How To Clean A Dog’s Mouth After Eating Poop

We all have seen our dog eat another dog’s poop or another animal’s poop, gross, I know. But do we know how to clean their mouth correctly? Dogs sometimes eat poop because of parasites or even because of thyroid disease. 

Here is a fun fact that most people don’t know, females tend to eat poop more often the males do, still gross, I know. 

How To Clean Your Dog’s Mouth After Eating Poop

How to clean your dog’s mouth after eating poop is an easy and gross thing to do at home.

A fun fact is dogs don’t get cavities but can develop what is called tartar and gingivitis. If you do not take care of these problems and do it properly, they can lead to life-threatening causes, including heart, kidney, liver disease. 

Keeping up with your dog’s dental cleaning can extend your dog’s life, crazy, right? 

Choose the Right Time

The first and most crucial step is to find the right time to do it. You want to do it when your fuzzy friend had a decent amount of exercise, so they’re not so crazy and hyper. 

When you are about to brush their teeth, don’t do it so forcefully also start slow. An essential tip is DO NOT HOLD BY THE MUZZLE if your dog starts getting agitated, quit right away. 

Get The Right Dog Toothbrush and Toothpaste

You want to get a toothbrush with soft bristles. 

If you don’t have a specially designed toothbrush, you don’t have to worry a kid’s toothbrush will be just fine, just don’t give it back. Also your finger would work too.

We all know we need toothpaste to brush our teeth, but dogs need a particular toothpaste, just like babies need a special one. Most human toothpaste includes Xylitol, fluoride sodium lauryl, and sulfate, which is EXTREMELY poisonous to the dog if swallowed.

Dogs toothpaste has special enzymes that help break down all the bad stuff in their mouth.  They come in poultry and beef, I bet they smell weird, and other dog-friendly options. 

Get In The Right Position for Brushing Your Dog’s Teeth

The next step in all this is to take your position. You want to make sure your dog is comfortable. You don’t wanna try “Threatening positions “ like standing above your dog or holding them between your legs. It’s not going to end well.  

Try and kneel or sit beside them, make sure they feel safe.  You want to get your dog use to the feeling of something on their gums ( Do Not put toothpaste in your dog’s mouth yet), take your finger, or have the perfect finger brush! 

Start Brushing Your Dog’s Teeth

You want to start to apply a little pressure so they can get the feel of it. You are going to have to do this about 3-5 times until you get to the next step.  

The next step you want to do is let your dog taste the toothpaste, let them sniff it, taste it, lick it off your finger. You want your fuzzy friend to get familiar with the taste, after trying it with a toothbrush. 

You want to lift their lip to expose their teeth and gums. Start gently brushing their canines and then thrift to their molars. You want to brush in a circular motion. This will help the bristles massage the gum line. This will clear and clean away plaque.  

You do not have to brush their teeth like you brush yours.  

You want to move to their upper molars and make a circular motion. Also, the upper molar tends to create and build up more tartar. 

If you get the inside of their mouth great, you do not have to stress it is ok if you don’t. Here comes the most crucial part for your dog.

Praise Your Dog

The reward; you want to reward your dog with a treat for being such a good boy/girl and praise them!; it will only help for next time.  

Other Recommendations

Most vets recommend that you brush their teeth regularly as you brush yours. 

Also, something good to get is cleaning teeth chew toys. 

Checking out their mouth on a regular basis and sees what’s going on there. It is recommended every other week or so. 

You want to look for unusual bad breath, decrease in eating, bad chewing habits, and pawing at the mouth is a big one, those are some things you want to look for to get a quick check-up. 

The Bottom Line on Cleaning Your Dog’s Mouth After They Eat Poop

Dogs eating poop is gross I know, but brushing and keeping up with there teeth will eliminate that gross poopy smell and have their breath smelling fresh, also keeping up and brushing their teeth is just as important as us brushing ours. We all want our dogs clean and healthy right?