Oh I guess I should have asked. Is this product safe? How much do we know about using seaweed for dogs and cats? That would probably be my biggest concern.

 

Ok, ..proden plaque off. Here's my experience with it.

My oldest cat is 14 and over a year ago I started looking for something that didn't involve brushing, since I've grown fond of my fingers.
I found Plaque off and thought I'd give it a try.
You only use a teeny tiny spoonful (spoon supplied) and sprinkle it over their food.
What could be easier! You do have to start out with half the spoon for them to get use to it.
It doesn't seem to do anything to upset their digestion. Whew.
After using it for about 6 months we went to the vet and had a dental check. She seemed fine. A tiny bit of tarter but "not bad at all", was what the vet said.

Happy as a clam, I went about life. During the next 6 months, I had put my oldest on a 95% wet food diet. (Most times it was 100%.) She loved the wet food, and it was a very good quality, so I loved it too.
Time for our 6 month vet visit.

We were sailing through the visit with flying colours till we stood on the scale, and the vet said that 4.8kg was the top limit for her and to watch it! <sighs> yea, yea, ok.
Then the vet checked her teeth, and that's where it got really bad! He said that I was going to have to schedule a cleaning. A WHAT?! .. a cleaning. The tarter build up was terrible, and we talked about her diet for a bit.

The point I am trying to make is, at first I thought the Proden may have been very helpful! I was willing to sing it's praises. AFTER the last vet visit I felt quite differently!
In my honest opinion I don't think it does anything. I believe the only thing that will make ANY difference is to actually get in there and brush. <sighs>

Like I said, this is "my" experience.

 

The point I am trying to make is, at first I thought the Proden may have been very helpful! I was willing to sing it's praises. AFTER the last vet visit I felt quite differently!
In my honest opinion I don't think it does anything. I believe the only thing that will make ANY difference is to actually get in there and brush. <sighs>

Like I said, this is "my" experience.

Thanks for sharing. I have no positive experience to share about Proden, though ET had been on it for 2years now. Vet had his teeth checked before he came home and he didn't have any dental issue in the 1st place, so, nothing to compare with. I am proactive in his dental health more cos he is FIV and predisposed to oral problem.

I do check his teeth frequently and get them brushed daily or rubbed with gauze every once in a while. Sometimes, I do feel like skipping brushing whenever I am lazy and I thought since I am using Proden, but looks like I better not be lazy.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. I was reading some reviews on it and some people were saying their pets got sick from it too. I don't know if you can easily correlate using the product to necessarily getting sick, but that is a bit worrisome.

Sometimes I feel so discouraged and ticked off when you think these products are record breaking but then you realize a lot of it is just really good advertising and marketing blah...

 

yea, I know what you mean. It gets me too

 

The way Proden works is to prevent plaque from forming, so starting it after a fresh cleaning is the best approach...it will help keep the teeth clean for a longer time.

It also says it will help make existing plaque more porous and easier to remove from the tooth. But there has to be a mechanism for doing that. Fine for dogs that will chew bones, bully sticks etc. Not so easy for cats.

Proden should not be given to cats that have hyperthyroid or even borderline T4 levels due to the iodine in the seaweed.

 

My vet says....you feed them dry food and it is better for their teeth...but loaded with a bunch of stuff that is not good for their general health. You feed them wet food and that is terrible for their teeth.....can't win.....unless you can brush (and I can't!) Giving them baths is much easier!

 

Catface.....LOVE your avatar. Is it for real?

 

Cat Lover Lennie, I don't think that feeding wet is actually bad for their teeth. In fact, they lick more and because it has less carbohydrates, less plaque is formed on the teeth. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Doodlebug, yeah it almost makes it pointless then if cats aren't gnawing on anything. Again, its that marketing ploy. They say brushing is not necessary, nor do they mention anything about physically having to remove the plaque somehow. I would think a lot of people wouldn't understand that making the plaque porous would equal having to do something to remove it from the teeth, like brushing or wiping it off. And you are correct, it really is difficult to find alternatives to brushing for cats. Really, what else is there other than a raw diet that contains the bones? Not everyone does or can feed raw.

 

I've been using Proden for several months now and recently had a vet visit. The vet said all of my cats teeth were very good for their ages (6, 6, and 7). Maybe they're just lucky, but maybe Proden had a little effect on their teeth.

 

Yogakitty is 100% correct. It is a myth perpetuated by the kibble companies that hard food cleans teeth. It doesn't. Not even a little bit. Do crackers or croutons clean your teeth? No, of course not. They stick to your teeth because they are grains/carbs.

