Nowhere in dog care is there more argument than if bones should be fed as part of a regular diet.

You’ll see a lot of advice that it’s dangerous. It certainly can be. However, if you follow our bone feeding advice, you will minimise the risk, but not eliminate it.

You’ll also see a lot of advice saying it has no benefit, or that certain manufactured products are better. This is a much more complicated issue and as you will see, not entirely true.

Why Is There So Little Proof?

Absence of evidence is not always evidence of absence.

In other words, there can be no proof of benefit without studies designed to look for it. The problems with bones is that they generally lack companies with the financial incentive to fund major studies.

Therefore, we know that toothbrushing, Dentastix, Greenies, dental foods and even mouthwashes can help, but we just don’t know enough about bones. It was this gap that we attempted to resolve in 2010.

The Walkerville Vet Bone Feeding Study

For 12 months, we surveyed dog owners at the time of vaccination, asking many questions about their diet. We also gave their mouth a dental score.

At the end of the study, we had 479 completed surveys. Then, owing to the fact that we’re always busy, we put them aside for a few years but never forgot them.

In 2017 I approached a statistician at the University of Adelaide about publishing the study. He was very helpful, and together we statistically analysed the data so that this was possible. Here’s what we found.

Bone Feeding Study Results

The graph gives a quick summary of the dog dental scores we collected. There was a dramatic difference in the rate of periodontal disease based on how often bones were fed. This difference was statistically significant at several points.

We also found that certain breed groups (Terriers, Gundogs, Working Dogs) were less likely to have dental problems when compared with Toy breeds.

According to these results, the feeding of bones to dogs is associated with better periodontal disease scores.

Although this suggests that the bones are keeping the teeth clean, we must be careful to not claim causation; we can’t prove that one causes the other. For example, owners who feed bones might generally be more conscious of dental care in other ways. Of course, we tried to ask about such things in the study, but only a long-term study would answer that question properly.

Regardless, the results are compelling and unique. It certainly suggests that dogs who are given dietary bone will benefit.

So Why Isn’t It Published?

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time any such study has been conducted anywhere in the world. But it still hasn’t made it into a scientific journal.

We have submitted the manuscript to several journals, and there are three main reasons why it remains unpublished.

1. We have not tried the low ranking journals. Any paper can be published if you’re not fussy about where.
2. Legitimate criticism has been made that we were too close to the data. Claire and me both knew the patients, and it’s conceivable that our dental scores were biased as a result. Of course we don’t think so!
3. The journal reviewers are leaders in the field of veterinary dentistry, which is generally antagonistic towards bone feeding. Just read this quote from one:

It has already been established that diets with coarser materials will help to decrease the incidence of plaque and calculus accumulation, however there are major concerns in regards to the other problems that raw diets and diets with bone can cause.  From an oral health stand point, the incidence in dental trauma  or fractured teeth and endodontic disease should also be compared.  Without this comparison it is irresponsible to recommend this type of diet.

It’s like saying we aren’t allowed to publish on the benefits of early reading in children if we don’t also look at associated eye diseases. The reviewer’s comments are, of course, not evidence-based as no one has looked at rates of problems with bones either.

I would love that study too, but no-one asked the dental chew manufacturers to prove their safety. Are we not allowed to show a benefit if it exists?

So we continue to try. In the meantime, here’s a link to the full scientific paper, including references to other bone studies over time. Enjoy, and feel free to ask lots of questions in the comments below!

Related: How To Feed Bones To Reduce Risk | Other Ways To Keep Dogs’ Teeth Clean

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

The study actually looked at 10-19kg crossbreeds but this data should be the closest match to a Kelpie currently available.

This paper provides the first evidence for medium-sized dog breeds on choosing a time of desexing with the fewest health problems. The study compared the dogs neutered at different ages for their rates of:

• joint disorders: hip dysplasia (HD), cruciate ligament injury (CCL) and elbow dysplasia (ED)
• cancers: lymphoma (LSA), mast cell tumour (MCT), haemangiosarcoma (HSA), osteosarcoma (OSA)
• urinary incontinence (UI)

All of these have been suspected to be linked with the age of neutering. Here’s what they found (only bold values are significant, my summary to follow):

UI was higher in dogs under 1 year of age, but the difference was not significant.

If this table makes no sense, it’s mostly because there are no abnormal findings. Have a look at this one for Golden retrievers as a comparison. 

Summary: The Best Kelpie Spay & Neuter Times

As you can see, there is minimal evidence that health problems in medium-sized dogs like Kelpies are influenced by the age of neutering. Owners of either sex are therefore free to choose the age of desexing that suits them best.

Recommendation: 9 months for males and one year for females.

