[MollyWoppy]

My dog eats a predominantly raw diet and all her teeth are perfectly white, except for the eye teeth. They have some tartar around the gum line.
I've tried giving her large lumps of meat hoping she would use her front teeth to tear the meat off, but for some reason she will only use her back teeth and crunches it off that way. I would really like to get rid of this tartar before it becomes a problem, so wondering if I've anyone else has got the same problem and if there are any remedy's.
Thanks....

 

[DaneMama]

Are you meaning her canines? The longest sharp ones in front?

If so, it's kinda normal. A few of our dogs do as well, and there's not much you can do because they don't use those teeth for chewing. What you can do is give huge chunks of meat where they have to use their front teeth to tear meat off.

 

[MollyWoppy]

Yeah, sorry, I did mean the canine teeth. She does not use them at all to eat, maybe they 'save' them for bringing down prey or something, I don't know. But it is good to know that it's not unusual. Would it go away if I brushed them daily? It's not too bad, just a bit yellow. She a bit over 3 years old.

 

[DaneMama]

It would depend on the amount of tartar that is already there. Of there is quite a bit you probably won't be able to just brush it off. Unless her gums around the tooth are very red and swollen I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't do much to Bailey's teeth but scale the tartar off every once in a while.

 

[RawFedDogs]

My dogs also have a little discoloration at the top of their canines. I don't worry about it.

You are right, dogs generally don't chew with their canine teeth. Those are used to kill prey. They are protective of those teeth because without them in the wild, they are in big trouble. They don't risk breaking them by chewing.

 

[malluver1005]

Aspen also has a little bit of tarter on the canines. I just HAVE to scrape the tarter off because it really bugs me!

 

[DaneMama]

Aspen also has a little bit of tarter on the canines. I just HAVE to scrape the tarter off because it really bugs me!

Just be careful that you don't do more harm than good and damage his teeth...

 

[MollyWoppy]

Thanks for yr replies. Now I know it's normal I'm not going to worry about it anymore. It's not excessive and her gums aren't red so I'll just keep an eye on it and get them cleaned if they ever start looking bad. Really appreciate your help.

 

[1605]

Thanks!

As you know I don't feed Zio raw, but that doesn't mean that this forum isn't a great resource.

I also had questions about some discoloration on his canines....

FWIW the rest of his teeth are nice & white, but I've been thinking about giving him a raw beef rib the next time we decide to cook up a batch. (They are great bbq'd btw. Lots of meat on them!)

Thanks!

 

[Unosmom]

Uno has some discoloration as well, but I rub some of that Petzlife gel on and it keeps most of the gunk at bay.

 

[DaneMama]

As you know I don't feed Zio raw, but that doesn't mean that this forum isn't a great resource.

I also had questions about some discoloration on his canines....

FWIW the rest of his teeth are nice & white, but I've been thinking about giving him a raw beef rib the next time we decide to cook up a batch. (They are great bbq'd btw. Lots of meat on them!)

Thanks!

If you do give a beef rib to Zio, I would hold him off of his kibble that day since he will get a good portion of raw beef from the rib. There's a chance that his tummy could get upset from it, some of them tend to be pretty fatty.

 

[1605]

If you do give a beef rib to Zio, I would hold him off of his kibble that day since he will get a good portion of raw beef from the rib. There's a chance that his tummy could get upset from it, some of them tend to be pretty fatty.

Natalie, the one time we gave him raw hamburger he did get a bit of the runs, so subsequent times we have only given him cooked burger. Does that mean that we might want to sear the meat a bit so it's not so raw, or is it still better to give it to him totally raw & be prepared from some consequences?

Thanx!

 

[RawFedDogs]

Natalie, the one time we gave him raw hamburger he did get a bit of the runs, so subsequent times we have only given him cooked burger. Does that mean that we might want to sear the meat a bit so it's not so raw, or is it still better to give it to him totally raw & be prepared from some consequences?

Thanx!

Obviously I'm not Natalie but he will be ok without searing. He will be eating mostly bone so that should eliminate runs. The reason he got a bit of runs from hamburger is that there were no bones in it. I would be afraid to sear ribs for fear of making the bone brittle.

 

[DaneMama]

Natalie, the one time we gave him raw hamburger he did get a bit of the runs, so subsequent times we have only given him cooked burger. Does that mean that we might want to sear the meat a bit so it's not so raw, or is it still better to give it to him totally raw & be prepared from some consequences?

Thanx!

Exactly what RFD said.

There are plenty of reasons why he could have gotten the runs from raw versus the cooked hamburger:

Do you remember if one was more fatty than the other...ie meat to fat ratio?

How much did you give him from each the cooked and raw?

Was the raw pretty darn fresh or a few days old?

It could have been something completely unrelated to the hamburger?

Or the one that I lean towards is that he was fed kibble that day (takes 12 or so hours to get out of the stomach) and it didn't sit well with raw meat (takes only a few hours in the stomach). The different rate of digestion could have caused upset. The reason why you didn't see upset with cooked is that meat sources in kibble are cooked...might be a link there.

All that being said, a bit of loose stool is nothing to lose sleep over. Its normal and most of the time harmless. I would think that the benefit of teeth cleaning is worth a bit of loose stool for a day or so :wink: