Teeth and Gums
5 cards · about a minute
It starts before three
Most dogs carry some dental disease by their third birthday, and it hurts long before it smells, a dog eating normally is not proof of a comfortable mouth.
Brushing is the whole game
Nothing else comes close: a soft brush and a dog toothpaste, thirty seconds a side, most days. Never human toothpaste, which often contains xylitol.
Teach the mouth first
Spend a week just lifting the lip and paying, then a finger along the gums, then the brush. You are training acceptance before you attempt any cleaning.
What a chew does
A daily chew scrapes some of the surface and freshens the breath, but nothing edible reaches under the gum line, which is where the disease that matters sits.
Signs worth a visit
Blood on the chew, a dropped kibble, chewing on one side, a swelling under an eye, or breath that has genuinely changed, those are a vet, not a mouthwash.
On this site
This deck is about oral health, which has a page of its own with the full detail behind these 5 cards.
Read about oral health