This allows for the general trend of later times with higher body weights. It is older with females as they will come into season at 7-9 months, and we want this to settle down completely before surgery.

This is so far the only science we have for the best desexing age in medium sized dogs. Your vet, breeder or online group may have a different opinion based on their experience or personal beliefs. It’s perfectly reasonable to take their advice into consideration as well.

The decision may also be based on other factors such as:

• local neutering legislation
• risk of male dog aggression to children
• risk of pregnancy or reluctance to manage a female in heat
• health problems associated with intact dogs

The study authors are to be applauded to bringing into focus one of the most common questions from dog owners. For Kelpies and other medium-sized dogs, they’ve made the decision a lot easier.

Related: Best Desexing Age For 39 Breeds | Desexing Choices For Dogs | Costs Of Desexing

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

Sometimes when a tooth needs removal, there is plenty of time to explain why. However, most of the time, you get a hurried phone call while your dog or cat is asleep. There really is nothing you can do but trust your vet.

We’ll look at each of the reasons why a tooth might cause enough pain to require extraction.

Trauma

Tooth fracture is most commonly caused by chewing on hard objects such as antlers, fences, stones or even raw bones. While shallow fractures can be tolerated, those that involve the the tooth’s central pulp cavity require urgent care.

You can see a picture of an exposed pulp cavity at the start of our page on What to expect after tooth extraction. There’s also a discussion of costs of removal.

Such a tooth is destined to die, and then form a tooth root abscess. They can be below the eye like the one pictured here, or hidden in the jaw like the xray at the start (green arrows). These teeth always cause severe and ongoing pain, even if your dog appears normal.

General Rule: tooth fracture involving the pulp cavity requires immediate pain relief and either referral for root canal endodontics, or removal. Removal is a practical and low-cost option chosen by most owners..

Tooth Resorption

Tooth resorption is the most common cause of tooth loss in cats, but it’s increasingly being seen in dogs too. Despite being everywhere, we still know very little about why it happens. It occurs when the tooth is invaded by special bone-destroying cells called odontoclasts.

Resorption below the gumline is probably painless. However, when it spreads or starts higher up, it causes painful cavities called odontoclastic resorptive lesions. You can sometimes identify these by red areas where gum is growing into a hole on the tooth.

The xray at the start shows the appearance of Type 2 resorption (red arrow), as seen by a loss of both the internal structure of the root and the periodontal ligament (the dark line on the adjacent good roots indicated by the yellow arrow).

General Rule: part or all of a resorbed tooth must always be removed.

• Type 1 resorption requires complete removal of the tooth including its roots as they remain intact and will not resorb by themselves.
• Type 2 resorption only requires removal of the part above the gum line. Attempting to remove roots in such cases is extremely difficult, as well as unnecessary.

Mobility

Buildup of plaque on the teeth causes infection and damage to the periodontal ligament that holds the tooth in its socket. We call this process periodontal disease (PD).

As attachment is lost, the tooth becomes mobile, or even wobbly. Eventually it causes too much pain to be used.

General Guideline: a tooth should be removed when movement in any direction (other than axial) is greater than 0.5 mm.

Furcation Exposure

PD in multi-rooted teeth, which is most of them, will eventually expose the junction between the roots. We call this the furcation. Once it’s exposed, food and plaque accumulate underneath the tooth and cause painful infection.

General Guideline: a tooth should be removed when a probe can be passed in one side of the furcation and out the other. In other words, when there’s a hole under the tooth.

Gingival Pocketing

The loss of attachment caused by PD also causes pockets to form between tooth and gum (‘3’ on the diagram). Once the pocket gets deep enough, food and plaque accumulate and the pocket gets harder and harder to manage.

General Rule: pockets deeper than 6 mm in dogs, or 4 mm in cats require advanced care. Most teeth like this are removed, and that’s a valid approach given the poor outlook. The ideal is periodontal flap surgery, but this is rarely available outside specialists. A bare minimum is cleaning under anaesthetic at least every 6 months.

Management of the pockets is one of the most important parts of a routine scale and polish. I hope you can see that it’s completely impossible to do with anaesthetic-free dentistry.

There are only two other common situations where tooth removal is indicated. The first is in cats with severe gingivitis and stomatitis, where even healthy teeth are sometimes removed to reduce the disease burden. The second is preventative extraction of puppy teeth that haven’t fallen out by themselves. You’ll find a whole article about this (and pictures!) at the link.

In closing, I can promise you something with my whole heart: your vet would always rather a clean mouth than a dirty one, and a dental procedure without extractions. The advice I give you on cleaning teeth in dogs and ways to keep cats’ teeth clean is designed to prevent you ever being in this position.

