# My vizsla has horrible breath



## satellitebeach (Nov 16, 2010)

My V, Winston, is a great dog. I have very few complaints, with the exception that his breath is pretty horrible. 

I don't need my dog to have minty fresh breath but it smells like something died in his mouth and the vet is saying his teeth have more plaque than normal for a two year old dog. 

I have tried to give him bones but he shows very little interest in them.

I am not interested in making time to brush his teeth every day but I also don't want to spend thousands of dollars to have his teeth cleaned or have a toothless 3 year old dog.

Anyone else have any potential solutions?

In addition to his horrible breath, he also has issues with his anal glands. They fill up about once a month or once every other month unless I go to the vet and have them empty them. As you can imagine, they love to see me walking through their door 

I switched his food to Taste of the Wild because it was grain free but that doesn't make a difference. 

So, long story short, my dog is awesome but smells horrible.....


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

My dogs get 2 of the large Dentastixs each day, and they have bright white teeth. They do get other chews, but I can tell the difference if I don't give them the dentastixs.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Here's a product I've heard good things about, but haven't used. It's a plaque-fighting powder derived from seaweed that you sprinkle on their food. http://www.plaqueoff.com/for-animals/

What kind of bones did you try? Raw bones with a bit of meat on them are best as the dogs will floss their front teeth with the sinew and scrape off plaque in the rear on the bone. They're also more enticing than a sterilized bone. I would try a few beef ribs, knuckles, a pig foot, or various lamb, goat, deer bones for the scraping/flossing action. Experienced chewers make quick work of poultry wings, necks, and feet so you don't get much cleaning action with them, but they are easily digestible and will firm up his stools, hopefully alleviating the anal gland issue. Scout will be 2 in April and the vet commented on how great her teeth looked at her annual this summer. Occasionally her glands will give off that fishy smell, but I just bump up the bone content in her diet for a couple days and that takes care of them. I've never had to express them.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

My boy Willie was getting bad breath problems two or three years ago. I started giving him the Pedigree Dentastix or Milkbone Brushing Chews once a day at bedtime with good results. He's eight years old and his teeth are sparkly white. No more bad breath. 

The anal gland problems are very common in the Vizsla breed. Hopefully, you can find a dietary solution. If not, the only other options are having the vet express the anal glands, or your learning how to do it yourself, or having the anal glands surgically removed. This is generally only recommended if your dog has suffered from repeated anal gland infections.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Has anyone tried Metamucil for the anal glands? I keep meaning to ask our vet about it. Our weim pup is much like you describe, satellitebeach. Her mouth is not awful, but it often smells whereas our 18 month old Vizsla's rarely does. Her butt is a whole other story. Her nickname is Stinkbomb lately  Canned pumpkin helps, but doesn't alleviate the issue entirely for more than a few days. I hate to have her glands expressed all the time. 

When she gets a little older I plan on switching her food to see if that helps. A lot of people note that changing foods can eliminate gas, etc. She didn't have any issues with anal glands when she was on the breeder's food.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Also, what variety of TOTW do you feed? I know some people that feed fish flavors of food complain that it makes their dog's breath smell bad.


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## satellitebeach (Nov 16, 2010)

He gets the Bison formula from TOTW. I will try the Dentastix.

I don't want him to have surgery for his anal glands but I feel like the couches I have are pretty much ruined and I would like to have some kind of solution in mind before I invest in replacing them.

The last time I decided to tackle this was about 6 months ago when I changed his food. I hoped that would fix the anal gland problem but it has not. Maybe I will try the canned pumpkin next.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

satellitebeach said:


> I don't want him to have surgery for his anal glands but I feel like the couches I have are pretty much ruined and I would like to have some kind of solution in mind before I invest in replacing them.
> 
> I hoped that would fix the anal gland problem but it has not. Maybe I will try the canned pumpkin next.


Do try the pumpkin. If I am really consistent about giving it to her (1-2 tbl. a day) I notice a big difference. I've heard Metamucil works better, but I haven't looked into that much yet.

And I can help with your couch conundrum! We just bought some Mambe waterproof blankets for our couch. Initially I wanted them for potty training, but they've been a lifesaver for muddy paws, her butt issues, and the occasional projectile vomit like we had last night  They are 100% waterproof. I requested samples to match colors and I could even pour a bucket of water over them with nothing seeping through. I got custom sized ones (no extra charge for that) so I could wrap them over the bottom cushions on our couch without any extra hanging off so they form like a slip cover over our bottom cushions. They have a great clearance section too if you're not too picky about sizes. Not many coupons, but I did get free shipping over the holidays. And always cheaper than surgery 

http://www.mambeblankets.com/


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## mlg1900 (Jun 12, 2013)

Hi, 
My girls sometimes have bad breath too. I usually notice it when I catch them eating nasty stuff in the yard. The only thing that seems to help get rid of the smell is actually brushing their teeth. I have seen something in petsmart that is added to drinking water to help with the plaque. Might want to ask your vet first about the safety?

