The title is pretty much it. People get obnoxious breath every morning despite careful brushing of teeth before going to bed. Dogs, who have a sometimes-deserved reputation for having bad breath, smell pretty much the same in the morning as they did the night before. And before you say it, not all dogs have bad breath. Dogs with clean teeth and no gum disease usually have pretty neutral breath. So what is this morning breath, and why only people?
We disagree here. I think most cats and dogs have pretty bad breath.
My cat’s breath smells like cat food (even though I don’t actually own a cat).
Yeah; what Shoshana said; in my experience, dog breath generally smells worse than human breath at any time of the day.
Yeah, my dog doesn’t have particularly awful breath, but it stays pretty equally doggy all day. I, on the other hand, brush my teeth in the morning and probably experience a slow decline in breath quality until I brush them again.
How exactly did we find this out?
I’m thinking it’s a good thing that dogs don’t get morning breath because if they did, it would be enough to crack floor tile.
Dogs have morning breath all of the time. It’s just called dog breath. I mean, have you ever seriously french kissed a poodle – it’s disgusting. Not that the conversation is much, either, I can tell you.
No, really! A young, healthy dog with clean teeth does not have worse breath than a regular person who just woke up in the morning, although he certainly will have worse breath than a person who just brushed their teeth. (Poodles may be an exeption, all the ones I’ve met have had horid breath.) There is something that happens while you sleep that makes your breath just awful, and dogs don’t seem to get it.
I will confirm that my dog (4 years old) has healthy teeth and gums and rarely has “dog breath.” She will occasionally have bad breath, just like a human, but many people remark about how her breath doesn’t smell.
As for why dogs don’t have morning breath…I dunno. I’m guessing different bacteria in a dog’s mouth and guts than in a human’s.
So, no one knows?
I believe the answer is the makeup of the respective diets. Modern humans, at least in Western societies, eat a lot of refined sugar and that is very bad for dental health. We have to brush and floss all the time to combat decay and to keep our breath from going foul. I had a professor in college that was an expert on mummies and taught my class on identifying diseases in old skeletons. He claimed that the natural state of human dentistry and health isn’t for it to be foul and subject to continual decay. People would be subject to those things of course but the teeth would be continually polished by grit in the diet resisting cavities and fresh meats and plants don’t really cause breath as bad as ours can be.
The reason I explain that is because it isn’t that dogs have great breath, it is that we are the ones that get morning breath. Dry dog food is just grain and other simple ingredients that should not cause bad breath. However, dogs that eat a great deal of “people food” often do get rank, foul breath because they are subject to the same things we are and they can’t brush. I can think of one poodle in the family in particular :shudder:
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ]
I will confirm that my dog (4 years old) has healthy teeth and gums and rarely has “dog breath.” She will occasionally have bad breath, just like a human, but many people remark about how her breath doesn’t smell./QUOTE]
I have three dogs. The eldest is starting to get a little of the old stank-mouth, but the younger two’s breath is virtually odorless.
A dog’s breath has a lot to do with their diet. If they’re eating a lot of fatty foods or if they’re eating cheap kibble their breath smells bad. A dog eating a healthy diet or a high-quality kibble shouldn’t have any problems unless they have indigestion or bad teeth.
As for why dogs don’t get “morning breath” like humans do, I’d say it has a lot to do with the shape of their teeth. Dogs’ teeth are not tightly-packed, flat surfaces like humans’ teeth. Food particles have more places to hide in a human’s mouth.