The reality is though, that in a long life nearly all pets need at least one tooth taken out. I hope this helps you for when the time comes.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

It’s stressful knowing a dog or cat might lose teeth. The main worry is “how will they eat?” When it happens it is never as bad as feared.

The reason is that nearly all teeth removed by a vet are already causing pain. Therefore, dogs and cats who have had teeth taken out should eat better shortly afterwards. Owners of pets with severe problems also notice their pets are generally brighter and more active.

Even dogs who end up without teeth will eat dog food better than they did before as long as the food is kept small enough.

Pain Relief

The greatest advances in pet dentistry have been in the provision of adequate pain control. Nowadays, nerve blocks are standard and animals should experience little or no pain. These are routinely combined with anti-inflammatory medications both at the time and afterwards at home.

Whether one or 20 teeth require removal, complications are rare and you can expect a fast recovery. A course of antibiotics may also be given depending on the need.

Eating After Dentistry

Most animals will eat a small dinner on the evening of surgery, and continue eating afterwards without problems.

You will get specific feeding instructions from your clinic depending on which teeth were removed. Sometimes it’s better to eat soft food , especially when stitches are present. Other times small kibble is preferred to prevent food getting impacted in the healing areas.

How Long Does It Take For A Tooth Extraction To Heal?

Uncomplicated tooth extraction sites will heal in approximately one to two weeks. Common reasons for delayed healing are remnant tooth fragments or food becoming stuck in deep sockets.

Stitches, if placed, should also dissolve in one to two weeks without issue. There may be a small amount of bleeding, but if your dog or cat is happy and eating, it’s no concern.

Options In Tooth Extractions

Like whenever we discuss the cost of veterinary care, there will be choices. That’s why you can divide tooth extractions into three basic situations:

1. Where extraction is the only option
2. Where extraction is the low cost choice compared with ongoing maintenance
3. Where extraction is appropriate but specialist care could save the tooth

Vets skilled enough to perform advanced dentistry are still rare enough that there might not be one close to where you live. Costs for referral to a dental specialist quickly run into the thousands.

As valuable as the service is, no-one should feel that they have to go to a specialist. Especially when there are still far too many animals that get no treatment at all.

The Cost Of Tooth Extractions

Costs in general practice depend on the time and difficulty involved. I’ve previously published the costs of routine teeth cleaning here, and I would add the following amounts as a rough guide:

• For a single small tooth, add $200
• For a large tooth requiring sutures, add $500
• For many teeth, add $600 to $1000

These prices include pain relief and antibiotics if needed, but are only estimates.

Often the only clue to teeth needing removal is bad breath. Please contact your vet if you suspect your dog or cat has dental problems. All it takes is a checkup to know for sure.

Related: How Vets Decide When Teeth Need Extraction

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

What Are Persistent Deciduous Teeth?

Between three and six weeks of age, most puppies grow a temporary set of teeth. These are called deciduous because, just like the leaves of deciduous trees, they are destined to fall out. Their replacement by permanent adult teeth goes according to the following timetable:

1. Incisor (front) teeth: 3 to 4 months
2. Canine teeth: 3 ½ to 5 months
3. Premolar teeth: 4 to 5 months
4. Molar teeth: 5 to 6 months

Due to the variation between dogs, I will usually add an extra month just to be sure. A persistent deciduous tooth is one that is still present beyond these times. We also call it a retained temporary tooth.

What it is not is a supernumerary tooth.

Supernumerary vs Retained Puppy Teeth

Don’t be fooled by the common use of the term supernumerary. This refers to extra teeth above the usual 42, and is much, much rarer. When they occur, supernumerary teeth are mostly in the permanent adult set, and can cause severe local overcrowding.

By contrast, a retained puppy tooth has outstayed its welcome. By not being lost, it occupies the place where its permanent replacement is meant to go. This generally forces the new tooth into an abnormal position.

It’s vital that puppy owners know what to look out for.

The Problem With Extra Teeth

Now have another look at the picture from the start. It shows the consequences of having persistent deciduous teeth for some time.

The yellow arrows show retained temporary canine teeth. In the upper jaw, the misplacement of the permanent tooth (in front) is minor. The big problem is the accumulation of food, plaque and tartar you can see between the double canine teeth. With time, the resulting periodontal disease will lead to either the loss of both teeth, or at best, a need to frequently clean the area under anaesthesia.

In the lower jaw, the consequences are even worse. The green arrow shows where the adult canine tooth usually goes when it can’t sit in its normal place. This causes either a malocclusion where the teeth clash with each bite (the same mouth is shown closed here) or the tooth is pushed further in and makes a hole in the hard palate. Either outcome can easily be avoided.

