Another soapbox I often stand on (I have many of them and lots and lots of opinions on many different aspects of life – I just need someone to listen to these opinions) is the dental care of our furry animal friends.

The biggest condition (or deterioration) our animals will have to deal with in their lives is dental or oral decay. More and more evidence is being established to show the effect dental or oral problems can have on the health, the happiness and the longevity of life our animals.

When we understand that nearly 60% of our animals have some form of oral problem by the time they are 3 years of age and 80% will have dental or oral problems by the time they are 7 years of age and close to 90% of all dogs and cats will have dental or oral problems by the age of 9 years. Then we can start to understand the effect of this condition on the health and happiness of our loved animal friends.

One of the problems is that animals have learnt over the last 10,000 years to hide the pain and the discomfort that pain and discomfort can cause. You only have to see a dog hobbling along from joint degeneration or a cat lying down a lot from spinal pain to understand that animals do not whinge and whine when they are in pain, they do not make a noise and “just get on with it”, because in Nature – if you show signs of pain you become someone else’s dinner.

So please pull up the lips of your animals, look at all the teeth (especially the back ones), smell the breath and if you think there is a problem then make the time to bring your animal in for a free assessment (YES – I did say it was free). We do not just offer free dental checks in certain months of the year – we offer FREE dental checks on every day of the working week.

The journey back to good health and happiness starts with the owner – maybe it is time for you to take the first step on this journey today. Please ring 41531399 (East) or 41591009 (Bargara).