One of the best ways to prevent plaque buildup is to feed a diet that won't stick to their teeth to begin with. Raw is great for this, but it isn't practical for everyone to feed. So what are your other options?

High quality grain feed canned food is a good place to start. There will still be some tartar buildup, but it will be significantly less. Of course some animals are just more prone to a buildup anyway, but everything helps.

Brushing with gauze. Instead of using those brushes, which can be quite bulky for a cat, wrapping a thin piece of medical gauze around your finger will work just as well if not better. Unless you have giant fingers. Then stick with the brush I guess.

Dentals as needed. Unfortunately, this is part of the expense of owning pets. Before I switched to raw, my small dogs needed dentals at least every other year. It was insane and not affordable. I pay a little more per month for raw food than I would for kibble (way cheaper than canned though!), but it has paid for itself now that I don't have to do dentals every other year. Thankfully dentals are an option though!

I'm really wary of any additives to my pets' diets, but that is just me. It either won't work, which is a waste of money, or it will work, but who knows how safe it is for the rest of the system?

 

Yogakitty is 100% correct. It is a myth perpetuated by the kibble companies that hard food cleans teeth. It doesn't. Not even a little bit. Do crackers or croutons clean your teeth? No, of course not. They stick to your teeth because they are grains/carbs.

I agree. I am nervous about adding things to the pet's food or water. Some of them say they are all natural, but there are always ingredients there that I can't seem to pronounce, so it makes me uncomfortable. I have done it in the past, but never long term.

I brush my dog's teeth every couple of days. I've only had to have her teeth cleaned twice in her life and she'll be 13 years old this August. Its obviously due to the routine dental care. Regardless, I still have to use a pet toothpaste. Even that has chemicals. HOW CAN ONE WIN? lol...what a battle.

With regular dental visits to the vet, are you ever concerned with the fact that the animal has to be put under anaesthesia each time? That is always my biggest concern. No matter how short the session, whether for teeth cleaning or a surgery, the big A word makes me shudder. It can't be good for the health..especially the heart

If it wasn't a health issue, heck I'd make some sacrifices and have the animals in every year....I wouldn't even care about the cost personally. They'd have a cleaning every year.

Oh well....for the cat, maybe I'll try the gauze. She hates me poking around in there though. I have small fingers..maybe that will help...:grin:

 

It seems a lot of people think that they can ignore or avoid dealing with their pet's teeth and then when a problem crops up, there should be some miracle product for $10 that makes the plaque melt away so they don't have to pay for a dental. (Not directed at anyone here...I get these people in my store every day). It doesn't work that way for humans...despite brushing 2-3 times a day, using rinses etc. we still have to go get that plaque scraped off every 6 months. There aren't any products that really work for humans, why would there be any for pets? But of all of them...Proden seems to get consistently decent feedback for dogs because of the ability to combine the treatment with chewing. Unfortunately cats are a different story.

 

It seems a lot of people think that they can ignore or avoid dealing with their pet's teeth and then when a problem crops up, there should be some miracle product for $10 that makes the plaque melt away so they don't have to pay for a dental.

Nah, but to prolong the time between would be nice.

Apparently it changes the pH of the mouth and the reviews on Amazon are extremely positive, so I imagine it works for some pets.

I bought it and it was expensive!! 420 grams for about ~60 dollars. It's true it'll last a long time... but still...

I've been using it about 5 months now.

I'm only using it on Coco and Jasper. Personally I don't see an improvement in their teeth, Coco's in fact are getting worse, plaque is getting darker (which I assume means more built up). She's going in to get her teeth cleaned next Monday, but the procedure where they do it while they're awake... she's only 3 but has pretty poor teeth for that age. We'll eventaully have to get them fully cleaned, but I do not think it's a proceedure that should be done over and over if it can be helped, putting the animals under is always a little risky, and not to mention a good 1,000+ dollars each go-round.

Jasper's teeth look about how they did before starting, with slight signs of gingivitis along the gum lines... he has some plaque but not to the point where we would thinking about a dental. We don't really know how old he is either; anywhere from 6-10 by the vet guesstimates. He acts like he's 4.

I read one of the top reviews on Amazon saying: Do your research, Proden's ingredient's "selected seaweed D1070" botanical name is Ascophyllum nodosum. Now if you agree with me that this particular seaweed growing wild in Canada can not be very different from exactly the same seaweed growing wild in Sweden, than you might agree that Proden is outragesly overpriced as I can get 1 pound (yes, one pound) of certified organic Canadian Ascophyllum nodosum ("people food grade") granules for less than $7 (seven!).