The red arrows show persistent deciduous premolars. Just like retained incisors (front teeth), these often form a double row of teeth as seen here. In the upper jaw the permanent tooth is hidden behind, and in the lower jaw, the blue arrow points to the abnormal position the permanent premolar ended up taking. Once again, the overcrowding will lead to malocclusion or periodontal disease.

When To Fix Retained Puppy Teeth

The best way to prevent problems is to remove the deciduous teeth soon after they would normally have been lost. Then the new teeth can find their way without obstruction. It’s especially important with the lower canine tooth.

The picture here shows the mouth of a 5 ½ month old puppy. As you can see, the deciduous lower canine is still present and the the tip of the erupting permanent canine is visible behind it.

The temporary tooth needs to be removed or the new tooth will be mis-directed. However, the removal must be done with great care to avoid damaging the root of the growing tooth very close behind.

For this reason, with upper canines, as long as the malocclusion is minor, I’m comfortable leaving them a little longer. I recommend they are removed when the adult permanent canine is fully grown. This also gives them a little longer to fall out by themselves.

With incisors and premolars, it depends on the situation. If they deviate the permanent tooth (like the blue arrow), then removal is urgent. If they form a harmless extra row of teeth in front (like often happens with incisors), then I’m happy to wait until the other teeth are mature.

Waiting any longer gets a lot harder and risks permanent problems. While I can still help the dog from the start, he’s now better off at a dental specialist.

There’s almost no better example of ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ than the correct treatment of deciduous puppy teeth. If you watch your puppy’s mouth developing, and it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Get in touch with your vet straight away and there’s almost nothing to fear.

Related: When Adult Dogs Need Teeth Extracted

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

However, there’s one very particular swelling that I haven’t talked about even though it’s important, common and easy to recognise.

It’s the tooth root abscess.

An abscess is a pocket of infection that forms a hot, firm swelling anywhere in the body. They’re well-known, for example, as lumps under the skin of cats after fighting. A tooth root abscess in dogs, however, usually has very specific signs:

• A soft swelling below the eye that comes up quickly
• Tenderness, pain and lethargy
• An infected wound below the eye (pictured below)

Click here for other causes of lumps and sores on the face.

Tooth root infections can occur with any teeth, but a lump or abscess seldom forms elsewhere. For example, the picture shows an infected root we found last week during a routine scale and polish. Infection, but no lump.

There’s no reason they can’t also occur in cats, but for unknown reasons, we rarely see them.

Causes Of A Dental Abscess

Tooth root abscesses mostly occur in one of two ways:

1. As an end result of years of progressive gum disease
2. When a tooth is fractured and the pulp cavity is exposed

The video shows what a tooth fracture looks like. It also shows how the abscess isn’t always easy to find. These teeth should either have root canal surgery or be removed, as this one was.

The dog in the pictures both at the start and here are good examples of an abscess caused by gum problems, or periodontal disease to call it by its correct name.

The first is an ex-breeding dog, and clearly never had a moment’s effort put into his oral hygiene. He’s been rescued now and will have dentistry just as soon as the infection is under control.

The second is a very old dog whose teeth just deteriorated with age. I told both owners that dentistry will not only cure their abscesses, but also make them feel the best they’ve been for a long time.

Preventing Tooth Loss

Teeth that get this bad can usually only be removed but it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you start a young dog with the effective ways to clean teeth, your old dog can still have a full healthy mouth. For example, the picture is from my 14-year-old and shows what a lifetime of raw bone feeding can look like.

But before doing any of these methods, consult your vet. Once teeth start going bad, most preventative options won’t work without dentistry first. Even worse, they’ll hurt.

Related: Causes Of Lumps In The Mouth | Reasons Why Dogs Teeth Need Removal

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

Much further and any one of them will create a painful wound and prevent eating. Horrible! Why this happens is due to a fact that surprisingly few rabbit owners know.

How Rabbit Teeth Work

Like many herbivores including horses and guinea pigs, rabbits have teeth adapted to an abrasive diet. To counteract the way their rough diet wears down the tooth surface, their teeth grow continuously. These sort of teeth are described as unrooted or open-rooted.

In nature this system works well, ensuring that a rabbit always has healthy teeth ready for action. Imagine how good it would be!

• No cavities ever
• No problems with tooth grinding
• Chips & fractures that heal

However, you can probably already see some problems with having teeth that never stop growing.

Rabbit Dental Problems

There are only two main problems we see.

Malocclusion is when the teeth don’t line up properly. In a human this might just mean braces but in a rabbit it’s a lot more serious. Teeth that don’t grind against each other can’t wear each other down.

