Brushing your pets’ teeth can be child’s play
By Ericka Basile
June 25, 2010
My dogs Bella and Gigi love their liver-flavored toothpaste and pet-sized toothbrush, but my smaller dog, Roxi, and the cats?
Let’s just say their reaction to my attempts at dental care is such that it’s now on my chore list between mopping the floor and cleaning out the bottom of our bird cage — and gets done just as infrequently.
So when a sample of Seargent’s Petrodex Finger Toothbrush Gloves and Advance Cleaning Paste were sent to Pet Connection’s product testing facility (my house), a leading product scientist (my 9-year-old son, Nico) launched an in-depth research project.
As shown in the following video, phase one of the study involved our 8-year-old cat, Snowflake:
The next phase was conducted on Roxi, our Chihuahua:
Results:
The gloves were easy to apply and reusable. The kit I received included gloves and a container of the paste. There are only five gloves in the packet (all for right hands, as my left-handed son pointed out). I found a box of 50 on Amazon for $36. I also found this starter kit for $14.99.
The paste, in a 1-ounce container, was odor-free and taste-free. Both species accepted the dental cleaning the first time. After ten days the results were somewhat visible. Their breath smelled better, certainly a plus.
Degree of difficulty: As seen in the videos, if a nine-year-old can do this, well, so can I. I aim to make this higher on my priority list now that I see how easy it is to use.
One problem - an insurmountable one for me. Made in China. No thanks.
Comment by Mark — June 25, 2010 @ 6:21 am
You can do lots of things to a dog or a c*t. Once. Will they let this happen again? and again? and again?
Comment by schnauzer — June 25, 2010 @ 6:35 am
Kudos to your son tryng to brush the kitty’s teefies! Well done! In my house, we have to wear a suit of armor to brush our cat’s teefies and we’ve been doing it since she was a kitten. Afterwards, we have to sleep lightly for fear of revenge.
Comment by Sandi K — June 25, 2010 @ 9:01 am
Schnauzer- love your ‘c*t’, going to steal that.
Comment by ericka — June 25, 2010 @ 11:18 am
p.s. yes, that IS our table we eat most of our meals at. We do wipe it off first ;)
Comment by ericka — June 25, 2010 @ 11:39 am