How many here brush their cat's teeth?

Rozie: Reading that made my teeth hurt.. they are crying in pain right now.

I have this thing... like if I put a towel in my mouth and held it with my teeth (cringes... breaths... ok.) It makes me feel ill... much like how some people can't stand the nails on a caulk board type of deal.

Carboard makes me think it would be a similar texture to a towel or shirt whatever, it's something SOFT that's not food, and ewww ok no more that's enough

LOL sorry AngelzOO

I can understand tho about the nails on the blackboard, just thinking about it makes me cringe. The boys just go crazy when I put a box in the middle of the living room they just totally attack it, specially my maine coon.

My previous two cats loved to tear tough cardboad boxes into tine pieces - small enough to vacuum. They were both on dry food. They both had to have their teeth cleaned and a couple extracted!

patcatpet

They don't chew on a box EVERYDAY, in most cases they'll get a box about 2 times a year! Besides I brush there teeth. I'm sure some of us feel we're doing and giving the BEST for our kitties. Some of us don't have the apportunity or the $$ to purchase the free range chickens eggs or necks. In a perfect world we would all love to give our kitties all the free range eggs and necks to there delight.

Originally posted by AngelzOO
However most people who do feed RAW or BARF (this includes chicken necks.) Regularly deworm their animals.

Click to expand...

What? I'm not sure where you heard that! Raw fed animals rarely get worms. Raw feeding makes animals less susceptible to worms. And most raw feeders don't use traditional medicine like wormers.

Regarding "trials" of different kinds of food
& dental hygene. I didn't deliberately do a trial, but....I had been feeding my crew a combination of dry & canned for years. Last year, I started feeding 4 raw chicken necks a night (I have nine cats)....and the condition of my cat's teeth improved dramatically. When the vet was here in October to vaccinate my cats, he looked in my Burmese's mouth. He's always had nasty teeth, and was due a dental. Anyway, the vet was absolutely blown away by how good his teeth are now he's been eating raw necks. And he doesn't need a dental now.

I can't say much, because the information is confidential...and I shouldn't have been told it (I have a vet who gossips, which is handy for me). A manufacturer of dry dog biscuits had a kennel recently run trials, to see what gave better dental results, dry food or raw bones....the dog's who were given raw bones actually came out with the better teeth. This came straight from my vet's mouth. I know the guy who works at the place who did the trials, but legally, he's not allowed to release the information, and I will bet my house on the fact that the pet food company who requested the trial won't be releasing the info. LOL.

Regarding salmonella. Yup, there are risks. Patcatpet goes to a LOT more effort than me. I just buy my crew regular supermarket brand chicken necks & chuck 'em down for the cats to eat. Never had a problem. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I realise that there is a chance my cats will get salmonella, but by not feeding necks, there is a HUGE chance my cats will end up with gingivitis, and that comes with lots of nasty side effects too. I'm much happier avoiding this problem in the first place.

My vet told me to make sure you rinse the necks under cold water prior to feeding them to the cats as most bacteria are on the outside of the food.

So I can quite honestly say that I HAVE seen a significant improvement in my cat's teeth after starting them on chicken necks.

Julia.

We've never done that. At the last vet visit the vet said our cats teeth are in excellent condition, so white and so healthy!

Ali: Your right. I'm not saying I agree with them. I've helped people get their animals onto a raw diet, but I don't tell them to deworm all time. Let me change that to say that many people I have talked to excessivly deworm their animals while on the BARF diet, not MOST, and that it's certaintly not necissary ALL the time.

Sorry for any confusion! I'm sure that's the last thing some people need on this thread, lol.

Misha: I agree with you, there have been lots of test done on biscuts, or dental chews, and then uncooked bones. And I for one have seen the BEST results with the bones! And I have to say that if you have an animal who likes Greenies, and will "eat them the right way" their teeth and breath also benifit a lot from those!

Greens? What kind, broccholi & the like? There's a brand of canned food I give them that has veggies in it, they just eat around the veggies. LOL.

I don't worm mine all that often either, probably about 1-2 times a year. We're told to do it often here, but I don't like the idea of over-worming them. We're also told to de-flea monthly (with the product I use), but I don't see why I should do that when I don't see evidence of fleas on them. It's expensive enough looking after the cats, I'd go broke if I had to de-flea them every month. It also worries me using too man made chemicals on them.

Julia.

I have tried to brush my cats teeth from time to time-even started when they were young. It never seems to go over too well, stresses the cats and me out. But I've often felt guilty that I haven't accomplished this. They do get their teeth cleaned when my vet says it's necessary. The raw chicken necks I've never heard of. I'll have to look into that.

Misha:

Greenies, not Greens (aka veggies.) lol

You can see what I'm talking about here... their a dental treat, but they are the only one I've found to actually show significant improvement on teeth/gums/breath, when it comes to man made dental bones n' such. They make them in small shedded packets for animals smaller/other then dogs.

Greenies!!!

Cind: Not everyone will be able to brush their cats teeth, you shouldn't feel bad, but you can always keep trying, or find new ways to work it out. If you both have a really tough time, the chicken necks would possibly be a great option.

Duh, I didn't know that. LOL. I don't think we get that here.

Julia.

Hello. This thread discussing dental care for cats was brought to my attention, and on behalf of the manufacturers of Greenies, I thought I would pass along some information. It's perfectly fine to give GreeniesÂ[emoji]174[/emoji] to cats, although some cats wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t chew the Greenies bones. Some cats enjoy Greenies Lil' Bits. They are made out of the same ingredients as the Greenies bones, chopped into mini-size pieces. Lil' Bits are recommended for toy breeds, dogs under ten pounds or six months old, as well as for dogs that do not chew Greenies but gulp them instead. Lilâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] Bits are appropriate for cats, ferrets and pocket pets. Please visit www.greenies.com for more information.
Thanks,
Jody Hanson
On behalf of the manufacturers of Greenies

LOL. Yes the lil' Bits, that's what I was refering to when I said the "shredded" kind.

It's nice to see a company watching out for what consumers want and think! Thanks for the information Jody!