Our pets are more than just animals, they become our family. Just the way we care for our babies, we pay a lot of attention to the needs and wants of our dogs at home. From getting the best products for their fur to running to stores for the most nutritious meal— we do it all. And yet, the one crucial thing dog owners often overlook is brushing their teeth and maintaining their oral health and hygiene. According to statistics, periodontal diseases are extremely common in old and aging dogs.
Why should you brush your dogs’ teeth?
Food particles, bacterias, and germs cluster around the gum lining inside your dog’s mouth, causing plaque and gingivitis. They can be carried inside your pet’s stomach through food and saliva, causing gastronomical conditions. Furthermore, these excrements, when mixed with the bloodstream, interfere majorly with the filtering system of their bodies. The entire circulatory system can get damaged simply because you failed to care for your dog’s teeth at a much earlier stage.
As the saying goes, prevention is always better than cure. There’s an easy way to ensure that your little bundle of fur lives a long and healthy life. This is simply by taking the necessary care about their oral health from the very beginning. Brushing is an action your dog might not like initially but it is a crucial habit that they must develop.
Human Toothpaste is a big no-no!
The first thing that you should know when it comes to the brushing of your pet’s teeth is that human toothpaste is an absolute no for them. Human toothpaste contains Fluoride and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). Both of which are harmful to our furry pals and can be extremely fatal. Pet toothpaste is meant to be swallowed whereas human toothpaste is meant to be rinsed and washed. Our toothpaste also contains an artificial sweetener, called Xylitol. This Xylitol is toxic for canines. It causes a sudden drop in their blood sugar and can end up damaging their livers.
How to make dog toothpaste at home
Today’s market has a wide variety of options that you can choose from. But a trend that has been noticed by many is that toothpaste suiting your dogs’ needs is overpriced and often laced with harmful chemicals. There’s an easy and safe alternative to the supermarket and departmental store products. Simply make your dog toothpaste at home. The ingredients required to do so are easily available in the local stores. If you have a kitchen garden at home, then you can avail a lot of the required items from there as well. What’s more, the components will be fresh and you don’t need to worry about their nutritional value either.
The ingredients required and their constitution are as follows:
- ¼ cup of coconut oil
- 3 Tablespoons of baking soda
- ½ Teaspoon of finely ground sea salt (Table salts are harmful to your dog )
- ½ Teaspoon of cinnamon
These are the very basic elements that go into your homemade dog toothpaste. For additional flavor, you can also add 5 to 6 mint leaves or half a dozen of parsley sprigs. Adding ½ a teaspoon of meat ( beef or chicken ) or vegetable bullion can also majorly enhance the quality and taste of your toothpaste. For fresh herbs like mint or parsley, you must use a food processor so that the leaves can mix evenly with the mixture. Similarly while using bullion, the cubes must be crushed into a powder-like form.
- Once all the ingredients have been gathered, the first step is to make the coconut oil soft and malleable.
- Next, we add other ingredients like baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon powder.
- Mix them well together until they reach a viscous consistency and let the mixture sit for an hour.
- The final mixture should look like our usual paste. The coconut oil breaks down the components of the paste and the herbs give a lustrous green color to the mixture.
- We can replace the cinnamon with a combination of turmeric and kelp.
Pro tip—Several other additional ingredients can be used as substitutes. The basic components, however, remain the same.
D.I.Y dog toothpaste vs. store-bought dog toothpaste
Now a question that you might be asking is, what is the need of preparing our dog toothpaste at home when we can easily get one at the drugstore. The answer to this is simple. Even if we leave out the price factor, what goes into these factory-made products is scary. Here’s a list of all the chemicals that go into your canines dental products:
- Sorbitol
- Hydrated Silica
- Ascorbic acid
- Sodium Hexametaphosphate
- Sodium Benzoate
- Potassium Sorbate
- Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin
- Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate etc.
Therefore, even with the addition of such a huge number of added preservatives and artificial compounds, these toothpastes are often marketed as natural products. Add to that the exorbitant cost and you have your answer as to why going DIY is the best possible option.