How often should you brush your pet's teeth?

Just like yourself, dental health of your pets are so very important!  Eating great food is one of the biggest happiness for us and for our pet companions.  Imagine how sad you'd be if you are unable to eat delicious food because you have a terrible tooth ache!  Not to forget that you are likely suffering from the tooth ache even when you are not eating as well.  This is the same for our pets and it is why your pets should get their teeth brushed regularly so they can keep their high quality of life and keep their teeth clean and healthy.

So how often should your brush your pets teeth?  According to vcahospitals.com, both cats and dogs should have their teeth brushed at least 2-3 time in a week, but it is ideal to brush them twice daily just like us humans.  I personally brush my dog's teeth once a day, and although it could be a pain in the butt, I am willing to do the work if it means my dogs can keep their teeth healthy and not have to deal with the tooth ache and other pains in the future.  It is well worth it and it also keeps their breath clean as well!

There are different ways to brush your dogs teeth and I am sure you could easily find great info on how to do them on Google or on YouTube, but here is the what I do for my dogs that is effective. 

First off, I use a toothbrush with a small head with a soft bristle to brush their teeth and little dab of toothpaste that does not contain fluoride and xylitol.  Then you need to find a way to hold your dog in place as dogs will naturally want to move around when their teeth is getting brushed.  I personally have them sit on my bed which comes up to my waist and hold them with my left hand and my right thigh as I brush their teeth with my right hand.  If this sounds too complicated, you could also hold them down with your legs while sitting on the floor.

Now, once you have your dogs in position where you can hold them down to brush their teeth, I start with their front incisor teeth.  I gently pull back on their skin behind their nose and under their chin to expose the teeth to brush them.  Dogs can easily get food stuck between the front incisor teeth so it is important to work on this area.  Once I am done with this area, I gently pull on their side lips on top of the canine to work on the canine then the molars.  Once I am done with one of the side, I would move on to the other side and do the same.  It sounds like a lot of work, but I can actually brush two of my dog's teeth in about 3 minutes.   

So what was the result?  One of my dog Hali had a brown spot on one of her molar on the right side, but after brushing her teeth everyday, that spot has disappeared.  Also, Dax my other dog, he has weak teeth where his incisor teeth were wobbly and he actually lost one of his lower incisor teeth while playing with a small squeaky tennis ball, but now that I brush his teeth everyday, his teeth is no longer wobbly and he is able to play with his toys again which is fantastic. 

So please consider brushing your pets teeth regularly as it has so much benefit in the long term for your pets!  And don't wait until it is too late!  If you neglect the dental health of your pets, they might have to get some of their teeth extracted!  Yikes!  Save yourself this trouble and spend about 2-3 minutes to keep your pets teeth clean and healthy!