Question Details
Dental Care
by Peggy Lewis - October 5, 2009
Hi Steve-
Could you give me the basics of your preventative program for dental care in small breed dogs-- Good diet? I've heard that good mineral balance is important, but I don't know what that means.
Also, i have several dogs that I'm dealing w/ now that have severe periodontal disease - what are your recommentations for that?
Could you give me a good reference for the formation of home-made diets for dogs and cats?
Thanks- I appreciate it. Peggy
Replies
by naturevet
October 5, 2009
Hi Peggy,

For home made diets, we just printed up and elaborated on the 'Paleolithic Diet' in the Manual of Natural Veterinary Medicine. It has an appendix on home-cooked diets. I find the recipe works well, but it emphasizes parameters, rather than specific ingredients. I think varying the ingredients is important to ensure nutritional completeness.

For dental hygiene, we encourage owners to try giving their dogs an appropriately sized raw bone (that has been frozen first, to help kill bacteria). I spend a lot of time explaining to owners that the notion of kibble cleaning teeth has no basis in research whatsoever, and is rather exceptional marketing that veterinarians have, themselves, come to accept. There's just no way a pulverized food high in starch that sticks to the teeth cannot be expected to be used as a food source by microbes, especially given the presence of amylase in the saliva. Raw, on the other hand, moves on through for the most part. What little that remains cannot be digested by salivary amylase. The net effect is a starving out of gram negative oral pathogenic bacteria.

For dogs that don't or can't eat bones, we use a product called Leba III to spray on the teeth. It works slowly over time to break down tartar and plaque, when used as directed. Otherwise we do dentals.

I don't use any more mineral supplements than are appropriate for a balanced diet.

Hope that helps, for what it's worth!

Steve
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