As far as anal glands go, I did ask my vet about metamucil. She says that you would need to give so much of it in order to help. She recommended green beans. She says that you can give as much as you want. 1 to 2 cups per day or adjust accordingly. She said the fiber helps to bulk up the stool, thereby expressing the glands when they have a BM. I will also give rice or sweet potato. She says that pumpkin is good too but has found that you can accidentally give too much pumpkin and cause constipation. 

I would definitely think hard and long about any anal gland surgeries. My vet says that surgery can be done but the recovery for this is absolutely horrible. Basically they are incontinent afterwards! She did not specify for how long. But I would never want to try to fix one problem by causing another. 

Good luck!


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

I went back and forth about responding to this post. Savannah (4 years old) had anal gland problems for the first time in October. After having her glands expressed at the vet and just having the problem recur, I started looking for alternatives and now have a program that works for us. While we are currently on top of the issue, I won't claim victory for a while longer.

That said, we are doing a mixture of things. Once a week or so we use a mush with about half a spoonful of Metamucil, water, and a spoonful of wet dog food. If I have leftover meat, I'll throw a piece or two into the mush to make it interesting. I make the mush when I get up and give it to her before work so it sits for about half an hour and is the consistency of thick oatmeal. If you try Metamucil, I _HIGHLY_ recommend starting with a small amount and increasing gradually. The partial spoonful is enough to increase her stool volume for about two days. The Metamucil helps the gland problem, but really does better maintaining her health after the gland problem is cleared with raw bones.

Her first raw bones were frozen turkey necks from the pet store. I cut them in half because they were so big and supervised her carefully since I had never given raw bones before. Her gland problems cleared up fairly quickly. Raw chicken drumsticks from the Kroger drumstick multi-pack also gave her relief quickly. She now gets a raw drumstick every week or so for both anal gland and dental health.

Between the Metamucil and the chicken drumsticks, we haven't had gland issues for about 2 months. Savannah primarily eats kibble, so the portions of drumsticks and mush are minimized to keep her diet balanced.

As a dental aside, we don't actually brush teeth, but I do routinely rub enzymatic toothpaste on each of her teeth with my fingers. It takes less time and she is far more comfortable with my fingers touching her teeth than she was a toothbrush. Again, at 4 years I won't claim victory, but it seems to be working.

Just for completeness, I will mention we tried a tin of sardines, but I wish we hadn't. She LOVES them. She used to look confused when she came across a dead salmon on a creek bank and would leave it on command. Now she knows that fish is delicious and combs every spot where she found a fish in the last three months looking for it. In the Pacific NW, dead salmon are a health hazard for dogs. I'd rather have the anal gland problems than worry about salmon poisoning. We stopped the fish as soon as the problem surfaced so I don't have any idea if they would have worked.

Hope you are finding something that works for Winston!


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## Vizsla Baby (Nov 4, 2011)

Our two V's don't have anal gland problems but our dachshund had a problem with them for about 3-4 years. It eventually went away. (Praise the Lord!)

To save money, have the vet teach you how to effectively and safely express them. It doesn't take much training - groomers do it every time they clip dogs.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Any updates satellitebeach? We got the Metamucil dose from our vet for our weim, she's getting 1/2 tsp. 2x a day. She said we could go up to 1 tsp. 2x a day if she didn't get gas and her stool still looked normal. Boy, do I hope it helps. Sooo gross. I noticed after she "leaks" that her mouth stinks for a while too - I think because she's been licking her behind. I wonder if that could be the source of your guy's breath? When she first came home and started expressing her anal glands, I was confused thinking it was coming from her mouth a lot of the time (I thought it could be just due to her teething) - but I think now she'd just gotten the oil on her mouth  If it was a consistent problem, I'd have them expressed, but it's pretty random and sporadic. Thank goodness for waterproof blankets!


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## ajcoholic (Feb 11, 2015)

I always gave my Vizsla, Gibson, at least one Dentastix a day. He had pretty decent breath and teeth as well. I always gave him Nylabones to knaw on, as he didnt like much else. I think they did a good job on his teeth also.

Once, a few years ago, I noticed his breath changed from normal to horrible in a matter of a day, but I couldn't find anything wrong with his mouth. I took him to the vet on the 2nd day as it wasn't getting better. The vet did an exam and found a small pc of dried branch wedged between his back tooth and gum and the gum was starting to get infected. Once the bit of wood was pulled out, the smell went away within another day.


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## kristenatx (Apr 9, 2015)

My V had mildly stinky breath starting about a year ago (he is 3 now). Shortly after we noticed the stinkiness, we decided to get him an Axis deer antler as a chew toy. This seemed to alleviate his plaque and stink. He recently used up the antler and the bad breath returned so we are in getting some more ASAP! Maybe an antler chew will help your pup! Also, as a person who likes a super clean house (as much as it can be with a dog), I like the antlers because they are scentless, do not stain or leave crumbles.


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