Brushing your Dog’s Teeth Made Easy! | Bristly Brushing Stick Review
How often do you brush your dog’s teeth? I know I am not the only pet parent to shamefully admit I do not follow veterinarian recommendations to brush Navy’s teeth daily. The truth is, Navy does not love getting her teeth brushed and honestly, I hate seeing her uncomfortable. To minimize the discomfort with manual brushing, we look for ways to keep Navy’s teeth clean between vet visits!
We’ve been seeing the Bristly Brushing Stick products pop up on Instagram for the past few months. I remember back in October Zach direct messaged me one of their promoted Instagram posts that popped up on his feed and said: “we NEED this.” So when Bristly reached out to us to try their products, it was an instant YES.
This post is kindly sponsored by Bristly, but all ideas and opinions are our own!
Earlier this month we posted a picture to our Instagram of Navy with her Bristly. We received an overwhelming amount of requests for an honest review! So before we get started with the review, here are a few points about the Bristly Brushing Stick:
- Bristly functions encourages natural teeth cleaning during play with vet-approved DIY Dog Toothbrushes designed with the dog anatomy and chewing behavior in mind.
- The Bristly chew toys have a self-dispensing toothpaste reservoir and 2-sided bristle line grooves that help brush dog’s teeth down to the gum line.
- Bristly is aspiring to be the number one oral health brand for dogs and is backed up by veterinarians across the country.
- Once your dog gets used to Bristly, all the pet owner needs to do is fill the reservoir with toothpaste and your dog can brush their teeth on their own
First Impressions
As soon as we opened our package from Bristly, Navy came running (grant it, any time we open a package she rushes over because 99% of the time the package is for her). If you saw from our Instagram stories a few weeks ago, before I even got the chance to open the packaging, Navy started to sit pretty and beg for the chew.
Before we collaborate with any brand, we make sure to look at community reviews. There were two common complaints about the Bristly: dogs would not chew but lick the Bristly, and the dog would destroy the chew. Navy is definitely the type of dog that likes to chew but she is not a heavy chewer, so the small sized Bristly worked perfectly for her (see size chart below). Luckily Bristly has an awesome customer service team and an extreme chewer sized stick for those … extreme chewers. To prevent Navy from just licking the toothpaste off her Bristly, we followed instructions and waited a few days until we put any toothpaste on the chew, giving Navy a chance to get used to actually chewing the toy.
The Bristly Brushing Stick ranges from $16.99-24.99 based on size of the chew and can be ordered through their website. For a vet approved 100 perfect natural rubber toy, we think this is a fair price. Plus, Bristly occasionally offers discounts and specials. In honor of National Pet Dental month, Bristly is donating 10 percent of the February profits to No Kill LA, an initiative led by Best Friends Animal Society to end the killing of animals in shelters!
Putting it to the test
Before trying out our Bristly Brushing Stick I was a little nervous that Navy wouldn’t be interested and wouldn’t know how to use the stick. As you can see, she first started to chew the Bristly upside down.
With a little help she realized she could put her paws on the handle to reinforce the stick. We let Navy chew on the stick for a while before adding any toothpaste. She is not a big fan of getting her teeth brushed so I didn’t want to associate the toothpaste and teeth brushing process with her chewing on her Bristly.
I was afraid that like all the toys Navy has loved before, this Bristly chew toy would get forgotten. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see her continue to pull her Bristly out of her toy bin over the two month’s we’ve been using it.
Navy has naturally bright white teeth however her problem area is definitely her canine teeth. She always gets buildup of plaque and tartar around her gum line on these teeth. After our two months using Bristly, we’ve noticed less buildup of plaque and tartar on her canines.
Final thoughts
Due to the shape and angle of dog’s teeth, it is hard to manually brush them ourselves. Zach and I both can easily brush Navy’s front teeth, but it is a struggle for us to reach inside her mouth and really clean the backs of her teeth and molars. We found that the Bristly was able to reach the areas we weren’t able to with a toothbrush. Because of that, I can definitely see the Bristly as being a bit of a game-changer in the way we approach Navy’s dental health.
I tend to operate under “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Yet, when it came down to it, Navy genuinely enjoyed her Bristly and still uses it daily. However, I do want to point out that nothing beats manually brushing your dog’s teeth and getting them cleaned by a professional. But, if there is something we can use to help lengthen the times between manual brushing and professional cleanings–we are all for that! If you are a struggling pet parent looking for a way to make dental hygiene a bit easier, I recommend giving Bristly a look!
What do you think? Would your dog use the Bristly Brushing Stick? Add a comment below!
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24 COMMENTS
Martine
6 years agoGood review. It makes sense if the dog likes the toy he or she will be more interested in using it daily. You didn’t mention if Navy liked the toothpaste flavor???? And does she play with it once toothpaste is gone??? Are you only suppose to give it to dog (once they get use to it) when there is toothpaste in it???
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORSo we actually didn’t try out Bristly’s brand of toothpaste. We use a chicken flavor toothpaste from another brand. Navy doesn’t LOVE the toothpaste enough to lick it all off, and she doesn’t HATE it enough to not want to touch the toy-haha! and Navy doesn’t seem to mind it.