Malocclusion is caused by a problem with the shape of the jaws. It mainly affects the front teeth in young rabbits, like the one in the photo.

Overgrown molars, on the other hand, are usually about the food. That’s why rabbit vets nag you endlessly about an 80% hay diet. When the food being eaten is too soft, rabbits don’t grind down their back teeth at the same speed as they grow.

As molars get too long, the tooth roots get impacted in the jaw. The lack of grinding also commonly leads to the formation of painful spurs in the mouth.

Signs Of Dental Issues

As teeth or spurs get longer, they start interfering with chewing. They might also cause abrasions on the cheek or tongue. Therefore, the first clue that your rabbit has problems might be when they go off their food or start dropping food from the mouth.

Just to make things more difficult, a rabbit that’s not eating can still appear to be chewing (a common strategy in prey animals to avoid showing weakness). That’s why experienced rabbit owners also pay attention to body weight and the amount of droppings passed each day.

Signs linked to molar root impaction go from the simple (a weeping eye) to the serious and often fatal (a tooth root abscess or gut stasis).

Treating Overgrown Rabbit Teeth

When rabbit teeth go bad you’re suddenly in a race against time to fix them. Each problem has its own solution.

Overgrown Front Teeth

Once incisors start growing crookedly there’s nothing you can do to stop them. Therefore you only have two choices:

1. Frequent trimming
2. Removal

Trimming is done by a vet using a high speed dental burr, usually without needing sedation in a standard appointment. It’s quick, painless and cheap. The only drawback is that it needs to be done every six weeks for life.

Removal of rabbit incisors is often a specialist procedure.

Removal always comes with the risk that one or more of the teeth will grow back. However, most of the time after one procedure you’re done.

I always get asked, “how will he cope without the front teeth?” The answer is that if he was coping with them as abnormal as they were, he will almost invariably eat better without them. The only drawback might be having to chop up large food items.

Overgrown Molars

Overgrown cheek teeth can be much trickier. Firstly, rabbits always need an anaesthetic to have them treated. Secondly, removal is no laughing matter.

Painful spurs can just be treated as needed, usually up to four times a year. We use a shielded dental burr, under anaesthetic of course. Most of the time, if a rabbit’s diet can be fixed afterwards, the problem goes away.

I only remove rabbit molars if they practically fall out in my hands. The rest I refer. It’s not just that removal is very difficult to do well, it’s also that it isn’t always the best solution. Read my page about rabbit lumps on the cheek and you’ll see why.

Over To You

When I think about the teeth of rabbits, which I do often, they remind me of the job I once had running a food packaging machine. It was a touchy contraption, but if you kept it properly adjusted and monitored, your day went well.

However, if you took your eye off the ball, it was only moments away from spewing out an endless stream of defective chip packets while you scrabbled for the stop button.

The difference with rabbits is that they don’t have an off button.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

I met a very perplexed feral cat researcher recently. In his study area the cats generally hunt and eat one common mammal. However, suddenly the population of that species crashed.

There were lots of other tasty critters still hopping around, some of which look nearly the same. Despite this, the cats began to starve.

Unbelievable as this was to the researcher, it didn’t surprise me at all. The cats just wouldn’t switch to a new, unfamiliar prey. This is why “keep trying, he won’t starve himself” is something I only say to a dog owner.

Although incredibly frustrating, there are good reasons why cats do this.

Why Cats Don’t Eat New Foods

The food preferences of wild cats are mostly decided when they are kittens. Even before they eat solids, the foods their mother eats influence them through the milk. Then, the prey items brought home show them what their diet should be.

Why? Cats are highly specialised hunters. They can’t just eat anything and expect to survive (like dogs!)

This means that the foods chosen for a kitten are the most important for life. However, if you need to change an adult cat’s diet, don’t despair. It can be done!

This article is really about changing to any new food, but I’m going to focus on feeding chicken necks. That’s because I see so many cats who would be healthier if only they could make the switch. So before I help you change, it’s worth explaining why.

Benefits Of Dietary Raw Chicken Bone

1. Dental care: in 25 years, not one of my feline patients who eats a daily chicken neck from a young age has ever needed dentistry. That’s quite a statistic. Natural chewing on bone and cartilage cleans the teeth and prevents periodontal disease like nothing else can.
2. Disease: raw foods have been associated with a lower risk of urinary problems in cats.
3. Slow food: if you have an overeater, or especially a fast eater, this should help them to take their time. It’s also likely that chicken necks give a better sense of ‘fullness’.
4. Fun: cats that eat chicken necks usually learn to love them. If you get this right, your cat is about to discover a new favourite food.

