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My dog's breath smells awful. What products help or what can I do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Female | spayed | 6 years and 1 month old | 35 lbs

Voodoo has terrible bad breath. Is there a product I can get for this? Or anything I can do?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Andrea M. Brodie, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 30th, 2018

Dogs with bad breath usually have terrible teeth...ie their teeth are full of tartar which harbors gas producing bacteria and that stinks. These bacteria also cause severe gingivitis (inflamed gums) which allows the bacteria to enter the blood stream and eventually cause heart and kidney problems. Another reason for bad breath could be a tooth root abscess, a wound in the oral cavity and renal failure. Please take Voodoo to a veterinarian for an exam to find the cause of the bad breath. Treatment can then be initiated, ie a dental cleaning, antibiotics to kill those bacteria and/or early detection of renal failure.

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    Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on November 16th, 2016

    Your dogs bad breathe is likely the result of underlying periodontal disease. Another possible cause is a kidney issue, however you will likely also be dealing with a rather sick pet (vomiting, anorexia, lethargy) if this were the cause. So the key to treating bad breathe is to treat the underlying problem. In the case of periodontal disease, a good dental cleaning by your vet is needed to remove hard tartar, clean the teeth underneath the gumline that is causing gingivitis and foul breathe. Once the source is removed then the breathe should improve dramatically. Also another beneficial treatment is to cleanse your pets mouth periodically with a pet formulated oral rinse (from your local pet store). The oral rinse helps pets with true halitosis that is not associated with any severe periodontal disease symptoms. Once your pet has a thorough teeth cleaning then it is important to brush his teeth daily (as you do) to slow tartar build-up and prevent severe periodontal disease in the future.

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