Page 5 - Kind News, Jan/Feb 2022

and dogs dental chews, treats, or supplements
that can be added to their food or water.
These products help prevent and remove
plaque building up on the teeth and hurting
the gums. It is also best if you have a
veterinarian examine pets’ teeth once a year.
Herbivores, animals like rabbits or hamsters
who eat plants, have teeth that get trimmed
down as they chew on the rough, scratchy
food they eat. Because of their diet and their
hyposodentic teeth that continue to grow,
they don’t get cavities. When herbivores are
kept as pets, it is very important to make sure
their diet includes lots of different grass hays
and things to chew. This will help keep their
teeth and gums healthy and prevent their
teeth from growing too long or uneven.
Healthy baby teeth that fall out before the adult teeth
Cats, dogs, and humans all have a set of

left page: olio creative /unsplash, bigstock illustration. right page, from top: bigstock, andy holmes/unsplash.
grow in. Kittens, puppies, and babies like to
chew on things when the new teeth are
growing in, and this is often why puppies chew
TEETH TIME up things they are not supposed to, like shoes!
TEETH TIME
Making sure puppies have lots of rubber-like
dog toys to chew on can help.
Wild animals don’t eat processed or cooked Signs of teeth

food with carbohydrates — starches and
sugars — that bacteria like to eat, so they problems in pets
don’t have as much plaque. Some animals get
help from other animals! For example, the • Red gums
Egyptian crocodile bird eats the plaque and • Bleeding gums
bacteria left in the mouth of crocodiles! • Yellow teeth (plaque)

• Bad breath
• Drooling
• Changes in eating behavior
• Changes in how the face looks

• Pawing at the face

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