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I have a 4 year old maltese who has it's teeth cleaned every 6 months. Breath has started to smell very badly after a few weeks. We have tried several types of foods. How can we alleviate this problem? Please send suggestions. Thank you. -Sharon DiBello

• I have a 4 year old Maltese who is a rescue, I just got him about a month ago. He, too has bad breath; however, I don't know if he has ever had his teeth cleaned professionally, at least it doesn't look like it. My vet advised me to wait about 5-6 months before doing the cleaning, to be cautious considering his rescue status (we don't really know what he has been through or what he has been exposed to). In the meantime, I have been feeding him charcoal dog biscuits as a treat (although the idea of a biscuit seems to be a bigger treat than the biscuit itself!) and I use this product by Four Paws called Breath Treat for Dogs. It contains meat and bone meal, dried brewers yeast, sodium copper chlorophyllins, pumice, tetra sodium phosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate and parsley seed oil. It works the same way as the Breath Assure works on humans; in their digestive track. In fact, Breath Assure makes a product for dogs as well. So far, I can tell some improvement. While the doggie breath is still there, it has been reduced. I feed 1 tablet/day, crushed and mixed in with his morning meal. I paid about $4.00 for a bottle of 60 tablets. I think I may also start brushing his teeth with one of those finger brushes and the special dog toothpaste. Hey, whatever it takes, right?! BTW, how much do you pay for the dental cleaning? Do you feed bones? So far, I haven't found a 'bone' product that he is crazy about. Good luck. Laurie Bkrgrfx@aol.com

• I have a Maltese that is 7 years old. She has to have her teeth cleaned pretty regularly by the Vet. Her breath gets pretty bad too. The last time I had her teeth cleaned was in November, and the time before that was July. The Vet told me with some small dogs, every 6 months is what is needed. She also told me that it shouldn't hurt them to have this done that often (they have to put them under for the procedure). It costs about $70 each time I have it done. My Vet also recommended brushing her teeth as often as daily with a dog toothpaste and brush (or gum brush). I haven't ventured that far yet, but I may have to.There is a food that the Vet will sell that is specially for teeth cleaning. My Vet sells if for about $10 for 5lbs. For a Maltese, that's not that expensive. They don't eat that much. Good luck. If it's any consolation, my dogs breath did get better once her teeth got cleaned.

• My Maltese, Lucy, is a year old. She had a checkup on Monday and the vet said she was getting tartar on her back teeth already. She said this is a common problem in Maltese..they tend to have a lot of teeth-related problems. Lucy isn't big on having her teeth brushed, however. The vet told me to give her only dry food and to save "wet" for special treats and to make sure she had lots of rawhide chews. A friend of mine, who is a chiropractor and who had a part maltese dog, who recently died at age 15, told me that the best way to avoid tartar is this: give the dog very small amounts of raw meat (NOT CHICKEN since it could have salmonella) a couple of times a week. She said when dogs eat raw meat, digestion starts in their mouth and acids are produced from the process that help keep the tartar in check. She said she did this for Trixie all the time. So you might try that She said to juwt make teeny little portions of hamburger or whatever and freeze them, then thaw as you go. Hope this advice is helpful.-cathy brown