Bully Sticks

[Po'ele]

I like bully sticks for dental health and also no chocking on rawhide. I'd like to know if anyone has advice on how many chews per week our doggies need to maintain dental health???

[***Melissa***]

I have no idea, sorry.

But I just though I wanted to share what I do: I feed raw, and the raw meaty bones keep their teethies wonderfully clean - no need to worry about cleaning teethies then

[Zeldacorgi]

I think the number of chew things per week is the wrong gauge of dental health. You need to do a manual check, and a brushing every so often. Talk to your vet about what you need to keep an eye out for. Chew things do help though.

[josie1918]

Any chewing will help keep teeth clean, be it rubber toys, rawhide, bully sticks, old shoes even There are diets designed to keep a dogs teeth clean that are very effective. But just as with humans, nothing beats consistant brushing for a healthy mouth, and yes, all of us should routinely check the inside of our dogs mouth just to be sure there are no broken teeth, lumps, injuries or tartar build up, with younger dogs always be sure to check for retained baby teeth, if not taken care of those things can cause a MOUNTAIN of headaches.
I use the rawhide chews treated with enzymes to loosen tartar. My boys get one each day, but as with ALL things rawhide, be sure to supervise your pet when they are chewing on them

[Nettle]

PleaseMissPleaseMissPleaseMIss (hand up and waving)

Nothing beats raw meaty bones for teeth cleaning look at the 6 year old dog in my avatar - never had a brush near her teeth, nor any of my others. Never a speck of tartar.

Brushing is good if someone doesn't want to feed raw meaty bones though. Rubbing aloe vera gel on the tartar loosens it. The most important thing is to be aware of what is happening in the dog's mouth, and to get him/her used to having teeth checked.

Some processed foods can cause awful tartar, especially those with caramel "natural colouring" or added sugar. The slurry "flavouring" can stick to teeth as well.

[josie1918]

Nettle is right, some foods can cause tartar, also the smaller your dog, the more trouble with tartar and calculus. There are a lot of factors, nasty teeth can also to a degree be genetic. There are certain diets designed to sort of scrape the tooth when the dog bites into the kibble, that are shown to greatly aid in keeping teeth clean.
I dont know about the bone thing, AVDA hasn't tested them yet