arf! Guess who? I will give you several hints; I am small, white and fluffy and have a large personality! No, not Mr MaGoo; it is me, Mini Me! Mr MaGoo trotted up to me and said I could do his blog this week. Woofee! How did I get so lucky? Mr MaGoo barked that he wants to make sure that I can paw up a line or two, I am not sure why, he just said “in case”. Hmmm, I pawonder what that means? Well, enough about that, I have to figure out, what on earth will I paw about? Mr MaGoo wasn’t any help and simply said that I would figure it out. Hmmmm
Since Mr MaGoo wasn’t about to help me, I trotted over to Mom for a treat or two, she always talks to me when she gives a treat to me. Sure enough, worked like a bone; she begins to rattle off something about dental health. Dental health? What does that mean, den-tal health? Does a den have a dent and need Doc? Furiends, I better start sniffing this out and get on the right trail. (trots off to go digging in a yard or two)
Are you ready to hear what I dug up? This month is called National Pet Dental Health month; there is that word again, dental. Well, guess what else I dug up? Furiends, we all know that we have teeth; what some of you may not know, our parents need to care for our teeth. That is what dental health means, keeping our teeth clean, sparkling white and our breath minty fresh. arf! Stinky breath is not good, in fact, it often is a tail waggin’ sign that we may have something going on other than we ate something stinky. Yuck! Whoa, what was that noise? Sorry, where was I? I get distracted a lot, BOL, I can’t help it, I am me, Mini Me!
Did you know that pets get gum disease too? And, did you know if untreated, the bacteria that causes gum disease can travel throughout our body and make us very sick? (Mr MaGoo, may I take a nap that was a lot to dig up? Mr MaGoo off in the background, no Mini Me only when completed). What happens is plaque builds up on our teeth and turns into tartar, or calculus. Woof! This just sounds bad furiends. Well, if this isn’t taken care of, it gets worse; these areas grow bacteria and eat away at our teeth and gums. Stinky breath, periodontal disease, pain and tooth loss can occur. However, these bad dudes (Mr MaGoo taught me this) called bacteria not only cause disease in our mouth – they can also affect other parts of our body, like the heart and kidneys. The most important thing our parents can do is address dental disease as soon as it is detected, no matter how minor. Better yet, they need to work hard in preventing it.
Now this has me all concerned, I don’t know about you but I like my teeth and do not want stinky breath. I just went to go find Mom to ask, is she worried about these bad dudes invading our mouths? She shared that she takes steps to help keep the bad dues out of our mouths and not going into our body. Is anyone ready to play? Shouldn’t we take a break and play? No? Ok, I will keep pawing up. Anyway, Mom tried to brush our teeth, I think she still has her fingers; nope, we were not having it. Mom knew that our dental health is important for all overall health; Mom had to go to Doc for suggestions. One thing that she does is she gives us these treats that are for our teeth; don’t tell her this, they are boorring. I pawpose it is to be this way. Mom gives us raw carrots too, Mr MaGoo has it right, they are yummy! Mom says they “act like” brushing our teeth; if we would only allow her to brush our teeth, that would be better for us. She also takes us to have our teeth cleaned by Doc; Mom uses this appointment as our wellness check up too.
(yawn, woofee, pawing up a line or two is exhausting for a young pup like me..yawn) Furiends, the kibble trail points to having your parents keep sugar out of your diet; regular care of your teeth, providing treats and toys that will help “brush” your teeth; and, check with your Doc about teeth cleaning. Now, if you allow your parents to brush your teeth, make sure that your parents use something called tooth paste (woof! boy do I have a lot to learn about) for us. See, humans use this thing called tooth paste too; theirs is not safe for us.
Hey Mr MaGoo! Are you still up? Did I miss anything? (Mr MaGoo off in the distance, Mini Me sounds like you did a pawsome blog). Furiends, I am going to go find Mom and get my dental treat, even though it isn’t exciting, I now know why Mom gives these to us, all about keeping our teeth. How about you? Do your parents brush your teeth? Do you like it? Bark back and let me know how you take care of your teeth? (besides I need to show Mr MaGoo you guys read my blog..Woof!)
arf! arf!
Mini Me
