Professional Dental Cleaning every year?

Is it necessary to have a cat's teeth professionally cleaned by vet each year to prevent tartar and plaque which can lead to periodental disease? How often do you brush your cat's teeth at home?

TaoMom said:

Is it necessary to have a cat's teeth professionally cleaned by vet each year to prevent tartar and plaque which can lead to periodental disease? How often do you brush your cat's teeth at home?

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I would say that it is definitely not necessary to have it done professionally every year. That seems way too often to put a cat under anesthesia. 

We brush our cats' teeth at least a few times a week. We try to do it closer to 4 or 5 times a weeks, but sometimes it is only once or twice if we are busy.

TaoMom said:

Is it necessary to have a cat's teeth professionally cleaned by vet each year to prevent tartar and plaque which can lead to periodental disease? How often do you brush your cat's teeth at home?

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I would say it depends on the cat.  Some cats, like some people, just have terrible teeth and need to have them cleaned more often than others.  If you brush several time a week you might be able to prevent annual cleaning if your cat has bad teeth, but maybe not.  One of my cats had bad, bad teeth and needed dental quite often...at least every other year.  Of course, we did NOT brush his teeth, but we did feed kibble, so don't let anyone fool you when they say kibble is good for their teeth .  Now we feed only wet food, and we have one cat who has great teeth and one has has so-so teeth.

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
I would say it depends on the cat.  Some cats, like some people, just have terrible teeth and need to have them cleaned more often than others.  If you brush several time a week you might be able to prevent annual cleaning if your cat has bad teeth, but maybe not.  One of my cats had bad, bad teeth and needed dental quite often...at least every other year.  Of course, we did NOT brush his teeth, but we did feed kibble, so don't let anyone fool you when they say kibble is good for their teeth

.  Now we feed only wet food, and we have one cat who has great teeth and one has has so-so teeth.

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I only brush my cat's teeth once a week, I am hesitant to do it more than once a week because he swallows the toothpaste. If only I can train him to spit and rinse 

Your cat that has bad teeth who needs dental ever other year, how old is he? How about the one with the good teeth, age?

As long as you are using a toothpaste for cats, there is nothing wrong with them swallowing the toothpaste.  Now, I actually give them a pea sized bit of toothpaste to eat as a treat because I figure it's better than nothing, and they lick around their mouth to help spread it around.  Our Vet said it's better than nothing too   Per some of the video's I've seen on "how to brush your cat's teeth", that's how you get started to get them used to it is by getting them used to the taste of the toothpaste

My cat that required dentals every other year is now deceased for several years, but he lived to be 15, and we adopted him when he was around 5.

Both my NOW cats are 7 years old.  One has never had a dental, and the other just had his first one in May.