How To Brush Your Pet's Teeth
VideoJug presents a step-by-step instructional guide on how to brush your dog's or cat's teeth. We will help you to look after your pet's teeth by showing you how to clean them properly.
Step 1: Meet Dr. David Steele:
My name is Dr. David Steele of Advanced Medical Care, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. As part of our overall pet wellness care, we recommend taking care of your pets teeth on a daily basis. One of the best ways of doing this for your pet is to brush their teeth.
Step 2: Avoid periodontal disease:
Periodontal disease is a serious condition that affects most dogs and cats by the age of three. Periodontal disease causes gingivitis, loss of teeth, pain in the mouth and possibly even serious infections in the internal organs such as the heart, kidneys, liver and sometimes even in the brain.
Step 3: Take care of teeth daily:
By taking care of your pets teeth on a daily basis, we may be able to prevent and perhaps maybe even eliminate the need for having your pet anesthetized by your veterinarian for a more thorough cleaning.
Step 4: Keep it Clean Pet Dental Kit:
While for some folks, brushing your dogs and cats teeth may be a daunting task, it doesn't really need to be. With the Keep it Clean Pet Dental Kit, you have everything that you need right at your fingertips to take care of brushing your pets teeth. And, it also comes in a nice, convenient, compact way to store all of your tools. Although, we do recommend brushing their teeth on a daily basis, any amount of brushing in beneficial.
Step 5: Get comfortable:
The first step in brushing your pets teeth, is to get you and your pet comfortable and used to the idea of brushing. The key is to have this scheduled so that the brushing becomes a routine for your pet and for yourself. You don't want to be in a big hurry on doing this and you want to make sure that your pet and yourself are relaxed and comfortable. For larger dogs, it may be easier to brush them on the floor. With smaller dogs like Enzo here, it may be easier and, certainly with cats it may be easier to have them elevated up on a countertop or a table.
Step 6: Start gradually:
When you start to brush the teeth, you don't want to try to brush all the teeth initially. You want to start of light and perhaps even using just your index finger. When you start to brush the teeth, again start with having them nice and relaxed and calm and petting them and then gently, elevate the lips and massage the gums and teeth. You want to start off with just a few teeth at first and then praising and petting them and letting them know what a good job they did. And then, build gradually from there.
Step 7: Patience is key:
Depending on your pets comfort level, this may take a couple of days or it may take a few weeks before you accomplish our goal of brushing all the teeth. If you pet does begin to wiggle or resist brushing, stop, allow your pet to become more relaxed and comfortable again, starting back with just touching the teeth and, this way you can then make sure you always end the session with lots of love and reinforcement.
Step 8: Use the right brush:
The next step is selecting a brush and in the Keep it Clean Pet Dental Kit, we have all the tools necessary for brushing all dogs and cats teeth. We have the smaller finger brush which is best used for those beginning brushing. We have a smaller brush with a long narrow handle and narrow head which works best for our small dogs and cats. And, we have a larger brush with a long ergonomically designed handle which prevents slipping, which works best in medium and large dogs. Today, we're going to use the smaller brush for Enzo.
Step 9: The correct toothpaste:
So, now we're ready to apply the paste to the toothbrush. The Keep it Clean Pet Dental Kit has a toothpaste that's filet mignon flavoured which most pets will find more appealing. You want to make sure that you apply a small amount of toothpaste to the brush. And, you also want to make sure - excuse me Enzo - you also want to make sure that you're not using human toothpaste because that's too high in fluoride which can make your pet sick. And, also it foams too much which, most dogs and cats don't find very appealing.When brushing your pets teeth, you want to concentrate on using slow circular motion on the teeth. You want to put an emphasis on a downward stroke on the upper teeth and an upward stroke on the lower teeth. Your goal is to brush all four quadrants, left and right, upper and lower teeth for a total of two minutes or thirty seconds per quadrant per day.And, last but not least, make sure that you always finish each brushing session with a positive note and some good praise - way to go Enzo! That's a good boy! Here's your cookie! Way to go! With regular cleaning, you can rest assured that you're giving your pet its best chance of preventing oral disease and possibly extending his life span by as much as two to three years.If you'd like to get more information, we do recommend visiting your local veterinarian which is also to make sure that your pet is ready for a dental care program. You can also get more information from our website at www.keepitcleanusa.com