 

Yeah, anesthesia can be nasty...on the other hand, developing an abscess or blood infection and/or heart problems from the bacteria in the mouth can be just as nasty.

Unless a cat has chronic problems, I think doing two dentals at age 6 and 12 would get them through their life with minimal issues. At age 12 most cats are still very healthy. I would rather proactively do dentals when I know the cat is healthy than to let it go to avoid the anesthesia and end up needing to put a cat over 14 under for an emergency dental.

 

Oh, wanted to add... Someone else I know has been using it the same length of time as me and seems to think it's working for both their dogs. They say their breath is much better, too.

Perhaps after Coco's teeth are cleaned I will be able to see if Proden can prevent plaque from forming to start with, instead of trying to do something about the plaque once it's already there (which was not working in Coco's case, obviously).

 

My 5yo Dachshund has had a partly raw diet since she was 4 months old. Her teeth are still perfectly white, even her canines. I attribute that to chicken and turkey necks, as those really scrape in between teeth. My cat is also getting necks and gizzards. I'm hoping this will work just as well with him. He's 18 months old now, and his teeth are still perfect, so let's hope so.

I do give kelp now and then to my pets, just for the general health benefits. But I do not give the proden, so can't give any feedback for that.

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I don't know if I can do raw for my older girl a this point...she's 10, but the problem is technically she's staying with my retired parents. And they will refuse to put her on raw. They are genuinely grossed out by it. I had my dog on it for awhile until she turned her nose up to it. I found it did wonders for the teeth. I also had her chewing raw cow marrow bones. They were great until she split two of her teeth on it. No more marrow bones since then. Ugh. Its like I can never get a break! lol

 

Honestly, I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to pay for teeth cleaning at various points in my cats' lives. Dante had his done this past summer when he was there having surgery to repair an anal fistula. He had to be put under for that surgery anyway. It was the first time he's ever had his teeth done, and, at 10 years old, I figured that he was due for a cleaning anyway. It was an extra couple hundred dollars in vet bills in addition to what was already a significant bill, but it just made sense to do everything at once.

I would love to get my kitties eating raw, since I know brushing their teeth is never going to happen, but I haven't managed to interest any of them in raw at all; they just turn their noses up at it. The exception being Choco-cat, who loves her raw. I'm glad she does too because, based on the vet's reaction to her teeth during her check-up, I get the impression that her teeth aren't great. Choco-cat's only about 3 and a half, but she's part Siamese, and I've heard that they have a tendency towards dental issues. Not only that, but she was initially removed from a hoarder, and gum/dental issues seem to go hand in hand with animals that come from that kind of environment.

 

Ya, I don't give any weight bearing bones. They break teeth. Mine only get soft, edible bones like necks and ribs

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DD&C, would cooked neck/wing tips with the skin on, work? I'm not comfortable with feeding ET raw.

 

No. Cooked bones splinter but cooked gizzards might help. I don't know. Raw gizzards are great for teeth, but cooking them might change that. It won't hurt to try tho.

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Thanks DD&C, I'll probably try some day, I haven't seen chicken gizzards being sold, maybe its available just that I never buy them so never look out.

 

I'm not familiar with the "Proden Plaqueoff" product. My two cats have had only one dental cleaning at 6 yrs. old, when the vet said their plaque was "moderate". I found a product called "Nature's Dentist" (made in Canada) which I've been using since their dental cleaning. Both cats are now 9 yrs. old and so far no plaque has formed. I sprinkle the product twice a day on their no-grain canned food. It also keeps their breath fresh.

I can't get my cats to eat any raw food, but I have heard that raw chicken wing tips are good for cleaning their teeth by by the cat chewing on them.

Nature's Dentist | McIntosh Pro Line | Natural Supplements | Tri-Natural Products

 

I can't get my cats to eat any raw food, but I have heard that raw chicken wing tips are good for cleaning their teeth by by the cat chewing on them.

Nature's Dentist | McIntosh Pro Line | Natural Supplements | Tri-Natural Products

Interesting! I've never heard of this product before. I'll look into it out of curiosity

 

Weight bearing bones of large animals are way too hard. Rib and neck bones are alot softer and completely edible. I buy beef, bison and elk rib bones and chicken necks at a pet store that specializes in raw food. Turkey necks and chicken wings, drumsticks and gizzards at the grocery store. I don't pre-freeze anything I buy fresh except fish, unless I buy alot and wont use it within a couple of days.

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