Often and often we Veterinary Doctors are questioned by owners: “ Doctor, what can we do for the halitosis of my dog or cat?”
We usually note our friend’s halitosis on 2 occasions:
- When the animal is getting older, therefore a normal worsening of the health conditions of the oral cavity is justified
- On other occasions of particular contact between pet and owner ( who among you doesn’t sleep with your own cat or doesn’t fill him up with cuddles and kisses? And how many times does it occur to smell a not “perfumed “ breath?)
Age may be a cause: the presence of claque of tartar, tooth decay or our of gingival seat, but also infections of the whole oral cavity, ulcers, thrushes, and all mouth and teethe disease can be causes of a possible halitosis.
These could be also the causes of pathologies like diabetes ( sweet breath) or kidney insufficiency(ammonia breath) . In this case you need to consult your veterinary doctor to get a diagnosis and therefore a correct therapy.
The tooth extraction, the care of tartar, further check and possible surgical operation could stop the problem.
In simpler cases the halitosis could be due to food or to particular conditions of the single subject. In these cases or after a treatment against tart, we can give our specific products like powder, gel or mouthwash to our pet.
We can also consider to make the dog ( with the cat it is more difficult) a daily treatment of tooth cleaning with proper toothbrush and toothpaste, created just for them.
A good result can be reached with a daily care only! If you accustom your dog to the cleaning since he is a puppy, you shouldn’t have any problem when he is old.
Beyond the problem of smell, consider that a cared mouth is very important both for a good nutrition and digestion and for possible general infections. An animal with problems at the mouth- with pain when taking or chewing food – will barely eat, which causes possible cases of weight loss.
Therefore never underrate a bad breath. Inspect your puppy’s mouth daily even when he will be older and big!