Meet Daisy. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Daisy {aka Daisy Baby, Daisy Mash, Mash Potato, Mishy Mishy & a host of other equally silly and endearing names} she is a chihuahua mix. Daisy joined our family in 2010. I found her listed on one of the online pet pages and I just had to meet her. The moment I held her I knew she was meant for me. She was just so freaking adorable and friendly. And she was covered in fleas. I agreed to take her anyway and home we went – straight to the bath. We slathered her up with shampoo and washed away her flea problem. She looked at me with those sweet, loving eyes and my heart just melted.

Daisy is mostly a chill dog and likes to sit with me on the couch while I blog. But she does have her excited moments. She sometimes gets angry with Puppy Mister. He is really sweet but sometimes he can be a little too lovey. And that can get on Daisy’s nerves. Aside from Daisy’s occasional spats with Puppy Mister, she also loves to “circle.” She will hop off the couch and try to run a circle right through the carpet. It’s hilarious. Except that one time she circled her butt right down the foyer stairs. She slid down the short flight of steps much like a child going down a snow hill on a sled. After the initial shock wore off, she loped back up the steps and gave me a lick. One time and she learned not to do that again. She also gets really happy when Jay gets home from work and wags her tail so hard you think it might snap right off, lol.

Daisy has always been a bit of a scratchy dog. She is allergic to some things and we have to be careful with the shampoo that we use on her. So, when she started scratching her face last spring, I didn’t think much of it. I would just make her stop when I saw her doing it. It got really incessant, though, and one day I noticed a huge gash under her eye. I was horrified, but I thought the wound was self inflicted so we got one of those “cone of shame” things and some medicine recommended for wounds at the local pet store. So, I put the cone of shame on her and treated her as the directions stated to on the medicine.

Days passed and it didn’t get better. And she seemed miserable in the cone of shame which I kept on her during the day. At night, I wrapped her little face in gauze and an ace bandage. I kept her wrapped in my arms so that I could feel if she tried to scratch and hopefully stop her. So mostly I just stayed up all night watching her. Usually, she would sleep way down in the covers at my feet and would not go for snuggling, but she didn’t put up much of a fight this time. One day I noticed she had what felt to me like a fever and she was pretty listless. I knew then that something was horribly wrong. And I was suddenly sure that she was going to die. And I had no idea why.

Before I had Daisy and Puppy Mister, I had never really had dogs of my own. I had a couple as a child, sure, but none that I was solely responsible for caring for and none that I had become this attached to. I had no idea that something so small could take up such a huge place in my heart. These dogs were my babies. So, I had to know what was going on with Daisy.

Amber called the vet and took Daisy to see her. I hate to say it but I was so shocked, distraught and sleep deprived by the past few days that I was so glad that she took this on. I will forever be thankful to my wonderful daughter for doing this.

So what was wrong with Daisy? Her “cut” was actually an abscessed tooth. That is not all, though. The vet kept her overnight because all of her teeth {that were left} needed to be removed. Every single one. We had taken horrible care of her teeth. The vet said that her teeth were so loose that many could be removed with just their fingers. When I heard this, I cried and cried. I have never felt so guilty about something in my entire life. I could not believe this. My poor Daisy suffered for days {or maybe longer} over something that I could have perhaps prevented.

But, honestly, I had no idea. Dogs need their teeth brushed? How the heck would you brush a dog’s teeth anyway? I surely didn’t have the answers to these questions, so I wrote to Purina to get answers to these questions so that I could take better care of my dogs in the future. The folks at Just Right by Purina did not make me feel horrible over my mistakes either. Instead, they offered helpful resources and shared some of their own experiences with dog dental issues that helped make me feel much better and realize that I am not alone. So, I decided to share some of them with you here today.

Dog Dental Care Tips & Resources

Yes, your dog’s teeth need to be brushed. You can read here to learn how to brush your dog’s teeth. February is actually National Pet Dental Health Month, too. Learn about how often your dog’s teeth need to be brushed here. So, if you aren’t already, perhaps you could start brushing your dog’s teeth now {if you haven’t already} and celebrate early.

“Regular brushing is always helpful and I definitely would recommend Purina DentaLife products. Purina Veterinary Diets has a patented form of kibble for dental health for more serious dental disease. From my own personal experience {as a chihuahua owner}, I believe that smaller dogs are more susceptible to dental issues because their jaw bones are much smaller, but they’re fitting in the same amount of teeth (albeit not the same size) as larger dogs.” – Julie {Just Right by Purina}

Daisy and Puppy Mister both really love Purina DentaLife Chews. Even though Daisy no longer has any teeth, they make her breath smell much better.

Thanks to the quick action of the caring vet, almost a year later, Daisy is alive and well. The only difference is her tongue is a bit floppier. 🙂 How does she eat with no teeth, you might ask? Just fine. She eats kibble just like before. It’s the craziest thing but the vet told us that, in her experience, that small dogs generally adjust pretty well after losing their teeth and that most can still eat kibble. I am so thankful. I really was not ready to lose this little sweet doggy. She is 9 now and Puppy Mister is 11 and I hope to have many more years with these little fluffs.

Do You Brush Your Dog’s Teeth?

If so, how often do you do it? Does your dog like it? How do you entice your dog to let you brush their teeth? If you have helpful dog dental care tips to share with others, we would love to hear about them in the comments below.