Valeria from Heron Lakes Animal Hospital shows how to brush your dog's teeth using pet toothpaste and a soft brush with gentle diagonal strokes on each quadrant of the mouth. Avoid human toothpaste and watch for the eyes. Some bleeding is normal at first, but see a vet if it doesn't stop.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Valeria. Some of you may know me as Val. I'm a technician assistant here at Heron Lakes Animal Hospital. And today we're talking a little bit more about brushing your pet's teeth. Today I have with me here Ginger, and she's my candidate for brushing teeth today. So these are my tools for today's video. I have different kind of assortments of toothpastes and toothbrushes. These are just the brands that we do use. It's not a sponsored or paid advertisement. It just so happens to be what we have in the hospital today. So when it comes to brushing your dog's teeth, just like our routine is very different compared to other people's routine to brushing teeth, you might wet the bristle before, you might wet it after. You have the toothpaste on the bristle. Whatever is comfortable for you, you can do that. So I'm going to put a little bit of toothpaste on my brush. We'll dip it in water, and then we'll get started. So when it comes to brushing your dog's teeth or your cat's teeth, be cautious with the size of the bristle that you do use. You don't want to put something too big in your pet's mouth or where it'll be uncomfortable. And it'll make the whole routine of brushing the teeth a little bit more intolerable and more difficult for you and your pet. So when you brush your pet's teeth, what we recommend is doing it in quadrants. Separate the mouth in four quadrants. We have one quadrant here, two lower three, and then four, just in case. In the middle of the process of brushing your dog's teeth, they get a little tired of it and won't let you, you know, where you left off to continue in the future or after. So when you brush your pet's teeth, we like to aim the bristle up in the gum line, kind of like a diagonal. And you'll do a circular motion throughout the whole mouth. So we'll start in quadrant one and do that circular motion throughout the whole mouth. And you want to be very gentle. Act like it's your own teeth being brushed. You don't want to go too hard to where you won't tolerate. So your pet will definitely not tolerate it. You can give your pet breaks in between. They'll lick their lips a little bit. That's completely normal. Sometimes when you do brush your pet's teeth, you can notice a little bit of bleeding. That's normal. Usually with the frequency of the breasting, you'll notice that bleeding decrease. You won't see as much. There can be some inflammation in the gum line that can cause it, but if it does continue or you are concerned about it, don't hesitate to call your local veterinarian to see what they what advice they can give you or what they recommend. Whenever you're brushing your dog's teeth as well and you hold back the gums to expose the teeth, be cautious with their eyes. You don't want to poke their eyes, you don't want to jab them in the lips, anything. You want to be as sensitive as possible and as delicate. Also, when you are brushing throughout the mouth or wherever you leave off, if you notice big pieces of plaque come off, go ahead and take those out. You don't want them to swallow that either. Now when you're done with all four quadrants, if they let you, you could do the interior of the teeth. Doesn't necessarily have to stick to the outside just like we brush the inside and outside. You can try with them. Some dogs won't let it happen. Ginger just happens to do really well with brushing her teeth and she does let me do it. You can go as crazy even as brushing the tongue if they let you too. It's just it all takes practice. You have to find the position which is really important that's comfortable for you and for your pet or else you're going to fight with your pet a lot and it just won't be a fun process for neither of you. We happen to have used mint flavor. You can use whatever kind of flavor you want when brushing your pet's teeth. We have malt, we have seafood, we have poultry flavor. There's some that don't even have flavor. But when it comes to toothpaste, something that you must remember is is that this is a dog brand toothpaste. They cannot have human brand toothpaste. It is actually toxic for dogs. If you have any questions or any need any advice or sort of techniques to holding, please let us know in the comments box. If you have any other questions regarding oral hygiene. Also let us know as well. Otherwise, thanks for watching. Please subscribe and share our video. Thank you.