We put the toothpaste on the Bristly when we are able to monitor Navy with it (a couple nights a week). Navy is notorious for bringing her treats to our nice white carpet. When the toothpaste is pretty much off, we rinse the toy and give it to her to play with without toothpaste. Navy is a curious chewer, which is great because she doesn’t destroy toys!
Kristin
6 years agoSo we bought this, and were actually asked to try It for free based upon our Insta following, but had previously bought it, it just came 3 months late. We still haven’t see. Significant difference in that and the natural chews we get from Real Box. Also the toothpaste they sell doesn’t work well with the brush, i have tried multiple times and my dog likes to half lick half chew it. She also didn’t have tartar before so it’s hard to tell if it actually helps. TBH I expected more from bristly.
Alex
6 years ago AUTHOROH no!! 🙁 I saw they had a huge backup in order around Black Friday and the Holidays. I am sorry you had a bad experience 🙁
We’ve actually heard really good things lately about real dog box! We’ve been meaning to try it out. Our friend @moogle_the_fluffy_corgi absolutely loves his Real Dog Box.
Hindy Pearson
6 years agoI’ve seen it quite a bit recently, but haven’t investigated. I can’t get near my dog’s mouth to brush his teeth, and he just had dental surgery a few days ago which cost an absolute fortune. Jack will only gnaw on something meaty, and if it’s not meat he’s not interested. The Bristly Brushing Stick sounds like a great product, and although I can’t imagine my dog bothering with it, I’m willing to give it a try so we can avoid another bill like this one!
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORoh poor thing! I am hoping Jack heals okay! Sending you lots of love.
MaggieLovesOrbit
6 years agoThat’s a great way to get them to clean their own teeth =) I use chews for my two myself. They prefer to do it as opposed to me sticking a toothbrush inside.
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORHaha yes! I can only brush Navy’s teeth for about 30 seconds before she’s had enough.
Michelle & The Paw Pack
6 years agoLooks like an interesting product for sure! I’ve seen these for sale and wondered about them but have never actually purchased one for my own dogs. We have a pretty good brushing schedule down and my dogs love to chew, so we’re doing pretty well in the oral health department, but I might have to get one of these sometime just to see what my own dogs think of it.
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORooh! I’d love to hear about your brushing routine 🙂
Jana Rade
6 years agoAll our dogs have always been very tolerant of us brushing their teeth. Even though I can imagine how weird and unnatural that must be for them.
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORoh lucky you!!
Adriana Lopez
6 years agoLooks like a good option but unfortunately, my dog doesn’t like to chew so I brush her teeth and I take her to the vet yearly basis for the dental cleaning. I have had other dogs that love chewing but Bella is the exemption. Loving your dog and the pics so cute!
Ruby and Kristin
6 years agoI have wanted to try the Bristly Brush and have heard good things. Glad Navy likes it – but yes agree that nothing beats brushing manually. Ruby is not much of a chewer, but I think I will still give this a try.
Ruth Epstein
6 years agoGreat review and I will admit I brush Layla’s teeth daily but use a gel in her mouth in the mornings before her walk. I would love to use something like this but Layla is not interested in any dental chew of any kind and I have tried many so have stopped buying them for her.
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORGood idea! we recently received an oral gel in our PupBox. Interested to try it out!
Sonja of Montecristo Travels
6 years agoWHY WHY WHY WHY do they never have an option for the under 5 pound crew? they NEED teeth support more than anyone! ugh. My baby girl isn’t even 3 pounds – full gown. And I doubt her mouth would even fit. poop!! we brush twice a day – with a baby face cloth because surprise surprise they don’t make brushes small enough.
Alex
6 years ago AUTHORoh no!! I had no idea 🙁
Emilia
6 years agoWhat a cool toy. I would have sold a ton of these if we’d had them. It feels like one of those “everyone needs one” kind of products like Kongs. Glad Navy likes it.
Beth
6 years agoNone of my dogs seem to like rubbery toys, so I don’t think they would be interested in this. However, it sure looks like Navy loves it.
The Dash Kitten Crew
6 years agoDo they do something this amazing for cats? Maybe a flavoured mouse shape?
This looks such a useful toy that a dog just has to love and I love the photographs!
Sweet Purrfections
6 years agoThis is an interesting product to help with canine dental care. I’m lucky that my cats appear to have great teeth. Glad this worked for you.
Rebecca Sanchez
6 years agoExcellent review of Bristly! We have not tried these sticks for teeth cleaning yet but we are going to give it a try. I like the concept and with the right toothpaste it’s highly likely that our dogs will chew on them enough to get some dental benefit. Thanks for sharing!
Susan
6 years agoWe have one, and Lola won’t chew on it right! She chews the bottom, licks all the toothpaste off of it…and besides that…it’s a gooey mess. She’ll take it outside and it comes in with the outdoors and dog hair all over it. The hole gets clogged, so after the first use, forget it. I’ve tried cleaning it but the hole that gets the toothpaste never worked the same. I’d rather manually do something else