However, nothing is ever perfect, and no decision is black and white.

Are Raw Chicken Necks Safe For Cats?

Here are some possible risks:

• Choking: I’ve never seen or heard of it so although possible it must be rare. Most cats seem too clever to bolt food like dogs. Cooked chicken bones, however, are extremely dangerous and should be disposed of carefully.
• Salmonella & Campylobacter: cats are natural bird hunters and appear to tolerate these bacteria much better than dogs or humans. However, the risk of illness can’t be completely eliminated.
• Human infections: Salmonella is a real threat to people. That’s why I’m not so keen on cats being fed raw chicken if they leave it around the house for kids to find. Toxoplasmosis is also a risk, but should be prevented by freezing the necks first.
• Balance: a diet that’s too high in chicken necks will miss other vital ingredients. That’s one of the reasons I don’t recommend a raw diet for cats, just a raw ingredient.

Assuming you’re still interested, the tricky part is yet to come…

How To Get Cats To Eat Raw Chicken Necks

The reason chicken necks are so hard to feed is that they are so different. The texture and taste of processed foods are nothing like a raw piece of meat and bone.

If you’re starting with a kitten, you shouldn’t find it too hard. I still suggest following the advice below, but it’s really the adult cats who are the challenge.

Buy Fresh

Sorry, pet stores. My cat can definitely tell the difference between chicken necks sold for human or animal consumption. He even knows the difference between fresh and defrosted (which might be why).

One trick found by one of our clients (thanks Lily!) is to freshen them up by rinsing in warm water before serving.

Chicken necks are cheap and nearly always available right where you buy your other chicken cuts. That’s where I want you to get them. You might just need to ask, as they usually aren’t on display. Once you see them, you’ll realise why!

Store Well

The picture shows how I package and store chicken necks. Before freezing I put two into each bag (ex- fruit and veg bags) and defrost one every second day.

Be extremely careful never to feed an even-slightly-off neck. If there’s any doubt, chuck it out. I won’t use them past two days if refrigerated, but I still sniff each one first. Yuk.

Do It In Stages

Some ideas to get your cat accustomed to such a radically new food are:

• Start with raw meat only in small strips or minced
• Lightly sear the outside if your cat prefers cooked food (the bone inside must remain raw)
• Smash the neck with a tenderiser to break up the bones
• Mix with a favourite food or flavour
• Pretend to ‘forget’ the neck on a bench where your cat likes to pinch food
• Use other cuts (wings may be tastier due to the skin, and here’s Yuki demolishing a kangaroo bone- he has great teeth too!)

If any of these strategies works, you’re over the biggest hurdle. Now very gradually in tiny steps move towards the food becoming a whole, raw chicken neck.

Be Persistent, Very Persistent

Repeated exposure to a food increases the chances of a cat trying it. I want you to persist for at least a month, each morning offering a new neck, then throwing it away each afternoon.

It’s a good idea to reduce your cat’s other foods, but not starve them either, and a great time to start meal feeding your cat. However, please check with your vet that it’s safe to do so.

I’ve done this with an adult cat I rescued. After a week the neck started being moved, then after another week there were nibbles, but it wasn’t until the next week she actually ate any.

Don’t Stop

Once you get your cat eating necks, don’t ever stop. That cat I just told you about is a good example. Later in life she spent a year not being fed necks and she would never eat them again. This even happens with kittens who started on chicken necks early.

So I’m clearly in favour of raw chicken necks for cats. However, I won’t ever pressure someone to feed their cat a certain way just because I do it.

After all, it’s very easy to feed a cat properly without ever using raw chicken bones. For these cats I recommend using the several excellent cat dental diets as their main food.

But, like me, you might just get to love feeding chicken necks to your cat. Despite the horror movie noises, it’s great to see them enjoy something so much. For Grendel, as an indoor cat who’s always got his eye on the door, it’s the only thing he’ll choose over freedom.

Related: Why Raw Chicken Is Not Safe For Dogs | A Natural, Balanced Cat Diet

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

“No. I brush his teeth every day.” 

I’m always caught by surprise but I shouldn’t be; more and more dog owners are doing it these days. People are now prepared to follow tooth brushing advice without even a hint of astonishment or laughter.

My Problems With Tooth Brushing

If tooth brushing is effective, why have I been so negative about it?

• I think about my busy home life and assume other people are just as short of time
• I know how difficult tooth brushing can be for dogs and owners
• I regularly see bad teeth despite regular tooth brushing
• I’m aware of research showing that less than 50% of even the most dedicated owners will do it

Fundamentally, I worry that by advising owners to perform a difficult task I’m just setting them up for failure. Especially when there are easier ways to keep dogs teeth clean. However, by avoiding tooth brushing I’m not offering the best solution for some dogs. It’s time I stop being so negative.

