Nutri-Vet Dental Gel for Dogs

Nutri-Vet Dental Gel for Dogs

Blondie's chew ball

Your dog's teeth need care just like yours: no lie. Unfortunately, I doubt that my hygienist, would be very keen on cleaning Blondie's needleicious incisors. Of course she'd adore the little lady, like everyone else, but those teeth are sharp, and there are lots of them. No worry, though, because she gets a treatment of Nutri-Vet Dental Gel every week. 

How it Works

It's definitely not for human consumption: I doubt anyone could stomach the combination of liver and peppermint. Her taste buds, however, are in canine heaven. Even more, the peppermint oil leaves her with fresh, clean breath; a necessity for those of us who have in-your-face breeds like Labs! She gets her treatments with a Nutri-Vet Chew Ball, though the directions say it's OK to apply some directly to the teeth. Her chew ball has little indentations for gel, plus rubber nubbins that make it more chewable, the better to spread the gel around her mouth and work it over all her teeth.

Ingredients The gel has about the consistency of regular toothpaste, and contains an array of ingredients. There are syrups and oils (vegetable oil and malt syrup), nutrients (lecithin and vitamin C), and a couple of preservatives (sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate). The active ingredients include liver flavor; breath fresheners such as peppermint, yeast and parsley; and diatomaceous earth. If you're not familiar with it, DE is actually microscopic shells of tiny sea creatures that's widely used as an abrasive. That may sound scary for your dog, but you probably use it yourself - look at the ingredients on your tube of “whitening” toothpaste: if “hydrated silica” shows up, it’s the same thing.

Nutri-Vet avows that the product does not contain petroleum jelly or artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Of course they pretend that sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate aren’t "artificial preservatives" because they occur somewhere in nature, but at least there’s nothing completely unpronounceable in the mix. A teaspoon of the get is about 30% fat from the oils and 65% moisture, mainly water. Somewhere there's about 7% crude fiber and a smidgen of protein. I'd say the chief downer is that a three-ounce tube costs between four and five bucks, though it does last several months. Plus, your vet charges way more than that to clean teeth.

Ultimately, however, it works: Blondie gets a half a teaspoon or so every few days, and her teeth are clean and strong and she doesn't have the dreaded “dog breath.” Her vet always remarks on the excellent condition of her teeth, and so do we.

Summary PLUS: teeth stay clean and breath stays fresh MINUS: a tad expensive WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Keep your dog's teeth clean: it's important to his total health. Nutri-Vet Dental Gel is key to our dental-care program.

Find Nutri-Vet Dental Gel for your dog at eBay