[2024 Teeth Brushing Guide for Cats and Dogs] Why should you develop the good habit of "brushing your pet's teeth" early? How to brush your pet's teeth?

Key points for brushing pets’ teeth・Teaching house owners to help pets brush their teeth

[2024 Brushing Teeth of Cats and Dogs to Combat Teeth Abnormalities] Why should we develop the good habit of “brushing our pets’ teeth” early? How to brush our pets’ teeth?

Pets’ oral hygiene is as important as humans. If not paid attention to, it may lead to gingivitis, periodontal disease and other problems.

Veterinarians recommend that we start the habit of brushing our pets' teeth when they are young. This can prevent the accumulation of dental plaque, keep teeth healthy, improve the pet's breath, and make the pet healthier.

I used to be confused about brushing my pets' teeth, thinking "Is it necessary?", "Animals can't brush their teeth", "Cats and dogs can maintain oral hygiene by themselves", but as my pets get older, I start to care more about them. It turns out that brushing your pet’s teeth is a very important thing. Today we will explain the importance of "brushing your pet's teeth"!

1. The problem of pets not brushing their teeth

The health of your pet's teeth is very important. If they are not cleaned regularly, plaque and tartar will develop. These can cause periodontal disease, which affects the health of your gums, tooth bones and roots.

Not only does periodontal disease cause pain and discomfort to your pet, it also increases the risk of inflammation and infection, which can threaten important organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys.

Treating periodontal disease may require dental cleaning or surgery under anesthesia, which can be very taxing for your pet. Therefore, we should brush our pets’ teeth regularly to keep their oral cavity clean to avoid these problems.

2. How to brush your pet’s teeth?

Many people are faced with the problem of cleaning their pet's teeth, such as "cats and dogs don't like brushing their teeth" and "it's expensive to take them to the veterinarian for teeth cleaning."

We recommend that you first understand the situation of your pet, which is divided into two types:
The first one is "You can accept brushing your teeth or be comforted and you will behave";
The second type is "total refusal to brush teeth"

So the method becomes very important! We feel that the most effective method is to "make brushing your teeth a habit" and "gradually develop the habit", and finally "seek professional help".

2.1 Make “brushing your teeth a habit”

To get your pet accustomed to brushing their teeth, you must first make them feel that brushing their teeth is a good thing. Therefore, you can first reward them with cans or snacks, give them a little at a time, and then gently brush their teeth with a pet-specific toothbrush (it does not need to be very careful).

This action should be done every day for several days or weeks. This can make them feel that "as long as people touch their teeth, there will be good wild food."

So the method becomes very important! We feel that the most effective method is to "make brushing your teeth a habit" and "gradually develop the habit", and finally "seek professional help".

2.2 Step by step

Getting your pet accustomed to brushing his teeth does not happen overnight, it requires a gradual process.

We have introduced some methods to help pets adapt to oral touch. If you continue to implement them for a period of time, you can move to the next stage, which is officially brushing!

Remember not to forcefully immobilize your pet and then brush them for a long time at a time. This will make them feel very uncomfortable and may even affect the trust relationship established before!

Therefore, when you start brushing your teeth, it only takes half a minute each time, and you should target specific parts. For example, only brush the left molars today, and only the right molars tomorrow. In this way, brush little by little every day, while maintaining The principle of "If you cooperate with brushing your teeth, you will get good food", let cats and dogs gradually adapt to the action of brushing teeth!

2.3 Professional advice

When you try the above methods to no avail, please don’t give up on your pet’s dental health.

It is recommended that you take your pet to a veterinarian. The veterinarian will conduct a comprehensive examination of your pet’s teeth and provide us with more practical suggestions and methods!

3. What tools are available for pet brushing?

3.1 Toothpaste

Remember not to use human toothpaste to brush your pet’s teeth, as pets cannot rinse their mouths and will swallow the toothpaste, which is not good for their health.

Moreover, human toothpaste usually has a mint or other cooling flavor, which cats and dogs don’t like and will refuse to brush their teeth.

Therefore, please "choose a toothpaste specially designed for pets". There are many brands on the market.

3.2 Toothbrush

Remember not to use a human toothbrush to brush your pet's teeth because the human toothbrush head is too large and does not fit the size of your pet's mouth.

If your pet struggles and doesn't cooperate, they may injure their teeth or gums.

Therefore, it is recommended that everyone buy a "toothbrush specially designed for pets". There are general toothbrush shapes, some that are put on the fingers, and some that use gauze instead.

4. Summary

There are many types of toothpastes and toothbrushes for pets with different flavors. It is recommended that you choose the ones online or based on the ones that cats and dogs like the most. After you get home, spend 5 minutes cleaning your pets every day or every two days!