Did you know you should brush your dog’s teeth?
Dental diseases are one of the most common medical problems in dogs.
One way to help prevent dental disease in your dog is by brushing their teeth daily.
And why use store bought dog toothpaste that contains chemicals and weird ingredients that you don’t understand when you can easily make a better option at home?
All you need to make dog friendly toothpaste is a food processor, 3 TBS of baking soda, and ¼ cup of organic coconut oil.
You can mix it by hand but if your coconut oil is more solid it will take longer. But just make sure everything is mixed evenly.
While you can use just coconut oil to brush your dog's teeth, the baking soda will give the coconut oil some grit to help remove plaque.
Simply add the ingredients into your food processor, blend, and that's it.
Store it in an airtight glass container in a temperature controlled environment.
This can last a few months. Just use your best judgment each use to see if it’s still safe to use. It will be visibly obvious if it’s not.
This recipe does make quite a bit of toothpaste, so if you only have one small dog you could cut the recipe in half or adjust as needed.
You can watch this quick tutorial on how to make dog friendly toothpaste.
When I first started brushing Kiara's teeth I bought doggy toothpaste at a local pet shop not thinking anything of it.
I noticed the ingredients were a bit weird and didn't really understand why they were necessary. Plus, Kiara didn't really like it therefore she didn't like getting her teeth brushed.
Again, not knowing any better I started to use just coconut oil to brush her teeth. She loved it!
She was a husky so that meant she was stubborn and only really listened when she wanted to. Especially if I was calling her to come inside from a snowy day.
But after using coconut oil to brush her teeth, I was able to get her to come inside by asking her if she wanted to brush her teeth!
After she passed away and I got my two boys I knew more about it and started adding the baking soda to coconut oil to brush Koa and Ryuk's teeth.
Now, Koa will sit outside the bathroom door while I brush my teeth, floss, and mouthwash. He patiently sits there waiting for his turn because he loves it!
Honestly, it probably is a love hate kinda thing for him because he's not the biggest fan of the toothbrush being in his mouth but he still gets excited to brush his teeth.