Best Bones to clean back teeth?

[richie]

Suzie my 4 year old Westie was just at the vet for her annual exam, and the vet showed me how bad her back molars were. Lots of gunk on the outer surfaces which he warned me would lead to rotten teeth in a few years. He wanted to do a dental cleaning, but I am reluctant. Suzie started on raw foods a few months ago, and I want to at least give this new diet a chance to see if it can reduce the buildup on her back teeth.

Any suggestions??? right now she mainly is eating chicken legs, wings, and thighs, and is good at eating bone from what I can tell, no pieces coming out the other end. I also have some lamb ribs in the freezer but haven't tried them yet. Any bones in particular that would be good at cleaning the back teeth?

THANKS!

[DaneMama]

What kind/size of dog do you have?

Have you tried turkey necks or pork ribs?

[illuzionb18c1]

as far as chicken goes, the drumstick definately does much better than the thigh/breast/wing. For my pom. i use to give hiim lots of drums and the teeth were good. I then switched to more breast sections and his teeth started getting icky again. seems like anything with higher bone content would be best, but i could be wrong.

[luvMyBRT]

The bone in meals my 11 year old Pointer eats are chicken backs, chicken quarters, pork ribs, turkey necks, and turkey wings. She loves to chew on raw beef ribs too.

Before switching her teeth were horrible. Now her back molars are pearly white...they look like puppy teeth they are so clean.

[SuriLove]

I like the pork bones. I think its from the butt or shank that has a great bone on it for getting those back teeth. Mine just had a long session this morning on one.

[richie]

Thank you to everyone who replied. Suzie is a 4 year old Westie who weighs 16 pounds. It sounds like I am giving her the right stuff, maybe I just have to be more patient???

She loves the chicken drumsticks, and I think I will try to find some necks too. Turkey parts may be too big for her to take on all at once, unless I cut them up. I even have to cut her chicken quarters in half -- a few days ago she ate a whole one and it was too much. No major disaster but some runny poop first thing in morning, an hour later she was back to hard, but obviously too much at once. Also the quarters have more fat on them and maybe less bone than the polkas.

I have several slabs of lamb ribs in the freezer, I am thinking of adding them in soon which should be good for her teeth too. Interestingly, in the 3 months she has been on raw, she gained 3 pounds! I was actually concerned she might be getting too fat, but the vet said she is fine -- before she was too skinny (she never did like any of the kibbles but raw meat she LOVES)

She has only been a few months on raw, so maybe it will just take a little more time? After all it took 4 years to gunk up her teeth so maybe it will take a few more months to clean them off. I am hoping to avoid the dental cleaning if possible.

Thanks again for all the replies!

[magicre]

for us, it was a time thing. my pug's front and back teeth were not good and the dentist wanted to perform a dental...

he's in the kitchen trying to eat a lamb neck....not the ones you get from the supermarket but a big ole lamb neck...he may or may not be able to eat it...but it is sure giving him a workout....beef ribs, do too

his teeth are now gaw-jus and i couldn't help but rub my vet's nose in it, just a wee bit.