're starting these at a younger age, I know, kind of Jerry's passed that to 14 years.
But if you start any of these in your puppy, or your kitten, you're gonna have a a best chance for a successful introduction and use of them, but they're also gonna have the maximum benefit in staving off the inevitability of plaque, tartar, gingivitis, and potential tooth abscessation and other kind of problems that are all involved in dental disease and oral health.
So the first thing to say is brushing is best There's no getting away from this. So we brush our teeth twice a day or at least we should, and there's a reason for that. It is the best way to remove pluck to prevent tarte formation and to keep the teeth as healthy as possible. I appreciate that that is not always possible. It's not always a reality. We lead busy lives. Our pets don't always accept this, which goes back to introducing it in our puppies. know, and potentially our kittens as well. I certainly do have some cat's clients who do brush their cat's teeth. Although, it is more normally a a reality for our dog owners.
Reality check here, I don't brush my cat's teeth. I I wish I did, and the ideal would be that I would. But, yeah, that's the reality of the life that the I lead. I certainly take other steps to ensure that their their dental hygiene is as good as can be.
But brushing is best, We use a dog, pet specific tooth toothbrush. We can use finger brushes. There are toothpaste that are a nice flavor for your dog. So poultry, malt, beef. So they enjoy that, and it optimizes the chance of success. But if brushing is not on your radar, it's not possible. You know, it may be that in Jerry's case that his mouth is actually saw, and he is reluctant to have that handled, then brushing is not going to be a a reality.
So the next thing we can do for for dental care, and for helping stave off dental diseases choosing a diet that is better now. There's a number of different options here. There are specific diets that are proven commercial, diets, kibbles that are proven to help clear tartar and reduce the risk of that forming and optimize improving dental health.
Now commercial diets are not on everyone's wish list that are that is benefit certainly that some raw diets, some bones can also help to really keep the teeth nice and clean. Few caveats here, obviously. Bones, we do not want to be giving anything that is a weight bearing bone of a big animal. So our kind of cannonbones are the the classic here, which dogs love to chew. They love to try and get that marrow from inside. but any of these bones are really, really hard. And they're going to result in fractures, especially of that upper kind of big chewing tooth, which we call a carnasial.
That fracture then exposes the tooth root. It's painful. Introduce an infection, and that tooth will then need to be extracted. So that's a little bit counterproductive. But things like kind of chicken necks, if you like, if your dog is an appropriate size, it can be really, really beneficial. There are the the caveats with raw food and the risk of infection to your dog, to you. I honestly believe that those risks are very low if we use good normal practices. But I will leave some links to some more information about raw feeding and the risks of that. But from a dental health point of view, they can definitely be a good idea.
From a commercial diet point of view, the TD is the one that is kind of the the original and best if you like and has got the best data behind it. So that would be something to do. Ideally, we would feed that is as a whole diet, and that is a complete and balanced diet if we're using it as treats and things like that or mixing it with other food. certainly going to help, but it's going to have less benefit than where it fed exclusively.
So the next thing that we can do is give our pet chews. There are obviously different chews here. Michelle, you mentioned greenies. We've got dentastix, we've got veggiedent. There's a number of different ones out there. Now choose, they can definitely be a part of an oral care program but we need to be mindful that a lot of dogs and this is what I hear time and again. A lot of dogs will just bite chunks off it and then swallow those.
They'll really enjoy them as a treat, but, actually, we need to be real about the fact that the benefit that they're giving our dog's teeth is is fairly minimal.
Also, dogs tend to chew with their back teeth. And so they are not chewing with their their canines and their incisors. So if your dog is getting tartar, and dental disease on those teeth, the teeth to the front of the mouth, then chews are not really going to be helping at all. So yes, chews can help, but we need to be, you know, mindful that they can be a limited help in in quite reasonable percent of the dog population.
Now another option is something called MaxiGuard gel. Now this is a gel that you you how it works is is you pop a pea sized amount on your finger and you dot that onto the the upper molars of on both sides of your pet's mouth. That then gets spread around the mouth, and it helps to reduce the formation of tartar. It helps to kill off the bacteria that are associated with dental disease. and certainly help keep the mouth clean that way. We've got something called chief pro buy prebiotic, excuse me, which is a prebiotic that you add to the water that, again, does a similar thing. It helps to optimize the oral the the health of the oral We've got something called plaque Off, which is a seaweed supplement that you sprinkle on the food, and it comes in a dog and a cat version that has been shown to reduce the buildup of pluck and tarter. We have something called Aquident, which is a water additive that, again, is a bit like a mouthwash for our pets.
So there's a number of different options here. Now are they as good as a mechanical method of cleaning the teeth? No. But as with most things in our pet's health, if we take what we call a multimodal approach. So if we tackle the problem from a number of different aspects, then we're going to have the best benefit possible.
