# Teeth health in a senior



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I have a 14 yr senior(non-gsd) and feed raw with a Taste of the Wild pacific stream kibble topped with canned mackarel fed every few days for a meal. Lately, she will not eat rmbs, and I am sure it is because of her teeth. Bad breath and her teeth just in the past three mos. have gotten really dark in color. I don't think she can handle a gum scraping or any stressful vet attention. Is there supplements to help teeth stay healthy? Clover gets vit E, C and fish oil along w/ glucosomine daily(all human grade). I am thinking of taking her off raw as ground meats won't be sufficient without bone. I do feed green tripe every other day as well. Does anyone have suggestions for teeth health w/ a senior dog?


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Do you know of a vet dentist nearby? It might be helpful to have her looked at by a dental specialist. She might have a broken tooth or abscess or something that's keeping her from eating RMBs and giving her the bad breath. Depending how mellow your dog is, the dentist can take a look without (or with very minimal) sedation (by minimal, it might just be 1/2 a dose of ace or similar) and give you options. 

If she has something seriously wrong in her mouth, she needs to have it resolved (sigh. I know. I hate dealing with ANYTHING wrong with seniors.). The fact that she's not eating RMB says to me that something might be wrong. Your regular vet probably won't be able to get a quick, thorough exam, diagnosis and give you options like a specialist would.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Well, I just gave her a bath, nail trim haircut and got the stinkys from her arse, she is extremely longcoated...it wiped her out after the bath, but I think she enjoyed it. I will get her mouth checked, but was wondering if anyone had great secrets to good mouth health, especially when their teeth start really aging! She won't even open it for me, upfortunately, I have to use gentle force Here she is in all her glory on an early summer mornin'


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