Healthy teeth are essential for your Cavalier’s health. Healthy teeth help prevent a variety of other issues down the line from infected gums to heart, liver, and kidney issues. A healthy mouth means a healthier furry friend.
Why Healthy Teeth are so Important
Healthy teeth are important because a healthy mouth is directly tied to overall body health. Studies have proven that an inflamed, infected mouth can lead to plaque and bacteria making their way into your Cavalier’s bloodstream. From there, they can affect organs in your dog’s body. There has been a strong connection with gum disease and heart disease as well as heart valve inflammation.
How to Keep Your Cavalier’s Teeth Healthy
Healthy teeth are important to your Cavalier’s overall health, so doing what you can to keep them clean is a major step in keeping them healthy.
Professional Dental Cleanings
Professional cleanings are key to healthy teeth. I don’t know any dog that will let its owner brush its teeth for two full minutes. We can only do so much with our little guys. After that, it’s up to our vets.
A professional dental cleaning includes:
- Mouth X-rays when equipment is available
- A full cleaning including scaling and polishing
- Extractions when needed
- Antibiotic wash for extractions
- Fluoride treatment
Brushing
After your Cavalier has had its cleaning, follow up with regular brushing. Most vets recommend brushing the teeth, especially the molars and carnassials, at least three times a week. If your dog is extremely tolerant, brushing daily never hurts. Generally speaking, you’ll only be able to hit the gum side of the teeth, but it’s better than nothing.
Dental Chews
There are a wide variety of dental chews to help keep your Cavalier’s teeth healthy. You can get chews like Dentastix and Greenies over the counter. Your vet may also have C.E.T chews. These rawhide chew are embedded with chlohexidine to help kill bacteria while your little guy or girl has their chewy fun.
Water Additives
You can find over the counter water additives to help kill bacteria every time your dog drinks its water. Some vets also carry C.E.T. Aquadent water additive, a veterinary grade additive designed to kill bacteria effectively. With any of these additives, frequent water changing is recommended.
Healthy Teeth are Easier Than You Think
Even if your Cavalier is a stinker, he or she won’t let you get the toothbrush on those teethers, you can still give them chews and water additives. Most important of all, you can have routine dental checkups and get your pooch dental cleanings when needed. Never wait. Healthy teeth are important, and it’s up to us to make sure our dogs have them, whether they like it or not!
These are great tips. It’s so important to make sure their teeth are healthy!
We do have to take care our of furry babies. Their oral health is very important
It is so important to pay attention to all of the small details for your fur babies. Thankfully our girl loves getting her teeth brushed.
Healthy teeth are so important! We have all been brushing since we were tiny puppies and our teeth were pretty good, but we got an Emmi-Dent ultrasonic toothbrush this spring to review and it has been such an improvement. Believe me, we let Mom spend at least 2 mins with it on our teeth. It is so easy to use, really no noise or vibration, tasty toothpaste. Even 13 yr old Katie who had a few teeth with serious plaque has white teeth now. The plaque just chipped off after using the emmi-pet for a couple months. Our breath is so much fresher, and our gums have a better color. It is an amazing product we would never have believed in had we not tested it ourselves!
We will have to give it a try! Thanks for telling us about it.
Felissa Elfenbein recently posted..Healthy Teeth for a Healthy Cavalier
My sister in law has a cavalier and its the cutest dog! I will share this healthy teeth post with her!
Thank you for sharing! Healthy teeth is so important in maintaining a healthy heart in Cavaliers.
Felissa Elfenbein recently posted..Healthy Teeth for a Healthy Cavalier
Thanks for the advice! I can see how those dental chews would be great in between daily brushing sessions.
I never realized how much actually goes into a dentist visit for a dog. So fascinating, thanks for sharing how to keep them clean.
Dental chews? Who knew. This is such a great idea!!
These are great tips! Dental chews really help. I remember buying this when I still had my dog.
These are some really great tips! Who knew so much went into the care of cavalier teeth!
What a cute dog! My parents’ Bichon Frise is adorable too, but she has really bad breath! We give her bones for dental health and my mom brushes her teeth too.
Growing up my best friend had a Cavalier. They were so cute!
Beth recently posted..#FindingAsia: Japan Day Chicago
What a sweet pup! I love cavaliers. They’re so pretty 🙂
Such a pretty dog! This post reminded me that it’s time for our dogs cleaning! We just talked to the vet about it and need to make the appointment.
Camesha | Mama Motivator recently posted..Push Me!
What a cute pup! These are great tips! Dental Chews are a great idea.
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Those are fantastic tips! I’ve never heard of those water additives before. Bruce is only young still and has good teeth, but I’m keen to keep them that way as he gets older. I might have to look into it. At the moment his daily carrot helps clean his teeth.
Joy at PawsandPrada recently posted..Old Mother Hubbard Dog Snacks
Thanks for the tips! I love my Cavalier Winston. Yes teeth are very important. sometimes we forget! When the breath gets bad thats a sign. Same as us humans! Bacteria causes bad breath! Yuck! We want them to have good dental health.
Liz Swann