Alternatives for Medi-cal's Dental formula dog food

[Pupster]

Hi all,

My sister's vet has recommended that her 3 year old beagle eat Medi-cal's Dental formula food, as she has been having some problems with plaque/tartar. Can anyone recommend an alternative for this food? She would prefer to feed her a more holistic line of food.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

[Masha]

Hi Pupster,

Welcome to the forum! If you are looking for a kibble that will help with plaque/tartar for dogs, well.. there is no such thing. However, raw chicken/turkey necks are wonderful at cleaning a dog's teeth. You can give her those twice a week and it should help.

Just make sure that she is a chewer not a gulper, as you dont want her just swallowing the entire chicken neck - it is important that it is chewed thoroughly. You will have to supervise her carefully and dont feed the raw together with kibble. These should be fed several hours apart.

There are a lot of great info on this forum regarding food. I also found the following site very helpful when choosing food for my guy: www.dogfoodanalysis.com

Good luck,

[pitgrrl]

Another option is to simply brush the dog's teeth. It take a couple of minutes before bed and, IMHO, is a much better option than feeding an otherwise low quality food for it's dental benefits.

One of my dogs actually follows me into the bathroom at night to wait for his teeth brushing

[Sib.HuskyMom]

Brushing teeth is definitely a great idea.
If you just get into a routine with it, the dog will catch on very quickly.
We've always done it after supper, right before walk time. So the dog knows that he gets his teeth brushed, and then his "reward" is a walk

If the dog's never had it before, just start off slow. For the first few days, just let him try licking the toothpaste (my boys' favorite flavour is malt ). Then, probably try with a finger brush first, to get him used to having it in his mouth. After that, I just always stuck with using a little kid's toothbrush (tweety bird ) since it was nice and soft.

[kandy]

Pizzles are also a good way for dogs to clean their teeth. Also, IMO premium kibble is better at preventing the plaque from building up. Low quality kibble tends to have more sugar in it and those sugars sit on the teeth. I would consider the Medi-cal to be a low quality kibble.