What dog chews for great teeth?

[Sway]

Our new adoption Merlin has rather pongy breath, and his back teeth look a little cruddy...

He's not used to having toys, and we've switched him to millies wolfheart instead of the ste he was on before, but are now looking for something for him to chew when chilling out.

Last time I had a dog, pedigree chum and pig's ear chews were the norm. I've learnt about decent dogfood, but what do people recommend for chews - especially to help keep teeth in good condition?

[Turn7]

The Pedigree dentastix worked for ours, but everyone will have other opinions.....

[frozen-in-wiltshire]

beef knuckle bones from the butcher - usually free or really cheap - fab for their teeth. but you need to be able to cope with the mess they leave around - and it's a lot of mess.
otherwise dentastix doing fine for ours - the green ones seem best breath-wise
and if you're really keen - you can get some enzymatic tooth paste from the vet which you rub on with your finger - if your dog will tolerate that

[anonymous-user]

Dentastix, plus the right rawhide chews.

If you have a strong objection to rawhide there are alternatives - although they aren't as effective not last as long.

Don't feed them rawhide if they're unsupervised however.

[Boosted LS1]

Find him something he likes to chew. The dentist products are good as are those spikey rubber toys but at the end of the day the dog needs to like gnawing on it and for a long time. Maybe try a few supermarket products?

ETA, just read what you feed him. No wonder his breath stinks. I've never heard of that stuff and all my dogs for over 40 years have had good breath up until older years. They lived on Iams or similar.

What breed is this dog?

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Thursday 25th April 21:58

[toasty]

Ours loves the Dentastix but then again she is a Lab and eats almost anything.

[carinatauk]

Carrots

[Boosted LS1]

carinatauk said:

Carrots

Bassetts love those.

[pikeyboy]

Dentistick things are full of sh*te. Raw hide chews are messy and have their own issues. Mine have antlers and hoofs to gnaw on, my mums lab has carrots as advised by our vet and its teeth are simon cowel spec white.

[toasty]

boy said:

Dentistick things are full of sh*te. Raw hide chews are messy and have their own issues. Mine have antlers and hoofs to gnaw on, my mums lab has carrots as advised by our vet and its teeth are simon cowel spec white.

Antlers are too hard for all but hyenas. We made the mistake of giving these to our dog and she ground down her canines quite severely.

Carrots are good but full of sugar, not sure how good for teeth they are.

[hondafanatic]

My forearm, visitors, coffee table and a tree.

[rxe]

Big old cow bones. Cleans their teeth up no end.

There's nothing like a pair of German Shepherds chewing on indeterminate lumps of bone to put the wind up delivery drivers.

[Challo]

We use dentasticks, but also a mixture of yaks milk bones, antlers, carrots, plus these dental dog treats we picked up from the garden centre.

He has good breath, and pearly whites.

[Boosted LS1]

Not for long he won't.

[Brads67]

Beef bones and the odd deer shoulders

[Boosted LS1]

A deceased relative of mine had a pack of GDS's bred over eon's, 40 years plus, some of them only understood german. They lived on raw tripe, none of this macho stuff above. The pack would settle old scores and dogs died if you didn't get in there quick enough. So, I guess tripe's good enough for a GSD to do It's business. Antlers or crap above not needed. These dogs could kill you on tripe alone.

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Monday 29th April 23:35

[Boosted LS1]

What happened to the OP? Is he cooking sardines?

[Brads67]

Boosted LS1 said:

A deceased relative of mine had a pack of GDS's bred over eon's, 40 years plus, some of them only understood german. They lived on raw tripe, none of this macho stuff above. The pack would settle old scores and dogs died if you didn't get in there quick enough. So, I guess tripe's good enough for a GSD to do It's business. Antlers or crap above not needed. These dogs could kill you on tripe alone.

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Monday 29th April 23:35

Yup, sounds like tripe right enough.

[Boosted LS1]

Yawn. You've never seen a pack settle it;s differences then? I've buried 2 in the flint.

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Tuesday 30th April 00:04

[Brads67]

Yup right enough.