Cleaning teeth

This past weekend Dori went in for her annual exam and shots, I brought her and Brody together but hadn't had a chance with Brody's news to post about my Dori-cat. She is doing very good and managed to lose a pound since last year. She weighs 9 pounds now and the vet decided that we are doing well maintaining that weight.

Dori's teeth don't look very well though. He showed me that she has tarter built up on her teeth, and her gums bled just a bit when he pushed down on them. She needs to get her teeth cleaned which I am going to have done in a few months. I am wondering though, what do you guys do to keep their teeth healthy. I know some of you brush their teeth but I can not imagine Dori allowing me to get away with that. She fights the vet when he just tries to look inside. I have bought her crunchy tarter control treats in the past but she normally refuses to eat them. I need to figure out something because if her teeth look this bad and she is only 3 years old, I am worried about them causing her even worse problems in the future. Any ideas?

does she eat dry food or treats?? or wet food?? Can you give her a raw bone to tackle some tarter

We have similar problems with Spike's teeth, which has the vet a bit concerned because Spike is only about three years old. Now, we can brush Spike's teeth (he's an extraordinarily easy-going cat), but even that and tartar-control treats haven't been enough to improve his dental health. The vet recently added a kind of mouthwash to the brushing drill, which you can either use a small syringe to squirt into the mouth or dab some on the tips of your fingers and smear it on the teeth and gums. The wash is flavourless (or so it says ...), but Spike isn't terribly thrilled with the whole procedure (which usually ends up with me or my boyfriend wearing some of the mouthwash ... yum!). I can't recall the name of the product, although I'm sure your vet would know, and the bottle we purchased was only about $17 (Canadian), so it's not quite on the ridiculous side of pricy. It's a pain in the butt (even with a laidback kitty like Spike, so I'm not sure how well it would work out for you), but I figure if there's even the slightest possible chance this stuff will prevent Spike from needing extensive dental surgery in the future ... well, it's worth it, right? Good luck!

Originally Posted by sharky

does she eat dry food or treats?? or wet food?? Can you give her a raw bone to tackle some tarter

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I free feed dry food and she gets approx. 2 ounces of wet food for breakfast. For treats she either gets Wildside Salmon (from Pat) or the crunchy Nutro treats. She won't eat the tarter control flavor though.

If I need to start brushing her teeth and using mouthwash I need to find how how to get her used to this. It will not go well

In the UK, we have Whiskas Denta Bits that are tasty treats that also clean their teeth! If you like, I could send you some to try! They work really well!!

I give them raw chicken gizzards once or twice a week. They have to work to chew the cartilage and it definitely helps their teeth. Grain based foods and treats don't help their teeth but anything that requires actual chewing is great.

I've read that cats can take CoQ10 for gum disease (10-30mg/day) & that homeopathic fragaria can help stop calculus buildup on the teeth. I have a cat who used to have periodontal disease but a teeth-cleaning, diet change & tooth-brushing have taken care of it. The tooth-brushing routine did not happen overnight - in fact, it took several months. If you'd like to try, these are the steps I used:

1. If you have "quiet time" with your Dori, i.e. she's sleeping on or near you, take some time to play with her mouth. If she doesn't object, gently scratch or massage her mouth/jaw area, getting her used to such activity. Do this every day until you feel it doesn't bother her any more.
2. Next step is to actually put your finger IN her mouth (if she'll safely allow this). Rub your finger over her teeth & gums.
3. When she seems OK with this, the next step is to add kitty toothpaste to your finger. I selected a seafood flavor as that is my cat's favorite. My girl cat, The Colonel, accepted tooth-brushing as soon as she realized it would involve a tastey paste
4. Finally, if all this is coming together (and remeber, it can take days, weeks, or even months for different cats), you can add a tiny toothbrush. I prefer C.E.T. Mini toothbrush due to it's small size & the fact that it fits right over my finger, so that the kitty used to having my finger in his mouth is not too worried about it. Here's a link so you can see what I mean: http://www.fuzzytummy.com/cet-mini-toothbrush.htm

Good luck with Dori; hope this helps!

Amanda

Amanda,

That helped me - thank you! I just ordered the CET for my kittens though I bet it will be months to get to the point where they will let me use it.

Thank you!