Quote:
Originally Posted by Shimpy
What do animals in the wild do? Who cleans their teeth? Give them some milkbones and let them have a ball chewing and cleaning their own teeth.
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Wild candids’ diets consist primarily of raw meat and bones. This diet, and it’s associated enzymes along with the “tearing action” required to consume whole prey is what keeps their teeth clean. In fact, clean healthy teeth is one of the benefits cited by folks who feed their domestic dogs a raw diet. However, most of us feed our dogs commercial kibble and give them dog biscuits. It would be the equivalent of a human eating dry cereal for every meal. Would dry cereal tend to clean our teeth, or would it cake up on them? Regardless of manufacturer’s advertising...dog biscuits do not assist in cleaning their teeth either. Dog biscuits are just kibble in a more hardened form, and because of the way that most dogs eat their biscuits, it doesn’t “scrape” the plaque off of a dog’s teeth.
This thread is about the price of dental cleanings. If you don’t believe in cleaning a dog’s teeth so be it. But most of us dog owners who are proactive about dental health have done a good amount of research on the topic and we have come to our own conclusions based on that research. What I don’t understand is why others feel the need to tell us we are wrong, when they obviously haven’t done research themselves. You don’t have to look very hard to find plenty of unbiased information that recommends brushing and (if necessary) professional cleaning.