(Continued)
Bad breath
Let us turn today to a problem which I had promised to address some time ago – bad breath (halitosis) in dogs, and the supposed cures associated with this problem.
How do we cure bad breath which is caused mostly by bacterial build-up in the mouth?
Anti-germ treatment for a mutt’s mouth? Toothpaste for dogs? You must be thinking that this whole dog care business is getting crazy. Well, sometimes I think so too. Much of the hype has to do with commercialism. The pet business in Europe and North America is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. So everyone gets in on the act and makes a product which, in some way, shape and form, is supposed to be good for dogs. Since Americans are the best salesmen in the world (who else can sell a “pet rock” or make billions from a plastic circle called the hula-hoop), they can excite a pet-loving public to purchase any commodity. And since we in Guyana are born followers and imitators, we too fall prey to the big sell.
The fact of the matter is that there is a multiplicity of products on the market purporting