Can You Brush Cats’ Teeth?

Cats are another story. We value cats for their independence but when it comes to tooth brushing, that independence comes with teeth, claws and a lot of wriggle. I have seen plenty of people try, and even be successful for a while, but I have never seen sustained success in cats.  It also helps that feline dental diets are a lot more effective than their canine equivalents.

So should you brush your dog’s teeth? There’s no ‘should’: it’s only one option along with raw bone feeding, dental chews and ultrasonic cleaning. Tooth brushing is also great to use along with dental chews for the parts of the teeth that the chews don’t clean.

How Long Does It Take?

Once your dog is accustomed to brushing (and doesn’t run away), it should take no longer than two minutes to brush their teeth. You only need to dwell on the outer tooth surface for a few seconds each.

How To Brush Dogs’ Teeth

It’s not rocket science.

Get a vet check first

The biggest reason most tooth brushing doesn’t work is that owners are trying to brush the unbrushable. Once dental disease is visible it’s usually too late, and will actually hurt. Most of the time we need to start by cleaning up the mouth under anaesthetic first.

Develop a routine

It’s perfectly OK to brush your dog’s teeth before a meal or a treat! The main goal is to remove the accumulated plaque from the previous 24 hours before it turns into tartar. Dogs generally don’t get food caught in their teeth unless they have a lot of gum recession.

Take it slowly

It’s a rare dog that will tolerate going straight from nothing to daily brushing. Build up your dog’s acceptance over weeks of slow, steady reward-based training.

Start young

Teaching to accept any meddling works best with puppies. However, don’t take this to mean your adult dog can’t learn as well. Just be patient, though you may have to accept that brushing isn’t for every dog.

Use the right gear

Dog owners find it hilarious that we have chicken and beef flavoured toothpastes but dogs don’t. Although I see the occasional dog that likes it, human toothpaste is unpleasant to most dogs.

As for brushes, I have yet to see a finger toothbrush that is good enough. You need soft bristles much like on a child’s brush, though we recommend and sell these inexpensive, nicely shaped pet brushes. Their other benefit is an offset handle so you don’t keep bopping poor Fido’s nose.

Get right to the back

Another common mistake is to not clean far enough back. Have a look at the video and you’ll see that in order to brush the molars your brush will have to go out of sight.

Only do the outside

Don’t worry about the video showing the inner surfaces; that’s for us to do. The tongue-side of dogs teeth doesn’t deteriorate as fast and is best left alone. Dogs really don’t like this area brushed.

Check your results

Any vet at a regular checkup can tell you how much success you’re having. They can also check the areas you can’t brush or even see. This is important: once gum recession starts, it’s very hard to stop.

How Often To Brush Dogs’ Teeth

The evidence shows that best results are achieved with brushing every one to two days. Here’s why I would do it every day:

• Dogs are happiest with predictable routines
• Owners will remember a daily event more easily
• If you miss one, it’s still OK

Once you go beyond two days, removable soft plaque mineralises into hard tartar. It’s extremely difficult to successfully remove this by brushing. That’s the brown stuff I’ve circled.

Finally, I’m grateful for a recent vet interview that made me rethink my prejudice against tooth brushing. In the same interview was another interesting fact. This vet sees at least one dog per week with tooth breakage or pieces stuck in teeth from bone feeding.

Our experiences tell a different story. We have always encouraged an approach to dental care that includes raw bones and we don’t see anything like this number of problems. Is it possible that by engaging with and informing people about bone feeding we are reducing the risk? I certainly hope so.

Further Reading

Harvey, C., Serfilippi, L., & Barnvos, D. (2015). Effect of frequency of brushing teeth on plaque and calculus accumulation, and gingivitis in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, 32(1), 16-21.

Roudebush, P., Logan, E., & Hale, F. A. (2005). Evidence-based veterinary dentistry: a systematic review of homecare for prevention of periodontal disease in dogs and cats. Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, 22(1), 6-15.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

I’ll be frank. Vets are horrified by this. I want you to know enough about dental hygienic procedures so that you can see what it is that scares us.

First though, I need to talk about the reasons why this service exists in the first place. Vets, myself included, aren’t doing a good enough job in three key areas:

• Explaining the importance of dentistry
• Overcoming fear of anaesthesia
• Cost

The importance of dentistry is easy for vets to see, and also easy for pet owners to see after major dentistry. However, it’s very hard to explain why a preventative clean (which is much cheaper and less painful) will stop us having extractions and a painful mouth later. Prevention just isn’t sexy.

