About a month ago, I ordered some C.E.T. Oral Hygiene Chews to try out on Elaine, my Pit Mix. I have only given her 1 to 2 chews a week so did not expect any significant changes. Thus, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see the marked improvement yesterday when I brushed her teeth. I decided to do a quick post on this instead of the planned cat litter conclusion.
Some quick background ---
As with my
cats, Elaine is my sounding board for pet products and services. I try to do with her what we recommend to our clients. So Elaine gets her teeth brushed by me two to four times a week; on busy weeks, we only manage twice a week. Abashedly, those two times are often on Monday and Tuesday when we are closed and I have more time. Not ideally spread out but that's another post for another day. She last had her teeth cleaned under general anesthesia a couple of years ago. With everything happening this past year, I did not have her dentistry done. The dental tartar accumulated; I plan to have her teeth taken care of soon. In the meantime, I was looking at what else I can do to help her dental health.I can try brushing her teeth more often, like daily. But I have to be realistic --- knowing what needs to be done and actually doing it are two different beasts. I already give her dental chews on days I don't brush her, usually 1-2 chews a week. Even though the chews are labeled for once a day, I don't recommend giving them that often. I am always concerned that some dogs, Elaine included, will swallow large chunks of rawhide. I figure 2-3 days between chews will allow time for the rawhide chunks to be broken down and digested instead of collecting in her stomach and causing problems (i.e. intestinal obstruction). Again, most dogs are probably fine eating the chews everyday. I just don't want to chance it with Elaine. Besides, I also brush her teeth which is way better than giving her the chews.
Anyway, the dental chews we were using for at least the past 5 years are the Enzadent Oral Care Chews. The product worked well and had great feedback from clients. The chews helped with tartar build-up more than the regular non-enzymatic rawhide chews. About a couple years ago, we noticed some of the Enzadent chews were getting thinner, flat, not as robust. We chalked it up to quality control but gradually, all the large chews are not so large anymore. What used to be about 2 - 2.5 mm thick became 1-1.5 mm. There may be more chews in each bag (same net weight) but the thinner chews did not seem to do as good a job, did not last as long. Elaine would quickly gobble it up, bypassing any chewing benefit.
C.E.T. Oral Hygiene Chews were the "original" chews we used to carry before we switched to Enzadent. At that time, both products were comparable in effectiveness (at least to me) but Enzadent was cheaper. Enzadent is still slightly cheaper, but we will go back to C.E.T. chews if they yield better results.
First impression, C.E.T. Oral Hygiene Chews beat Enzadent on appearance. C.E.T. chews were about 2 mm thick. The large chews look large whereas the Enzadent large chews sometimes resemble the small ones.
Elaine loves the thicker C.E.T. chews; they provide about 30-45 minutes of chewing pleasure. I give her one chew 1 to 2 times a week.Did they help?
Amazingly, yes. I can see the marked improvement after only 3 weeks. I continued with her (minimum) twice a week brushing and weekly chews --- same diet; the only change was switching from the Enzadent to C.E.T. chews. Photo A is blurry and at a different angle but it is representative of what Elaine's upper fourth premolars looked like. Her incisors and canines are fine; her problem teeth are those large upper premolars. Notice in Photo B how that tartar was scraped off from her chewing on the dental chews. My brushing remove the plaque, but I do not scrape the tartar off manually -- that was from the dental chews.We will be stocking the C.E.T. large chews. I have not seen them at the local pet stores but your local veterinarians may have them. They are also available online. The Enzadent small chews are still fine for us since the smaller dogs do not require that thicker chews that most large dogs need. So for now, we will keep the small Enzadent chews.
This post was more about the benefits of a good dental chew in addition to frequent brushing. Visit the links below for more information on general dental care ---
* Home Dental Care and one from VeterinaryPartner.com
* Dental Health Facts
* FAQs with a veterinary dentist
* Good images of periodontal disease
Please note, Elaine still needs her dentistry. The brushing and chews are the next best things but do not replace full dental cleaning and oral exam under general anesthesia.
