Something to smile about
Welcome to our new dental hygiene space. We decided to wait until we were happy with our recommendations until we were confident that the information we were sharing was progressive and based on medical evidence.
We have been working closely with Pet Dentists to develop this information resource.
Here are some important insights into dental hygiene:
- The wolf in the wild lives to be 6-8 years of age. Domestic Dogs are now living a lot longer.
- The African Wild Dog lives to be 4 years on average.
- African Wild Cats live to be 7-10 years of age.
- Even consuming a completely biologically-appropriate diet, these animals will get dental calculus (tartar), dental fractures, tooth aches causing inability to eat and early onset organ failure.
- Tartar are billions of bad bacteria colonising the teeth and gums
- Inflamed gums provide an access point for these bacteria to enter the bloodstream.
- Bacteria lodges at bottlenecks within the circulatory system. The valves of the heart and in the fine filtration system of the kidneys.
- Dental disease is linked to Heart and Kidney Disease in both Humans and Animals
- Dental infection continuously stimulates and fatigues the immune system.
- Implementation of dental brushing in Humans is thought to have had the biggest impact of life expectancy improvements .
- Daily dental brushing is the gold standard recommendation of veterinary dental medicine in 2015
- Sugars in diet provide perfect food for bad bacteria to grow in the mouth
- We believe animals fed high carbohydrate diets containing sugar have acceleratedperiodontal disease.
- If dental brushing is not achievable there are other options including diet modification, enzyme supplementation and water additives
- We do not recommend feeding 100% dry based diets to cats as some veterinarians recommend. There is a delicate balance between dental hygiene and kidney support in cats. Cats are derived from desert animals, they get most of their water intake through their food. Cats on 100% kibble diets tend to be chronically dehydrated and at risk of early onset kidney disease.
- Just like humans, well cared for animals are likely to still require professional hygiene treatments, particularly after the age that they would live to in the wild (7-10years). Preventative strategies may decrease the likelyhood but responsible pet owners should be prepared for this veterinary input.
- We recommend choosing an insurance policy that covers pets for life without any exclusions for periodontal treatment (we always recommend lifelong policies).
- Good veterinary dental medicine is expensive. Safe anaesthetic protocols including keeping your pet warm and monitoring blood pressure, dental xrays (to ensure the health of the teeth below the gums are understood) and surgical extraction or root canal therapies (which require time and expertise) contribute to these costs. Be a responsible pet owners and bear this in mind.
- Dental brushing takes time for your pet to get used to.
- Ensure products you use meet the Veterinary Oral Health Council seal of approval
- Check safety position statements of the regulatory bodies in your country regarding certain toys/chews.
For some inspiration into dental brushing here is a short video from icatcare.org (a great resource for cat care). We are working on our own video care series which we will be bringing to you shortly. Follow us on facebook to receive updates as we continue to build our animal wellness space.
Veterinarian Dr. Brett Hayward provides instructions and a demonstration on checking a dog's teeth safely and effectively. The dog in the video is a border collie / Great Pyrenees cross and was 7 months old when the video was taken.
We endorse the information given by the American Veterinary Dental College
We endorse the following products, Healthy Mouth water additive (check out the inspiring video of Ping Pong's dental care on the website) and Vetzlife Gel application. We endorse raw meaty bones (always with meat to cushion the teeth and under direct supervision)
More coming soon. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.