Diet for healthy teeth

My kitty has Stomatis  so I want to do everything to help her dental health. We plan to have her cheek teeth removed very soon. I've learned that raw would be great but she lives with my parents and I know that is not something they will do. Does anyone have any suggestions of foods that are designed for healthy teeth? Or perhaps food additives?

Thanks!! 

No food will help teeth clean, although raw bones and organs like gizzards work pretty well for some cats.

Only regular home dental care and the occasional dental cleanng will keep teeth clean, just like it does for your own teeth. Tooth brushing is best since the brush will scrub away food particles and plaque. It's really not as difficult as it sounds Use ony a pet toothpaste. CET is a popular brand that is recommended. You can find this online and at the vet office and at some indendent pet stores. Most any pet stores will have other brands of pet toothpaste and various sized brushes.

Short of brushing or in addition to it, you can try large dental chews. The CET ones are the only ones I recommend.Feline Greenies and other similar treats are too small to do anything.

There are dental rinses you can gently squirt or swab onto teeth. It's not as effective than tooth brushing but does help a little bit.

Water additives are a waste of money, IMO. If you feed only canned food, your cat isn't going to drink much water if any from a bowl for a waer additive to have any effect. Even cats who eat only dry food might not drink from a bowl very much.

There are lots of threads here on TCS about dental care. One of them has a link to a video on how to brush a cat's teeth:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/314032/brushing-teeth

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/304129/brush-cats-teeth-c-e-t-option

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/303169/what-is-the-best-way-to-treat-gingivitis-and-dental-health

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/278813/brushing-teeth

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/294516/how-to-clean-cats-teeth

Here are a few of tips for healthy gums and teeth:

In addition to cleaning her teeth, also massage her gums

Give her bones to chew on, but be careful not to give pork, chicken or fish bones. These could splinter and cause severe internal injures. Raw bones are also better than cooked ones, since they are less likely to splinter.

Include some deboned raw meat in her diet to stimulate her to chew,

There are tartar control treats and chews that help, but they are no substitute to tooth cleaning.

LTS3 said:

 
No food will help teeth clean, although raw bones and organs like gizzards work pretty well for some cats.

Only regular home dental care and the occasional dental cleanng will keep teeth clean, just like it does for your own teeth. Tooth brushing is best since the brush will scrub away food particles and plaque. It's really not as difficult as it sounds

Use ony a pet toothpaste. CET is a popular brand that is recommended. You can find this online and at the vet office and at some indendent pet stores. Most any pet stores will have other brands of pet toothpaste and various sized brushes.

Click to expand...

I agree completely. I started brushing my kittens teeth once his 'adult' teeth came in.

As an aside re: this topic - I do not believe anyone who says that dry treats and/or kibble 'clean' teeth.

bobkater said:

Here are a few of tips for healthy gums and teeth:

In addition to cleaning her teeth, also massage her gums

Give her bones to chew on, but be careful not to give pork, chicken or fish bones. These could splinter and cause severe internal injures. Raw bones are also better than cooked ones, since they are less likely to splinter.

Include some deboned raw meat in her diet to stimulate her to chew,

There are tartar control treats and chews that help, but they are no substitute to tooth cleaning.

Click to expand...

I know I am way late, but if not pork or chicken bones, what sort of bones should we be feeding the cats?

bobkater said:

Give her bones to chew on, but be careful not to give pork, chicken or fish bones. These could splinter and cause severe internal injures. Raw bones are also better than cooked ones, since they are less likely to splinter.

Click to expand...

shapopo said:

I know I am way late, but if not pork or chicken bones, what sort of bones should we be feeding the cats?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure why bobkater said to not feed chicken and pork bones. Many raw feeders here on TCS give raw chicken bones (wings, neck, leg) and other bones to their cats with no problem at all. Fish bones are very thin and don't provide any dental benefit that larger bones do.

This wasn't posted on the raw feeding page, but my cats eat 10% of their diet in raw chicken bones. They need them for calcium and minerals, but I crush the bones so I'm not sure how great they are at cleaning teeth. Meh, they chew them and you can hear crunching, so maybe. My kitten can strip the very last bit of meat and sinew off every crevice of a raw pork chop bone, but the bone is too hard to eat. That type of chewing probably does scrub her teeth.

What you don't want to do is feed brittle, cooked bones. Bones have to be raw, or pressure cooked to complete mush in order to be safe to feed.

I give my kitten raw lamb bones, usually ribs or the t-bone chops. He strips the meat that I do leave on absolutely clean and I just take the remaining bone away when he's satisfied that he's done a good job. But I can hear his teeth going to town on the bone as he goes. I also have a pet toothbrush and toothpaste set for him but I had to wait for him to get through teething before I could really introduce it to him and naturally he's not too pleased with it.