dog-brush-teeth1Even in the best of times, dogs are not know for having the freshest breath, heard the term doggie breath anyone? However there comes a time when your dogs breath borders on foul and you know that something is wrong.

The most common cause of bad breath in dogs is tooth decay so it’s worth a trip to the vet or doggie dentist to check for any underlying medical reason why your dog has such awful breath.

Often times you’ll find that your pet may have a broken tooth, or abscess on one of their teeth that is causing the odor and your vet will suggest either removing the tooth or performing dental surgery on it.

He may even find that there is something stuck in your dog’s mouth such as a piece of old bone, a build up of pet hair or even plant matter that is causing the problem.

Often your dog will display other symptoms if there is a medical reason behind his bad breath such as a reluctance to eat, pawing at the mouth or vomiting and drooling.

However if there is no medical cause for your dog’s breath then you can do a few things at home to help sweeten his mouth.

The first step is by brushing your dog’s teeth daily. You can get specialized dog toothbrushes or use a finger brush (which is like a rubber cap that you place over your finger) to clean your dogs teeth.

Make sure you use special pet friendly toothpaste on your dog as you can’t use regular human toothpaste in case they swallow it.

There are also a number of other products on the market that are designed to help prevent or freshen your dogs bad breath including dental chews that help reduce tartar and plaque build up.

You can also give your dog raw bones to chew as the chewing action is a great way to scrape off any plaque build up.