So like I say, all of these are options for for your dog, Michelle, or all of these may be options for your dog, Michelle, depending on how he you know, gets on with brushing and how he likes his mouth handled and things, but there are certainly some really good realistic options that and at least one of those is going to suit every single dog, or cat.
So that then brings me on to having a dental procedure carried out. Now once we've got a significant amount of tarte to build up. There's Gingivitis, and maybe there's even clearly other dental disease present in cats we're thinking resorption lesions. In dog and cats, it might be gingival recession and exposure of those roots. It might be a a fracture of the tooth, as I mentioned earlier. Once we've got those present, really, the only way to properly address those as fully as possible is to have a dental procedure.
So it might be known as a complete or a health assessment, and then treatment just kind of as indicated depending on what's found. Now, obviously, the the issue here with our pets is that that needs to be carried out under anesthesia. So we cannot fully assess a pet's oral health while they're awake. Even with the the most compliant dog or cat out there, we can't fully probe all of their their teeth, and we can't take X Rays to check what the roots of the the health of the roots are like. So that needs to happen while they're under anesthesia.
And, clearly, there are risks with anesthesia. Now Michelle's concerned is that that Jerry, he has a heart murmur, and so is unable to undergo surgery at this point because of that. Now, certainly, a dog in heart failure is at a higher risk of anesthetic complications but and this is a big but. A heart murmur and heart failure do not always go hand in hand.
Now clearly, Michelle, I don't know the history for your dog, and I don't know what investigations of his murmur and potential for heart disease have been carried out. But I certainly see time and again dogs that have been seen by other people and by other vets and the take home message that the owner has heard, whether that's the message that was delivered or not is that it would be far too dangerous for them to undergo an anesthesia because of their heart murmur.
Now in a reasonable number of these conditions, there is absolutely no evidence that there is any form of heart failure present. And that really means that the risk to that dog for surgery for anesthesia is really not very great at all.
Now I can't say there's no risk, and I can't say there's no risk in any dog or cat no matter what their health is, but the risk is really, really low as long as appropriate steps are taken to use safe understanding that the monitoring that's carried out is appropriate that various techniques are used during the anesthesia to ensure that they are supported as well as possible.
But the reality is is that in a lot of cases, surgery is absolutely safe or as safe as it can be regardless of whether they have a murmur or not. And as a result of this, the best thing for that animal is to have a dental procedure. And I say that because dental disease is painful. So make no mistake. If you've got a marked gingivitis in your mouth. If you've got a fractured tooth with root exposure, if you've got a root abscess brewing, those are all incredibly painful conditions. Now your dog, your cat may still be eating. But all they know is that if they don't eat, they die.
So imagine if we're waiting until they stop eating before we are recognizing their dental disease for the impact that it had on them. They're effectively choosing to die rather than suffer the pain of eating. So we don't want to use that as our cutoff for recognizing dental disease. as being a problem.
And then the other thing that we need to bear in mind is actually the the age that our dogs are living to. So they are living longer and longer, and I don't know what breed Jerry is. Excuse me. So I can't, you know, guess that whether he is a really old, you know, kind of Labrador or Great Dane or if he is a young spritely, you know, Jack Russell at 14 years of age, and may well live to 18, 19, 20. But we need to consider the fact that, actually, the dental disease is only going to get worse.
Even if we're if we're brushing, we're using a diet, we're using chews, maxi guard gel, teeth probiotic, plaque off, whatever it may be. Dental disease is a progressive condition. Ultimately, that's why we still need to go to the dentist despite brushing our teeth. And brushing our teeth probably better than we are able to brush our dog's teeth. And this means that actually addressing it while they are still younger in a relative sense is really important because it may be, for example, Jerry, if we expect him to live until he's 18, 19, 20, he's going to be a lot healthier as a fourteen year old to get his teeth addressed now than he will be if we're waiting until he's in real agony stops eating, and he's sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old.
So that's another discussion to have. Now, clearly, you know, each individual pet is different. Each family situation is is different. And these are all discussions that need to be had with your vet. But I think if we're aware of them, if we're considering them ahead of time, then it will help us come to the most appropriate decision for that individual animal so that they can be as happy, healthy, and live as long as possible, as parts of our family. And I guess that the other point. We do know that as well as being painful, dental disease, it causes poor health across the body.
So I hope that gave you some practical suggestions of what you can do listening to this to help keep your pet's teeth as healthy as possible. I think this is one of the biggest things that we can do. It's actually one of the top 10 mistakes that I see pet parents make all the time, and it's also one of the top ways to help our pets live their optimum life. The impact of dental disease really should not be underestimated.
So that's it for me for this episode of the show. If you've got a question you'd like me to answer, head over to our pets health dot com slash question. If you've enjoyed this episode and you know another pet parent out there who would benefit from the information, then feel free to forward this episode to them so that I can help more pets and more pet parents out there no matter where they are in the world and no matter what their resources are. And until the next episode of the show, I'm veterinarian, Doctor Alex. This is the Call of Vet show: because they're family.
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