Imagine that you are stepping into your house and immediately your dog comes out and gives you a hug. Everything is good until he yawns and spews out a really bad, strong smell that can take you out of the room. Do not worry! You can easily clean up his mouth by mixing some natural ingredients that you already have in your house. Here’s how.
Why Should You Clean Your Dog’s Teeth?
Do you know that you are supposed to brush the teeth of your dog every day?
In fact, bad breath is not the top reason why you should do this. Just like the human, plaque buildup in the mouth of your dog can reflect the accumulation of plaque in the arteries, which can reveal a heart issue or other serious problem. And the best way to clean these harmful substances is brushing your dog’s teeth on a daily basis. While it seems to be a silly habit to perform, it will improve the health of your dog and make it happier.
Simple Steps To Make Natural Toothpaste For Your Dog
To make your dog always smile with white and clean teeth, you should find a suitable kind of toothpaste that it enjoys. These days, some commercial toothpaste products for dogs are made with a peppermint or spearmint flavor. This is suitable for humans, but not so good for a dog that prefers the odor of rotten rubbish to essential oil. For this reason, you should avoid expensive types of toothpaste in the market and make your own one with natural ingredients such as coconut oil, baking soda, or dried parsley. This is certainly much easier, quicker, and cheaper.
Before starting, you should prepare some ingredients and items as following: coconut oil, baking soda, dried parsley, peppermint essential oil (alcohol-free), a small glass bowl, a small glass jar, and a spoon. Now let’s make natural toothpaste for your dog with 7 simple steps:
- Step 1: Put two and a half tablespoons of coconut oil in a small bowl as the base for your dog’s toothpaste. It is a natural antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial ingredient and may help to ward off bad breath and cavities in dog’s teeth.
- Step 2: Add a teaspoon of baking soda, the other main ingredient of this toothpaste. Baking soda is proven to be mildly abrasive, which will help in restoring the balance of pH, scrubbing away plaque or tartar, and whitening as well as cleaning dog’s teeth.
- Step 3: Use a coffee grinder, a pestle and mortar, or a herb grinder to grind up dried parsley. Then place one teaspoon into the bowl to help neutralize bad smell as well as freshen the teeth of your dog. It is advisable to use a herb grinder instead of a unit for coffee as coffee can be poisonous to dogs. And also make sure your grinder is clean.
- Step 4: While not really necessary, you should consider adding two drops of mint essential oil to help freshen up the teeth of your dog further. Keep in mind that it must not be mixed with carrier oils or alcohols, use only alcohol-free and pure essential oil.
- Step 5: Mix everything together thoroughly, then use a scoop to take it into a small glass jar with a close-fitting cap. Do not use a plastic jar because it would leach the chemicals into the toothpaste after using for a while.
- Step 6: Use the toothpaste carefully. Even though baking soda is good for cleaning dog’s teeth, it can make its stomach upset if digested. Thus, you should use only a small amount of toothpaste, always keep the jar closely-fitting and out of the reach of your dog to avoid snacking.
- Step 7: Keep the toothpaste in a dry, cool place. Do not store it in the fridge to prevent the toothpaste from hardening too much. In case the toothpaste gets too hard, you could put the jar in a bowl filled with hot water in a couple of minutes to soften it.
How To Clean Your Dog’s Teeth With Toothpaste
Before starting, make sure that your dog is in a relaxed position and will not run away while cleaning. You can pet the dog so that it would feel comfortable and realize that there is nothing to be worried. After that, put a small amount of your homemade toothpaste on a dog toothbrush and start to spread the toothpaste over the teeth of your dog. During this process, the dog will probably want to lick and eat the paste, so you should try to keep it from doing that.
Brush its teeth in a small circle and scrubbing all of the areas in which plaque or tartar has accumulated. Two places that you need to pay special attention is the back teeth and the side of the teeth touching the gums because these are where the nasty elements are building up and causing bad breath.
After you have finished brushing, use a damp and clean washcloth to wipe the teeth of your dog. You should also fill up the water bowl so that it can drink the water and wash down the remaining mix on its teeth.
And now say hi to your dog, and he should give you a dazzling, shining smile.
Useful Tips On Using Toothpaste
- Do not store toothpaste in the fridge since this can make the coconut oil harden up.
- You should not use virgin or unrefined coconut oil because it tends to lose some of its valuable properties and nutrients during the process of preparation.
- You can use several kinds of essential oils in toothpaste for your do, but they need to be alcohol-free and pure.
- If the toothpaste gets too hard, put the jar in a small bowl that is filled with hot water. Then wait a few minutes and stir the toothpaste.
- The toothpaste often lasts a couple of months. But if it smells or looks strange before then, discard it.
- You should only use a small amount of the toothpaste each time.
Warnings
Never clean the teeth of your dog by using human toothpaste because it contains xylitol and fluoride. These substances are proven to be fatal if a dog swallows the paste.
Although the ingredients of the toothpaste are not harmful, do not allow your dog to eat it because this can lead to an upset stomach.
If your dog threatens to bite during the process of cleaning its teeth, you should ask for help from a professional vet. Or you can also keep your dog patient by giving it a chew toy.
For those dogs which consume a large amount of baking soda, electrolyte imbalances are quite common. And if they digest a lot of coconut oil, it would lead to diarrhea.
Conclusion
For most of us, a dog plays an important part in our life as he can bring us joy and happiness after the stressful time in school or office. We hope that after reading this article, you can get all necessary information to make the perfect natural toothpaste for your dog.
Always keep your dog’s mouth clean, and both of you will be smiling!
If you have any interesting toothpaste recipes to clean dog’s teeth, please share with us below. And also give us your feedbacks if you found this article useful.