Dog and Cat Dental Care Means More Than Just Clean Teeth

A large number of dogs and cats over 6 years of age have heart murmurs and kidneys that are going bad. Why is this? It’s because tartar on teeth is unsightly and causes bad breath, but it harbors many bacteria that migrate into the blood stream and cause secondary infection in various parts of the body. Some of the most common places are the leaves of the heartvalves and in the kidneys. When the bacteria attach to the surface of the valves, the body reacts by producing scar tissue, which later retracts, and therefore causes a poorly functioning valve. Because the valve is poorly functioning, fluid backs up into the lungs or abdomen or both., causing distressed breathing in the lungs and enlarged abdomen causing a bulging belly.

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When the bacteria attack the kidneys, they start destroying the filtration units called nephrons. Even though each kidney has many of these units, only so many can be destroyed before the kidneys lose their ability to remove waste products from the body. As this point approaches, many kidney tests will indicate that the kidneys are normal. Only when approximately 75-80% of the units are destroyed, will the kidney test start showing that there is kidney problems.

All of this can be prevented by routine dental care. When your dog or cat begins to demonstrate some tartar(also called plaque), you should have them cleaned and polished. By doing this, you removed the unsightliness of tartar, reduce or eliminate bad mouth odor and allow the gingiva(gums) to heal back over so that the bacteria cannot get into the blood stream to cause heart and kidney problems.

Daily care of your pet’s teeth will reduce the frequency of cleaning visits. Simply take a pet dental brush or dry wash cloth and rub off the teeth to remove as much as possible of the food particles on the teeth. If this is difficult, the answer is easy, he must have more frequent visits to the Doctor.