Fear of anaesthesia is widespread and understandable. I’ve written about how vets monitor anaesthetics before, but let me add two things:

1. Like at most vets, no pet at Walkerville Vet has ever died during or after a dental procedure. That’s despite the fact that dental patients are older than average and often have heart or kidney problems.
2. It’s probably more dangerous going for a walk

Cost is a tough one. It’s true that good dentistry is expensive but there may be ways to reduce the cost. You can discuss with your vet whether it’s safe for your pet to opt out of intravenous fluids, X-rays and blood testing. Feel free to discuss with your vet ways to spread or reduce the cost; we really don’t mind.

Current costs of anaesthetic free dentistry in Adelaide are actually higher than many vets currently charge.

What’s Wrong With Anaesthetic Free Dentistry?

Stress, Anxiety and Fear

Try this next time you’re at the dentist.

You’re simultaneously try to keep your mouth open, tolerate the scraping and probing and avoid swallowing the foul stuff in your mouth. Your civilised and educated self is firmly telling your primitive mind to stay still and not worry, but it’s not buying that story.

As you lie back gripping onto the chair like it’s a lifeboat, think about your dog or cat.

The practitioners of non-anaesthetic dentistry claim that their procedure is gentle and stress-free. I really want to know how they can tell.

Seriously, I have tried a number of times to do dentals without anaesthetics. Each time the dog was calm, fearless and only had tartar on the very front teeth. I always used an experienced nurse. Each time I had to give up due to the stress I was causing and the substandard job that resulted.

Will pets become ‘head-shy’ or aversive to handling around the face? That will make future assessment very difficult

Incomplete Cleaning

In my opinion the only way to make the procedure stress-free is to not do a complete job. Have a look at the earlier video of a standard dental procedure and ask yourself: is it really possible to scale these areas in a conscious animal?

Then have a look at the picture from a Melbourne service. I’m hoping it’s just not a very flattering photo but I can’t easily imagine what else that brown area could be.

The most important area to clean is where the gum attaches to the tooth. This is where the active gum recession and infection occurs, and how teeth are lost. This is also the hardest area to clean, especially if there are already gingival pockets (see the diagram). It hurts.

Tartar sitting exposed on a crown is just a cosmetic issue by comparison. This might be why anaesthetic free pet dentals are often advertised as ‘cosmetic’ or ‘hygienic’. Remember that bad breath should completely disappear after dentistry.

Failure To Remove Bad Teeth

The video also shows a common trap: the pulp exposure. This tooth required a complex extraction involving a nerve block and stitches and the dog is already more comfortable. Leaving bad teeth in the jaw causes chronic pain, and often a tooth root infection which can spread elsewhere.

The anaesthetic free dentistry people state that they send dogs and cats needing extractions to vets. Read veterinary guidelines on when teeth are extracted and you will ask: how do they know?

I usually don’t know whether a tooth needs removal until I’ve probed the periodontal pockets and looked for pulp exposure. If they can do this conscious they are better than me.

This is one of the reasons dentistry gives vets a bad name- the dreaded phone call when we say the job we thought was a routine clean is now including extractions. Sorry- we really hate extracting teeth too.

The Five Stages Of Dental Grief

• Denial – “They aren’t infected roots and a cavity, I’m imagining it.”
• Anger – “This was supposed to be a routine scale and polish, it’s just not fair!”
• Bargaining – “Maybe If I just take out these really loose teeth, the others won’t seem so bad.”
• Depression – “This isn’t why I became a vet; why can’t I just see puppies all day?”
• Acceptance – “There goes lunch: may as well stop grumbling and get on with it.”

Infection Control

Will procedures be infection-free between patients? I read a few websites and noticed a few didn’t seem to understand the difference between disinfection and sterilisation.

It’s essential that strict hygiene is monitored for every patient.

The Challenge

To finish I want to put out three challenges: to vets, pet owners and anyone cleaning teeth without anaesthetics.

Challenge 1: To vets. Let’s allow pet owners to watch our dentistry. I’ve done it twice (both times they were dentists who were interested) and it wasn’t too distracting.

Challenge 2: To pet owners. Has your pet had a dental clean without anaesthetic within the past month? Would you like to be sure? I will offer your pet a free examination with or without anaesthetic as long as you let me record the procedure. You can stay and watch the whole thing.

Challenge 3: To anyone cleaning teeth without anaesthetics. If you truly believe what you do isn’t stressful, then let the owners stay and watch. Go on pet owners!- ask them and see what they say.

Related: Keeping Dogs Teeth Clean | Dental Diets For Cats | All About Veterinary Dentistry

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.